Originally Posted by
Pilot7576
crgok9...
There were no airplanes to go with the deal because challenge leased their 75's and didn't own them. If ups had bought everything that challenge had, they would have routes and pilots and STILL NO airplanes. The IPA was not involved or consulted by ups in the challenge route acquisition, in spite of what you may think. We (IPA) are not consulted before ups makes a move; we find out what they do when we open the newspaper just like the rest of the public.
JTF
Pilot7576
Trust me, I fully understand that UPS does not check with the IPA before they take action on something. However, I am basing my statement on a conversation that Bob Miller had at the time the whole Challenge thing was going on. Regardless of leased aircraft, UPS was in the process of hiring at that point in time. Although, it was not much, maybe 60 for the year. According to Bob, UPS did not want to have anything to do with the pilots of Challenge due to past experiences. Which I guess also means no preferential interviews.
So, aircraft aside, UPS bought their routes and their ground equipment, their base of operations in MIA and left the pilots out to fend for themselves. If UPS did not have a future need for pilots at that time then so be it, as you stated, no aircraft came with the deal. However, that was not the case...even if it only meant looking into hiring 60 pilots per year.