Ahhh, if only there was a crystal ball out there! Luckily, I have all of you.

Laughed out loud at this.

Meanwhile, everyone else on these forums is thinking to themselves "who is Southern Air?"

Wonder what's going to happen to "Worldwide Logistics" and Florida West.

Additional Pay Considerations -

Guarantee -
SAI 777: 60 hours , SAI 737: 61 hours
AWW 62 hours

Basing -
SAI 777 Home Basing, SAI 737 KCVG Base
AWW Gateway Basing (tax implications and affects on pay - I don't know)

401K Matching -
SAI: None
AWW:$.50 per $1 up to 10% pilot contribution

Per Diem -
SAI:$2.00/hr (dom) $2.50/hr (int'l)
AWW: $2.40/hour or $57.60 a day


From what I heard, there still has not been anything definitively set up as to the merging of the seniority lists. I heard one scenario earlier, then heard another one this morning. The merging of seniority lists always tends to be a messy business no matter what way it works out, with bruised feelings or negative repercussions on both sides. We should all hope for something that is equitable to everyone.

I imagine that SAI will be operated as a separate entity with an inclusive equipment fence for a significant period of time.

It's probably going to be a good 3+ months before we all figure out what is going to happen and how the details will be pounded out. Speculation at this point is just that, and only gives the opportunity for animosities to breed. Let's just give the whole thing some patience and see how it will shake out. Thankfully both companies are covered by the same union and local so negotiations should not be too acrimonious - hopefully!

Pilot Hiring:
Both companies from what I have been hearing are having problems getting qualified applicants. Much can be surmised from this. With this announcement, SAI will probably not have any net changes in hiring. There was the mention of a March class, though I would not think that will happen at this point in time. I do not know too much of the AWW ops, but due to their size, what their business plans are, I would not envision much of a change in their hiring plans, so they will probably still be recruiting.

Contract Negotiations:
SAI was just starting "expedited" contract negotiations.
AWW is starting preliminary procedures to go into contract negotiations.

Pilot Rolls:
Addition of the SAI pilots to the AWW seniority list represents a 15.8% increase to the size of the crew group. So the addition of the SAI group is a nominal increase, representing a little over an 1/8th.

All that I am hoping for is something that is a benefit to all involved!

Be Safe!

The real wild card are the 777s. Flynn has got to be ready to pull the trigger or real close to it on a contract for those. Everyone says Emirates but could be something else. No real clue how Atlas views the 737 business. Have to wonder about the margins on stuff like that. Timing is also suspect as both pilot groups are in negotiations---probably looking to play each one off the other. Best of luck to 1224 and all the guys pounding the line for both groups.

Atlas' contract is pathetic also, so we are all on equal footing there.

Really Gnaw? We need big improvements to get us up to UPS/FedEx standards, but Southern isn't even on the Radar. $170 top rate for a 777 CA? Zero retirement? Windfall for our Southern brethren. Conference call going on right now. Sounds like company likes, and wants to keep the 737 ops, but ops. specs are going to be kept separate for now. That is not good at all. Huge potential for whipsawing.

Management now saying they do not want to merge the lists.

Funny, a buddy listening to the call just said they DO intend to merge the lists (at some point in the future).

Atlas has hired a lot of younger pilots over the last few years. While many already had apps out, I think most who didn't were waiting to see how negotiations were going to go. Guessing there are a lot of resumes being updated with this news.