Originally Posted by
4dalulz
Your board of directors (ATSG) at their last earnings calls indicated a reduction of one, possibly two, aircraft at Omni and indicated that 2020 was an exceptional year which is not likely to be repeated.
Additionally, my guess is ya'll would be seeing hard furloughs if Omni had not received federal paycheck protection loans (which forbid hard furloughs). My best guess is that when that protection runs out in 3 months - that you'll end up seeing those hard furloughs.
Rest of the industry is adding airplanes and crews; if your airline is actively doing the opposite I would not call it a good deal.
The one hull was due for heavy checks, they converted it to a freighter. It was also the oddball of the fleet in terms of flight deck setup & equipment. Letting it go saved a crapload of money in differences training, OE requirements, currency requirements, and scheduling headaches. It was a sound business decision.
We kept hiring through all of 2020 while everybody was furloughing; in spite of the fact that the contract they were all being hired for was cancelled by Covid. Several commercial contracts were suspended due to Covid very early last year. Nope, not a single furlough.
They have been doing a great job getting new flying, if that effort continues as the world comes out from under lockdown, we're going to need more planes and more pilots. This summer leave has recall at any time with 14 days notice. My bet is that 14 day recall to duty option will get used a lot as the world reopens.