Originally Posted by
McBoeingBus
As you can see, Dec 2012 doesn't do much for the IPA. It's over 2 years just to get the furloughees back, assuming UPS wants to keep the number of pilots that they have today. The only thing to drive hiring is the NPRM, but UPS will drive as much through SCS as they can before adding IPA pilots. I was told years ago that being senior at UPS is better than passenger carriers, but being junior is much worse. No kidding, look at the 109. The pilots that are bullish at UPS are the ones not on the back of the whipsaw.
MBB
I believe that Davis' goal is for the airline to not add one more airplane (beyond what's on order) and not one more pilot (once the furloughees cover retirement attrition). In a recent interview I think the CFO said that UPS plans no significant capital expenditures other than to buy back stock to drive up dividend payments which is their #1 priority (also downplayed any TNT rumors). He plans for SCS and the ACMI fleets to handle surges in volume and to simply protect the core business. This Gecko wannabe has no interest in growing the top-line of the company itself, but to cut costs into the bone to maximize the bottom line and to beat everyone down (including middle/lower management) knowing there is nowhere else to go. The only possible ray of bright light to me is that Fred Smith forces the boards hand to actually compete for market share, as the UPS leadership is apparently content with what they have...and why shouldn't they be? UPS' EPS and operating margin is better than Fed Ex and the dividends have done nothing but go up since Davis took over. In a pure business sense UPS runs a much better ship than Fed Ex...but from an employee's viewpoint, and especially a pilot's viewpoint UPS is less than pathetic compared to Fed Ex.
Oddly enough Fred Smith is the "hero" of both pilot groups...strange world.