Clue32

Perhaps I read the articles and release wrong, but I inderstood that Titan was adding 3 aircraft to its portfolio. These aircraft are then being dry leased to Ethiopian. No where did it say Atlas or Polar were transferring / losing 3 jets to Titan.

dera

Most likely scenario was that Ethiopian called Titan and said hey, we would like to add 3 aircraft to our fleet but it doesn't make financial sense for us to buy them outright, can you help? And Titan said absolutely, we will acquire and finance them and dry lease them to you.
Sort of what lease companies do for living.

I have no clue why people attach this to Atlas somehow.

Supermoto

I'll connect the dots for you. 1. Titan is a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings. 2. The message at the training center for the past month to 767 trainees is that Atlas is scouring the market for more 767s to buy for Atlas, but none are available. 3. Titan announces that they are leasing three (newly acquired?) 767s, seemingly undermining their business partner.
No it's not the end of the world, just an inconsistent message. This is why these forums exist, so us underlings can discuss these peculiar happenings. I personally think these 767s were already spoken for (by Titan), or they don't meet Atlas' fleet standards. But it's possible management is blowing smoke up our ass about wanting to expand the 767 fleet.

dera

They were listed as converted freighters. It's entirely possible Ethiopian sourced these planes and just needed Titan to finance/lease them. I just don't see this as a play between Atlas and someone else.

I'm sure management wants to expand all fleets, but they have their hands full with 747 training blowing up, and new 777's coming in later this year. Getting new 767's right now would be crazy.

160to4

Open Time is not getting covered lately. I don’t think any 767s came make their way into the fleet until after the peak season

Pahlot

The message is that they want the freighters, not conversions. So I don't think this goes against what they've been saying.

Elevation

Misinformation happens. That's an embarrassing fact, but it's also uncommon (thank goodness). More often than not someone asks about an option, then people interpret that question as a decision. Rumors fly from there. Regardless listening to what's said at the training center is very inaccurate. Businesses fail if they telegraph their decisions while they're still vulnerable. Nobody at the training center will be privy to any major decisions beyond feasibility studies, site surveys, etc. Review the last ten years of training center rumors and compare them to what's developed. The same goes for unofficial statements by directors, presidents, etc. Less than one in ten of them have come to pass. I'm not saying don't listen; I'm just saying you have to look at a lot of stuff beyond what's said at the training center.

I also wouldn't be quick to say we're undermining ourselves. FedEx is missing profit forecasts in a big way. Asian, Transatlantic, European and North American cargo volumes are down (https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/20...2022-09-07-01/). There may be some very good reasons not to expand right now.

Supermoto

Yeah, I agree there may be some reasons not to expand right now. Interesting that we have 3 more 747s and 4 more 777s about to hit the line. I really hope they have some customers lined up for all those new airplanes. And FYI they are max hiring into all airframes right now.

C17B74

Yup, it will be interesting on how much brake pressure will FedEx apply to its hiring as they shut down 90 offices and 5 corporate locations. Impact or not recession is not a mirage any longer no matter what perspective one might hold. Businesses aren’t booming enough by any means to offset the impacts of the shutdown. Crazy times on every issue or agenda one might have. Time will tell. Brown’s better not bigger might just show to be the best approach on that side of the fence.

JackStraw

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