I just got through reading "The World is Flat" and it has got me fired up about our future. Fedex has an opportunity to own the freight business in Europe, provided we hit it solid from day one of this expansion. Asia is great right now but we're scratching the surface. We need the right kind of planes and the right kind of pilots. This does not need to be a short-term commitment from ANYBODY, pilots included.


In my humble opinion:

1. Call off the LOA vote. It ain't going to pass and it doesn't need to.

2. Set up a committee - ALPA and company reps, consisting of pilots who will likely go over there. Better yet, two committees, one for each domicile.

3. Give them three months to come up with packages that will entice people to move over, set up their families and kick ass for the company from the first day we operate. Senior to mid-level guys/gals. Pilots with families. Pilots who will make it work from day one.

4. Bring the pilot force a good LOA (or better yet two). Say, "This is what we need to do this. We are willing to bid it and make it work. We know you probably wouldn't go over there for this package, but that's o.k. Vote yes and we will go - and our company will get bigger, and we'll all prosper."

This could be a pivotal point in our company's history, if the leaders of FDX and ALPA will grab it and run. We could all benefit - think postal contract, how it gave us all a boost. But we have to go big. We have to own CDG like we own the Purple Planet......