Well Atlas Air wants to amalgamate (average?) Atlas's contract with Southern's which works more days and pays less and is a a bankruptcy contract.

The company is suing to get their way, and will probably win. So it will not get better at Atlas, it will probably get worse. Stay away.

I'm not exaggerating when I say almost everyone, including many many relatively senior captains are polishing their resumes to GET OUT. Atlas doesn't care if their airline is a revolving door of inexperence; it keeps longevity pay low. They want to run it like Mesa. Just don't bother.

 

Additionally
Company has proposed taking away gateway travel (your ride to work). While not great because you're taxed on it (500+ per mo) it is a nice benefit for those who don't live in base, and those whom live in remote places or other countries.

Company reducing catering to bare minimums. Stations are having to create new low standards for there lowest standards of catering for atlas.

Coffee being pulled from aircraft. 2 Pilots were suspended 30'days for asking for coffee.

Milk was just pulled from catering just this week.

19 days is an absolute reality. If you're on reserve plan on being extended an additional 3 days (allowed by contract)

Company is refusing to negotiate on good faith, will not discuss ANY ECONOMIC IMPACTS, they want no changes or cuts.

Do not believe the lies of HR, they have zero influence or control. They are merely doing their best to fill seats. That's it.

 

18 days is how it works out for me currently but I can drive to base. When based in ANC you'll need to commercial to ANC and get 10 hours of rest maybe more if Travel wants you to have a backup flight. On the back side you'll commercial home and you can waive rest to get home. It probably will take you 2 days of commuting putting you on the hook for 19 days IF you can't drive to a base. 18 days if you can drive.

Kalitta is a better job right now but reading their contract it's horrible too. It isn't a destination airline either. I think your assessment of their travel policy is correct.

As for the new contract... We're years and years away from seeing it. Currently the next domino that needs to fall is a law suit that determines if Atlas is in Section 6 negotiations or if we need to have a management grievance determine if we're in Section 6 or Merger negotiations. The Section 6 will probably take an extremely long time to hash out but yield a better contract. The Merger could be really bad. Southern owes 20 days a month and has worse work rules than even Atlas. Their 737 pilots don't get Gateway and they're going to try to ram that down our throats through an arbitrator. That could come as soon as 9 months after the law suit is settled. So in all likely hood the sooner a contract comes increases the odds that working at Atlas will be worse than it is today.

All of that is confusing so I'd say that if you come here, come with a quick exit strategy and a robust emergency fund. If being gone 19 days a month is gonna cause a divorce then it's not worth coming here at any price. If a Boeing type will get you to your destination airline quick and you're family can handle it then it may be worth it.

 

Since Atlas and Southern are supposed to be under a Single Operating Certificate in January why wouldn't the Southern pilots be under the same contract as the Atlas pilots?

You think Atlas is going to amalgamate Atlas' contract with Southern's to degrade the current Atlas contract? Is that what you're saying? Is that possible?

 

LOL, January of what year. Not 2018.

 

I'm just going by what I saw on airlinepilotcentral.com, "Atlas Air has acquired Southern Air, completion of the Single Operating Certificate (SOC) delayed until January 1, 2018."

 

That needs to be updated as of about a week ago. We got an email from John Dietrich claiming that the SOC will be delayed "into 2019". There's speculation among us that this means that they won't be able to merge groups due to a lack of a CBA covering the two pilot groups next year. This makes sense as we're waiting on law suits to clarify whether we're in Section 6 or Merger negotiations. Don't come here expecting a new CBA. Come here financially expecting current book for several years.

 

Yes its possible. I a sense that is exactly what they did with the Polar/Atlas contract which is what we have today. Our CEO himself states his goal is amalgamate the contracts together. Whether or not that was the terminology he meant to use. It is what he said. As to the SOC a recent email has stated "due to the unions request the SOC has been put on hold until Jan 2019." More like the union informed them they couldn't merge the two certs unless it was under one CBA. These "businessmen" don't want that. As they put it to a Capt upgrade class when questioned about putting Southern under the current Atlas CBA "Why would I do that. I'm a businessman."

All this information is here in the forum. Some people will say its the worst place on earth. Others will try and sell it as really no so bad when you think of it. But honestly, this is a good group of guys to fly with. This place has tons of potential. But morale is in the #$@#%er. We have all seen the company make many many promises just to drag their feet. They promised to start negotiating this summer. We had a couple ok negotiation sessions just for it to grind to a halt. They show up, listen to what the union says. They say they want current language and can't commit to anything that will cost them money. Its frustrating, and it shows on the line. Everyone's tired of this drivel. I would honestly suggest no one come here for the time being. If your coming here for a type rating. Yay good for you, but you might be impeding our efforts to show management how bad its actually gotten. If you want to make a long term attachment to this place, make sure you do an honest assessment of the company before you commit to the nice shiny jet cause its your "dream job."

As I said before, this place as potential to be an outstanding company to work for. Whether or not management makes that a reality before the company implodes on itself is what that potential hangs on.

 

Why go to Atlas for a type? The leagcies/LCC's don't care about that. Hiring is controlled by HR departments. The women that run these departments barely know what a type rating is, much less what it might mean for you capabilities as a pilot (nor do they care). It's getting to the point where having Atlas on your resume might make you look like some kind of untouchable/loser. You'll start to feel that way yourself after a few years here. It's both ENRAGING and Depressing at the same time. You'll barely be able to look yourself in the mirror when the guys parked across the airport are making no $hit double/triple your pay on smaller equipment. I'm not exaggerating when I say it's RJ pay with worse benefits on the 737 and 767 at Atlas/Southern.

You would need to be an ex-con or a masochist to consider Atlas a good place to work right now.

 

This is an extremely important point for a potential new hire. Yes that's a possibility. It's a doomsday scenario but a possibility. More than likely it's a threat they'd like to use in the event that they win the Merger lawsuit and force us to merge instead of Section 6. Our leverage would be greatly diminished knowing that Arbitration is on the other side instead of simply voting no or going through impasses. In that case we might be forced to take whatever they give us, which they're claiming is a "Kalitta Plus $1 Contract". Kalitta's contract has a nice shiny rate but is one of the worst in the industry when you look at retirement and work rules. The rate isn't Industry Standard either.

We offered the CEO to put Southern on our contract but their response was "Why would I do that? I'm a businessman."

As I said above... If you come here consider the affect it may have on your family life prior to leaving your current job. Only come here with a quick exit plan and a robust emergency fund as first year pay is maybe half of what you'd make on first year at a Regional.