Originally Posted by
mooney
FDX deadheads thousands of pilots out of MEM on Delta to start their trips in a different city (on FDX dime not a commuter/nonrev thing). Having to go thru ATL or another hub eats up lots of their duty time and they can no longer fly on DL AND do their FDX trip the same day. So FDX pays them for another duty day/hotel etc. Its gotten so bad that FDX have been deadheading crews on their corporate lears.
Originally Posted by
fatsopilot
A company that employees 200,000 people and is based out of Memphis isn't going to care when the airline providing major air service to the city pulls out? Of course they care, it isn't just pilots that travel. I don't understand how this would be that hard to figure out.
You've got to be kidding me. are the airlines in business to subsidize local business? And each other's crews? Is this a government funded thing now?
If the companies based in MEM can't fill a plane (profitably), then their employees need to connect like everyone else, or they need to sign a contract with the airline to subsidize the service like other small markets do. Otherwise, the companies have the choice to boost their corporate flight department or relocate. This isn't a communist country. Either way, it's not the airlines' problem. They answer to their own shareholders.
As for FDX... too stinking bad. DAL has a booming cargo business, and they're probably enjoying turning the screws on FDX.