Pilots on the go-slow as pay dispute threatens flights
TIGERAIR Australia pilots have flagged plans for industrial action over the busiest time of the year, including inflight “go-slows” that could add 10 minutes to trips.
The Australian Federation of Air Pilots, which represents 75 per cent of Tigerair pilots, said more than 90 per cent of them had voted to take action over the company’s “unsatisfactory pay offer”.
A statement from the association said Tigerair pilots had not had a pay rise for more than two years, and negotiations over a new enterprise agreement had been stalled by the company, the budget offshoot of Virgin Australia.
It is understood an increase of 2.5 per cent was on the table but the timing was in dispute.
Industrial officer James Lauchland said the decision to take industrial action was not made lightly.
“The industrial action will not be conducted on Christmas Day or Boxing Day as the federation’s members want to ensure passengers can travel to be with their families and friends,” Mr Lauchland said.
The action would involve adopting three work bans from 6am on December 21 until midnight on Christmas Eve.
Pilots would still turn up for shifts but would refuse to fly jets with minor, non-safety related or deferred defects; refuse to start work within 90 minutes of being called in from standby and conduct in-air goslows by not exceeding certain speeds or taking route shortcuts. The latter work ban was expected to cause flights to run five to 10 minutes overtime.
Federal government figures show Tigerair had the worst on-time performance for arrivals in October, with almost a third of flights landing more than 15-minutes after schedule.
The low-cost carrier also performed poorly for departing flights with 31.8 per cent leaving 15-minutes or more late.
Virgin shares fell 2.6 per cent, or 0.5c, yesterday to 18.5c.