Commercial Fixed Wing
Dispatch Dispatcher
Confusion; Workload
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Human Factors; Procedure
Found out that there were flights scheduled to depart in less than 2 hours that the flight releases had not been done because the flights had never been assigned to a Dispatcher. Turns out there were at least 6 flights that were never assigned to anyone. The 4 that I wound up with were all scheduled to depart at the same time (XC00z) found out about the first of four at XA13z and last of four at XA41z(less than required 1hr25min departure time to have issued a release). This is unacceptable; disruptive and a safety issue. Since we are now under added pressure; because the various ramps and flight crews are looking for a release which we haven't done since we did not know we had these flights. These were all ad hoc flights which evidently had been built at least two shifts prior. Fortunately there was no weather/ATC/MEL issues of great significance to contend with; otherwise this poor situation we were forced into could have been much worse. This was caused by at least two people not following through on their job duties. It is my understanding that the managers are supposed to make sure all flights are assigned to the appropriate dispatchers and also make sure work load is dispersed evenly. The flights in question were charter flights; since the on set of COVID day in and day out there have been charters added; todays scenario is not new and is happening repeatedly with dispatchers being blindsided by extra flight releases to do that were never assigned to anyone.Assign the flights when they are built. And each subsequent shift manager needs to make sure all flights have been assigned.
Dispatcher reported release issues relating to flights that are not assigned to Dispatcher in a timely manner.  Reporter stated this has been a problem since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.