At a time when airlines have been trying to economize on expensive jet fuel, the pilots union at USAirways has accused that carrier of going too far: pressuring pilots to carry less fuel than they think is safe in order to save money.
In a full-page ad in USAToday Wednesday, the USAirways pilots said the company has "recently begun pressuring your captain to reduce fuel levels for your flight in order to save money." It added, "Pilots who fail to conform to company expectations are subject to 'training' events which could result in the termination of their careers."
Union officials did not return several calls for further comment yesterday.
In a statement earlier, USAirways denied the assertions. The carrier noted that the Federal Aviation Administration requires all flights to plan to arrive at their destinations with 45 minutes of fuel remaining in their tanks.
"At USAirways we use 60 minutes of arrival fuel as minimum and currently average 100 minutes in actual operation," the airline said.
Airlines have been struggling to save on fuel costs for several years now, as such costs have risen a stunning 80 percent in the last year. But spokesmen for other airlines, including American Airlines, the nation's largest carrier; JetBlue Airways Corp. of Forest Hills; and Delta Air Lines of Atlanta, said yesterday that none of the measures they have taken compromises in any way the safety of the aircraft or passengers.
But James Ray, a spokesman for the USAirways Pilots Association, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that eight senior pilots and the union had filed complaints against the airline with the FAA. FAA officials did not respond to calls.
In its statement, USAirways said, "Through the normal tracking of our landing weight and fuel burn, we recently discovered that a few of our pilots (eight to be exact) were adding fuel to their dispatched fuel loads much more frequently than their peers. While this is appropriate as our pilots always have the ability to order more fuel as conditions warrant, the data for this small number of pilots was well in excess of the norm."
USAirways said, "We asked these pilots to meet with our training department so we could understand their experiences and ensure that our current protocols are at the right levels." USAirways said its move was "entirely appropriate."
Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American, said that the airline has taken a number of moves to save fuel costs, but not affect safety. The measures include having its planes taxi on runways using only one engine, polishing instead of painting planes because paint adds weight to the planes, and even changing catering carts aboard aircraft to lighter models. The newer models, Wagner said, reduce aircraft weight by 124 pounds. Across American's fleet, that would save 1.9 million gallons of fuel annually, Wagner said.
Source: http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/friday/news/ny-bzair185767879jul18,0,1384201.story