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NEW EUROPEAN B757 FLYING

As you know US Airways has acquired three B757-200 ETOPS aircraft in order to serve three European markets this spring. The new aircraft will serve Glasgow, Shannon and Lisbon from Philadelphia beginning in late May/early June. The Boeing 767 equipment that previously years operated the seasonal service to Glasgow and Dublin will now operate into the new Milan and Stockholm markets. Milan is scheduled to operate year round.

PHL LECP Laura Albert and I met with Company managers on April 20, 2006 to discuss staffing, emergency equipment location, service product and flow. We also discussed how information unique to both the 757E aircraft and service will be disseminated to the Flight Attendants. 

We were given draft copies of the Flight Attendant Emergency Manual Alert Bulletin, the International Manual revision, entertainment system directions, service flow procedures and cultural information specific to the new destinations. 

Although the aircraft is currently configured with 8 First Class seats and 180 coach seats the service for this season will be a one class coach service only. The 8 First Class seats will be marketed as a "Premium" seat. Premium is just that; a bigger seat with no First Class or Envoy service. Therefore, the A position will not be confined to the 8 seat section. The Company believes in the Envoy product and will reconfigure the aircraft after this European season to offer an Envoy product next year. No decision has been made regarding the size of the Envoy cabin or markets these aircraft will be utilized in during the European off season. The Company saw an opportunity to get into new European markets this summer and had the ability to acquire the airplanes in time to do so. They did not have enough lead time to reconfigure the airplanes for an Envoy cabin and service and begin service this spring.

The three aircraft were acquired from ATA and are currently in Mobile, Alabama undergoing maintenance "C" checks. According to the Company all three aircraft are less than 5 years old. The tail numbers are 642,643 and 644. Aircraft 642 has a different forward galley configuration than the other two aircraft. The cabin layout, lavatory and jumpseat locations in all three former ATA aircraft are identical but differ from the US Airways East 757 equipment. For example, instead of a lavatory at the 2L door on the current fleet there are three lavatories at the 3L/R area and one at the front of the cabin of the new aircraft. There is no jumpseat at 3L but there is a double jumpseat at 1L on the new aircraft. The emergency equipment locations are similar to our current fleet although there are enough differences that a thorough pre flight must be done. Three crew rest seats, 32 DEF, will be allocated on the three aircraft. The seats recline to the equivalent degree (per contract) as all other coach seats. The Company told us engineering is having a problem with curtaining off the seats as required by the contract. Too bad for engineering; this issue will be resolved to our satisfaction. Other than the crew rest seat curtains we have no serious concerns with the overall aircraft configuration. 

There are two major operational issues we need to evaluate; 1) will the service procedures the Company has planned flow smoothly for the Flight Attendants and the customers and 2) how will the Flight Attendants be trained in the service procedure, entertainment system and galley pack out. Laura and I made many suggestions during the meeting. Before the aircraft enter service we will further address our concerns as follows:

• The aircraft will be flown to PHL next week for inspection by US Airway maintenance and Inflight. As part of the inspection process the Training/Systems and Dining and Cabin departments will conduct a full galley pack out and mock service flow. Laura Albert will be on the aircraft to observe. Any problems or concerns Laura witnesses will be communicated through the appropriate channels for redress. 
• The Company stated they were undecided on whether to use product specialists, Inflight supervisors or coordinators or a combination of all to train Flight Attendants. Laura and I stressed the need for a program of specialists/coordinators similar to the Airbus introduction. Inflight supervisors are inadequately trained to accomplish this task. We also told the Company the program should be deployed on each flight for at least the first month of service. 
• To the extent possible we will make certain the location of emergency equipment on the new equipment mirrors the existing 757 equipment.
• Hotel contracts have not been signed. Site inspections were performed earlier this month by the Company and both the AFA and ALPA MEC Accommodations chairs. We will make certain the properties meet contractual requirements and have suitable medical contact information. 

Once we have completed our evaluation and the Company has finalized all the previously mentioned documents and a training procedure is in place we will report back to the membership.

Thank you,

Mike Flores, President
US Airway Master Executive Council

Laura Albert, President
LEC PHL

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AFA Local Numbers

Council 40 PIT 724-695-3329
Council 41 DCA 703-212-8090
Council 69 BOS 781-289-8454
Council 70 PHL 215-492-0840
Council 82 LGA 315-736-3483
Council 89 CLT 704-527-0325

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US AIRWAYS Benefits Information 800-872-4780

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