Originally Posted by
wjcandee
The 9 767-200s now operated by Atlas were Airborne Express 767s that ended up under DHL ownership and were continually operated by ABX. DHL put the operation of those aircraft out to bid and contracted with Atlas to operate them. When I say "ABX aircraft", I mean ABX's to operate unless and until DHL took them away, which it did, because it cut a deal with Atlas to operate them. Under ABX's scope clause (as clarified), those could not, for example, have been operated by ATI, but apparently nobody sees a problem with another 1224 (or non-1224) carrier operating them.
All of the DHL business was ABX's to lose. One reason Atlas and Kalitta may be able to offer a financially-superior contract (if they did) is that certain aspects of ABX's work rules (including the day-night transition safety rules) mean that on certain routes it takes up to 30 percent more pilots to operate an ABX aircraft than an Atlas aircraft on the same timetable. Why other 1224 carriers don't insist on the same thing, I don't know.
At K4 we were flying actual Polar flights with Polar callsign. We were in 1224 at the time. 1224 did nothing about it in spite of numerous K4 Pilots notifying 1224 mgt. This went on for a while. Finally, it seems, that enough AAWW pilots became aware of this and a court action was filed causing AAWW mgt from giving (or selling) flights to K4.
Point? 1224 mgt. is ineffective on their own. If there is a legal precedent for ABX keeping “your” aircraft search for it. If you find it start a grass roots campaign to get 1224 to file it for you. BTW, 1224 will allow you to borrow the money from them, for them, to file the legal action, which you will in turn pay back thru union assessments. Nice huh!
If there is no legal leg to stand on, sadly, it is what it is.