Originally Posted by
DC8DRIVER
Spoken like a true company man!
Kalitta would remain plenty profitable even if you had 18 hour duty days. Atlas certainly does.
And if we were to carry the duty day argument to its logical conclusion, during their next contract negotiations airline X pilots would accept a 32 hour duty day with a six man crew to remain competitive then airline Y would accept a 36 hour duty day with an 8 man crew, etc. etc.
Then maybe airline Z pilots decide that in order for their airline to remain competitive they should accept coach seats for all dead head travel.
It is creating a race to the bottom.
Insisting on working conditions and pay that are better than other airlines is the only raise the bar for the entire industry.
8
Another reply...
No, it is not about raising the bar. Or, lowering it. It is about reality.
We at K4 have a different business model than any of the other 1224 carriers. ATSG and Atlas have hung their hats on ACMI as the bread and butter of their business model. Kalitta, not so much.
So, for you, the duty day is a non player. DHL or Amazon schedules will never put this in play. So, why do you care? It isn't your concern. You will never be affected by it. Your company's customers are not going to present you with the choice to double crew a trip to West Beserkistan and press on to civilization.
And, let's look at it from a pilot's perspective. Would you rather get 16 hours of full pay in a 24 hour day? Or, 8 hours of full pay, spend a day in a hotel and then get 4 hours of pay (50% deadhead) to ride out on a questionable carrier in a a two day period?
Last time I checked, this career was about dollars and days off. From my perspective, the A plan is more money, less time, and better for me.