A Singapore arbitration court ruled yesterday that pilots who fly the super jumbo Airbus A380 should be paid more than those on conventional jumbo jets, setting a benchmark that could have global implications.
The Industrial Arbitration Court judgement settled a pay dispute between Singapore Airlines, the launch customer for the double-decker A380, and its pilots.
A three-member panel ruled that the minimum salary for captains on the A380 -- the world's biggest passenger plane -- will be S$700 (US$458) a month more than that for captains on the Boeing 747-400 (744) conventional jumbo jet.
"The minimum salary point for captains on the Airbus 380 salary range will be S$700 more than the minimum salary point for the B-744 salary range," said the panel, consisting of a representative each from the airline and the pilots, as well as a judge.
The basic pay for a B-744 captain is S$10,000 a month, SIA told the hearing.
In its ruling, the court said the maximum salary for A380 captains will remain at S$16,500, the B-744 maximum.
The court also said the minimum for first officers on the super jumbo will be S$450 more than on the 747-400.
Both sides welcomed the decision and acknowledged they were breaking new ground.
"We recognize there is no market data for the 380," Air Line Pilots Association Singapore (ALPA-S) president Captain P. James, told reporters.
"The A380 is a new aircraft," Singapore Airlines' spokesman Stephen Forshaw said. "There's very little by way of an international benchmark to measure things."
Tom Ballantyne, chief correspondent for the industry magazine Orient Aviation, said that A380 pilots from each country will have to set their pay scales individually, but the Singapore case could be used as a reference point.
James said the amount of the salary award was "fine," even though it was below the S$1,000 sought by the union.
SIA wanted to peg the A380 pilots' pay to that of the wage scale for the Boeing B777, where a captain earns a starting monthly salary of S$9,300.
During the hearing, an SIA official said physical differences between the A380 and the Boeing 777-300 and 747-400 would have little impact on piloting because of similarities between the systems' technologies, cockpit layout and instrumentation.
While the A380 is heavier than other Airbus and Boeing jets, the weight difference is managed by a high level of automation and other aerospace technologies, the official said.
James countered during his arguments that flying different aircraft is "not as easy as changing cars."
In its decision, the court said that "a pilot has very heavy responsibilities for the safety of passengers, crew, cargo and the aircraft" regardless of the ease or difficulty of flying the plane.
SIA, one of the most profitable carriers in the business, is scheduled to receive the first of its A380s in October.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS