Thread: Omni Air
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Old 05-27-2021, 03:27 PM
  #3036  
4dalulz
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Joined APC: May 2021
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Originally Posted by pitchtrim View Post
Initially you said Omni is furloughing, now you're guessing. What we know is they took government money like the rest of the industry took and not all of their flying has returned to pre covid levels yet. Time will tell how it pans out. For those in the pool they'll be waiting till things pick up.
So I'm basing these guesses off of published factual information - while I can't speak for the exact feeling on the line or rumors or factual information ya'll have in your group - it is apparent that things are not as rosy as you make them out to be, nor are they necessarily as dire as my tone may be conveying. This being said, the 21Q1 results published by ATSG are not indicative of a company which is growing with the rest of the industry, but more of one which is hoping to recover to 2019 levels in 2022.

Originally Posted by Cujo665 View Post
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.
You'd know the details of that specific airframe, but the fact that it's not being replaced with another airframe would indicate that the demand does not exist or the company cannot identify a business case for the additional airframe; this should be concerning if the rest of the industry is rising around you and you're reducing your fleet and staffing levels.

Originally Posted by Cujo665 View Post
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.
Well, technically no (significant) player furloughed last year since the bailout money protected them. The reality that your (ATSG) board of directors though stated as a matter of fact during their recent earnings call is as follows:

keep in mind that one of the conditions on accepting the payroll protection is we cannot furlough or lay off any employees at Omni. As it relates to whether those employees, whether it be administrative or crews or maintenance or what have you, are commensurate with the volumes that they're currently flying, right. So that's one issue where if the flying is down under regular circumstances, you may look to reduce your workforce to match the flying that you have. We're not able to do that right now, so we'll be carrying folks. And as the plan goes, we're going to need them later in the - by the third - by the end of the third quarter, anyway, based on the way the pilot - based on the way the plan is ramping. So - but that's one thing to keep in mind is that we're - in accepting that revenue, we're not able to cut personnel costs.
On it's face this doesn't sound too bad and leaves an opening for a return of business later (though that makes me wonder if you guys are going to be getting additional airframes by then?) However, when coupled with the statement below it becomes more concerning, especially given that the 3 month leave (or whatever it is called) will coincidentally end with the first month that actual furloughs would be allowed (September).

These funds require Omni to refrain from involuntary furloughs of its flight crews and other personnel at least through September.
Originally Posted by Cujo665 View Post
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.
Is it really a "great" job when you're parking planes and trying to reduce staffing?
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