Originally Posted by
NightIP
I hate to be a broken record, but take it from a guy who's been in the ACMI segment for 10 years:
Don't get comfy. ACMI is volatile, and the best companies could be tomorrow's worst companies (Atlas!), and the worst companies could become some of the best (Kalitta, Omni). And, that could very well flip-flop again.
This is the regional airlines with widebody jets; we operate for a variety of customers, and we're always competing with each other for various contracts. The pay, QOL, retirement, and work rules for any of the ACMIs are not currently up to par with the major airline segment, though we're in the fight for our careers in order to make it so over at Atlas. Time will tell how successful we are.
If you are competitive for a legacy or LCC: Your career earnings, retirement, and progression will be much better. Please don't limit yourself. I'm looking to get out as an 8th year 767 CA over at Atlas (was at Omni prior to this); my family deserves something better than this ACMI business. So does yours.
it’s amazing what a new contract and a pilot shortage can do. Spirit & Frontier were stepping stone jobs, not destinations not too long ago; so were Kalitta, ATI & Omni. Lots of folks got stuck due to the lost decade.
You absolutely can not judge the current market condition based upon the lost decade. Yes, you and I lived through the period of zero legacy hiring and LCC jobs that weren’t much better than regionals. Then add in the pilot shortage which will run another ten years and the picture is vastly different for newer pilots.