Singapore Airlines was today ordered to pay pilots of its new super jumbo Airbus A380 more for the additional responsibilities they will have to take.
The Industrial Arbitration Court judgement made the ruling today, setting a benchmark that could have global implications. It brings a settlement to the highly publicised dispute between the national carrier and the Airline Pilots Association-Singapore (Alpa-S) which represents the majority of SIA's 1,800 pilots.
The union had said that the number of passengers and the heavier the plane, the bigger a pilot's responsibilities. The new double-decker A380 will have about 470 seats.
A three-member panel ruled that SIA will have to pay the captains who fly the A380 -- the world's biggest passenger plane -- as much as S$16,500 a month, which is 7.8 per cent more than the pilots of the Boeing 747-400 (744) conventional jumbo jets.
The pilots had demanded as much as S$21,615.
Arbitrator Justice Tan Lee Meng, in handing down the ruling, said the maximum salary for A380 pilots will remain at $16,500, which is the maximum of what the B-744 captains are being paid, and the minimum for first officers on the super jumbo will be S$450 more than on the 747-400.
SIA initially proposed to pay the A380 pilots between S$9,300 and S$15,300 a month, the same as those commanding the B-777 and A340-500 aircraft, which can carry as many as 400 passengers and fly 18 hours non-stop.
Mr P. James, President of Alpa-S, welcomed the outcome.
"We recognise there is no market data for the A380. We will accept the court's considered judgment," he told reporters today, even though it was below the S$1,000 the union had sought. "It's at least more than half-way of what we wanted. We are satisfied. We will move from here."
SIA spokesman Stephen Forshaw said the court's decision brings an end to the dispute.
"The A380 is a new aircraft," he said. "There's very little by way of an international benchmark to measure things. The judgement now gives us some certainty to move forward. "The pilots are very keen to get this aircraft into service."
SIA has committed to buy 19 of the A380s and is scheduled to receive the first in October after a series of delays that plagued European manufacturer Airbus.
Tom Ballantyne, chief correspondent for the industry magazine Orient Aviation, told AFP 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.
"A union making a claim for new rates may bring that into the argument," Ballantyne said.
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 due to similarities in system 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.
