Best Cargo airline post regional
 

Hello everyone! I just was curious on what you all think is the best cargo airline to join after reaching required PIC time at a regional airline. I am very interested in Atlas Air due to the fact you can live wherever you want. However, I also know UPS and FedEx are still really solid. I want to have the freedom to live in a place good for real estate because I plan to invest and I don’t want to be tied down at a base that is not good for what I want to do. I also don’t want to spend thousands of dollars commuting.

You're 4-6 (?) years away from being competitive. Your perspective might change a lot.

Thinking you'd be "spending thousands" commuting but if you got with Atlas/FedEx/UPS that you wouldn't commute, or that commuting would be no cost, is doubtful.

Some wives, kids, and families can live with the very long trips that cargo operators/ACMI's have. Some wives want no part of it. What's your wife's thoughts on that and how do you feel about leaving your wife and kids for several weeks at a time? Everyone has a different answer to that.

Well me and my girlfriend have talked about it and she understands what my career calls for. My biggest question is if I had the choice between going to UPS/Fedex (having to spend money to commute) vs. going to Atlas (not having to spend money to commute and being able to live anywhere) which one would you choose.

Spend money to commute? JS on your companies metal or JS with any of the other airlines. I don’t think there’s anyone spending money to commute here. If they are, it’s probably from their travel bank.

Sometimes you don’t get the luxury of a choice.

said every wife pre divorce, once the real life kicks in with small kids and you gone it’s going to sound a lot different…

Seriously, you aren’t yet in the point of your career where even YOU understand what your career calls for. That isn’t knocking you (or her) because we have all been there, but you wouldn’t be asking such incredibly naive questions if you were.

My GUESS is that you have somehow bought in to the old “Boxes don’t b!tch” mantra and decided that’s the be all and end all. If that’s what you really WANT, far be it from me to try to dissuade you (note the screen name) but I would caution you that the mantra is only that and that depending on the experience you get before you become competitive at any of the major cargo carriers you will have a huge variety of other experiences and opportunities.

FedEx and UPS haven’t exactly been setting the world on fire with their hiring either:

https://www.fapa.aero/pilot-hiring-history

and while Atlas has been doing a little better in that regard, you are sort of paying for that with reduced pay, especially the first few years. And if what is driving this is indeed “the ability to live anywhere” you are basically talking about being a commuter (which adds time to the beginning and end of every trip) that is dependent not on whether you are moving people or boxes but by what the commuting options to your base(s) are from whatever airport you will be departing from. if your nearest reasonable airport is only served by a once a day EAS flight living there is going to be problematic no matter who you are commuting to or what you have in the back
At a minimum you ought to at least look at the commuter clauses in the various airline contracts and - if you and your girlfriend actually are not already hard over. decided on a make that decision based upon what will give you an EASY COMMUTE RATHER than on who may or may not be paying for it.

Which would I choose? The major passenger airline that has w/b jets that I can drive to work.

Everything else is rubbish - Manfred Freiherr v. Richthofen.

This, you are being very optimistic about your chances which is good, but you’ll probably get atlas way before you’re even competitive at UPS or FedEx.

Before you think the cargo lifestyle is for you, I’d find a way to somehow simulate in your life, working the back side of the clock, while also spending time away from your partner. You might think you’re a night person, but until you’ve done it, you don’t realize the effect it has on your health. I don’t do cargo, but I was in the military and worked the midshift on a rotating schedule with a day and swing shift at one of my duty stations, it messes you up more than you think both mentally and physically. Really took at toll on my marriage at the time because I was perpetually in a grumpy mood and I actually came home every day at the time. We aren’t meant to be awake all night. Being gone over two weeks at a time might not seem too bad, but combined with the schedule it can cause a lot of stress, not only for you but your partner as well. The grass might look greener, and the money better eventually, but the truth is you don’t know what you don’t know until you’ve experienced it.

I appreciate all of you guys answers! I know cargo can be difficult. My biggest reason for leaning to it is the wide body exspirence and just how many places you can travel to. I know airlines have wide body’s and travel benefits but being able to fly a massive plane at 30 years old from anchorage to Hong Kong just sounds incredible. I am only 20 so please forgive me for I don’t know everything about the career but for me flying huge jets as early as possible and traveling the world is one of my life’s missions. Whatever company I can get to that helps me with that goal I’m all in.

Honestly, I used to think the same thing. I was all about trying to get to wide body cargo early on, although I was older than most when I started. This is a second career for me. You’re a year away from even being able to hold a restricted ATP and 3 years away from even being eligible to get that 121 PIC time you were talking about in your first post. That means you’re probably at least 5+ years away from where you’re looking at. Lots can change in the airlines in 3 years. What may be attractive at one cargo airline right now, may be very different in that time, and vice versa. If something crazy happens, that airline could possibly not even be here in that time. Not trying to discourage you, but slow down a bit. You’re young and have lots of time to decide. You may get to a regional and decide you love carrying people. All I’m saying is don’t decide what you’re going to do for the rest of your life when you’re this age. Too much changes, including you.

Don't chase the plane, or the layovers. The one the pays the most with the most time off is the one you want. If that's a pc-12 or a 747 no one after a year or so cares.

The layovers change. And when they're only 14 hours, or much much worse, 24 hours long, you don't really have any time to do anything but eat and sleep anyways. If you want to travel, travel. Doing it via an airline job isn't a good way to travel and experience anything.

UPS and FDX are not actually particularly solid at the moment, there's an ongoing evolution in air freight industry. I'm sure they'll be fine for continued employment, but I wouldn't bet big on growth and hiring in the near/mid term.

Also the pax legacies surpassed them on pay and maybe QOL a few years back (that pendulum could always swing).

I'd suggest you consider very carefully before disregarding the QOL and health toll of night flying... make sure you understand how much of that you'd have to do, and what the tradeoffs would be to avoid it.

As far as Atlas (and other ACMI)... those schedules are drastically different than for Pax/FDX/UPS. You'll go on multi-week trips, and then have a couple weeks off. I assume you can back up the weeks off across bid periods and regularly get like a month off straight if desired. That would maybe appeal to me as a single 20-something... go see the world, and them have epic time off to do whatever. But with a family? That would be nuts for most of us, and as others have said your GF doesn't really understand what it will be like to be home alone with a baby or three for weeks on end.

You can get copious time off at pax majors, easily 4-6 weeks straight once a year if you strategize vacation and bidding. And you'll have nonrev benefits.

After having done world travel for my entire adult life I now prefer to have time to acclimate to the local time zone so I can then enjoy myself. If you're just bouncing across multiple time zones at widebody speed, you're probably going to experience your layovers through a fog of jetlag. Worth noting that there are some folks who adapt to that much better than others, maybe you're one of them?