American Airlines started flying to India. The airline is having issues with this route, which is leading to long flights. The flight had to divert to Gander because of one of those problems.
American Airlines has an issue with Russian airspace.
American Airlines recently launched a route between New York and Delhi. This is a long flight to begin with, but it is even longer because American Airlines doesn't have the right to use Russian airspace on this route.
According to the always knowledgeable xJonNYC, the American didn't make the request at the right time because the Russian government only accepts applications during certain periods. This route has been in the works for a long time. American management thought it would be easy to get these airspace rights since the carrier uses Russian airspace for other routes.
The route between Delhi and New York is typical for American Airlines.
Flight times from India to American have been extended by 90 minutes because of American inability to use Russian airspace. For example:
In the past week, the Newark to Delhi flight time has been 12hr30min to 13hr18min, while the Newark to Delhi flight time has been 14hr23min to 14hr46min.
In the past week, the flight time between New York and Delhi has been 14hr21min to 14hr41min, while the flight time between New York and Delhi has been 15hr37min to 16hr6min.
That is a significant difference in flight times.
AA will be in the process of seeking approval from the Russian government for an off-cycle permit application period.
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As to inevitable question, they have been planning this flight for many months.
Jon NYC was born on November 15, 2021.
The pilot union is not happy with American Airlines.
American Airlines pilots are not happy with the new India flight. Eric Ferguson, the president of the Allied Pilots Association, wrote a letter to fellow pilots about how management is trying to fix its failures on their backs. The letter begins.
Poor planning on management's part doesn't mean an emergency on our pilots' part.
Ferguson claims that the new route has caused a number of contract violations and abuses of flight crews. The carrier was unable to obtain Russian overflight permission.
American requires flights of over 16 hours to have two captains and two first officers, rather than one captain and three first officers. All pilots are fully trained to fly the plane, so this is all about money, so captains earn more than first officers, so the more captains there are, the more money union members are being paid.
The flight is said to be under 16 hours with one captain and three first officers. The flight is taking over 16 hours due to the lack of Russian airspace rights, according to the union.
First class on American Airlines.
The other claim is more interesting.
To add to these blatant errors, Crew Scheduling called out an entire reserve crew, pilots and flight attendants, and assigned them to deadhead to Bangor, Maine, to sit reserve in the middle of the night for days on end just in case the Delhi flight ran into delays. Our contract does not allow airport reserve away from the base.
If there is a delay beyond a certain threshold, the crew wouldn't be able to operate a flight this long. If there was a crew change, the flight would need to be canceled or operate to a closer destination. The latter is usually the better solution.
I am not sure what to think of this.
Does American require pilots to be on reserve at the airport? Why would the pilots agree to this assignment?
It is only a few hundred miles from New York so why would crews be sent to Bangor for days on end? It seems like they could just send a crew after the flight leaves Delhi.
A flight from Delhi to New York is diverted to Gander.
The American Airlines flight from Delhi to New York has been a lot of fun. The flight was supposed to leave at 12:55AM, but it was delayed for four hours. The crew was unable to operate the flight all the way to New York due to the lack of Russian airspace rights.
The decision was made to divert the flight to the sleepy airport of Gander, not to be confused with Bangor. The plane is going to continue on to New York with a new crew.
It looks like the relief crew will be arriving on the flight from New York that has 30 flat beds. The Gander to New York flight will be delayed even further because it is only due to arrive at 12:14.
The crew that will work the last few hours of the flight to New York will have to fly to Gander to get there. The crew that worked on the Delhi flight will be going to New York on the A321.
American Airlines has a first class plane.
The bottom line.
The flight from Delhi to New York was diverted to Gander. A significant departure delay meant that the crew would time out, so the choice was to either cancel the flight or to divert to an intermediate point and have a crew change. The American chose the latter option.
The issue is worsened by American's inability to use Russian airspace, which is making flights longer than usual. That is making pilots cranky.
Any significant departure delay can have serious implications for a crew's ability to work the entire flight.
It's tricky stuff, eh?
Ben is the founder of OMAAT.
