Heard that ABX announced a buyout plan for the pilots. Any ABX pilot have the details? If true, how does this bode for the future of ABX? or is management just trying to get rid of the senior (highest paid) pilots?

 

The last thing you said. Nobody is going to take it.

 

What are the terms of the buyout?

 

Not enough that will trigger any real mass early retirements. Maybe a handful of guys that have already been considering early retirement before this came out will take it. Maybe.

Can't copy and paste it but the nuts and bolts of it are, you hit 55 or older and want to retire. Take the number of months from your retirement date till you turn 65. They will pay 2k a month for those months up to $150,000 max. This is on top of the pilots normal retirement and, I believe, paid in a lump sum subject to taxes. The offer is good from March to July.

Now I could totally be wrong on the number of guys this offer attracts, but I really haven't run into too many guys who grumble about wanting to leave. I've flown with maybe 5 guys in 9 months that mentioned leaving before 65. I would say that offer may have to be a bit sweater to really motivate the upper half.

 

Generally I believe Jason is correct. There are always a few guys who have planned to leave early (i.e. this year) and will most likely take a little extra $ with them on the way out. As far as attracting others, the offer is just simply too cheap.

From a company side, there's nothing to 'read' here. It's not costing them a thing, in fact they actually gain. Replacing a high payer with a new-hire low one. Basic biz 101.

 

This latest offer is a lot better than the $50K offer in early 2010, and the $10K table scrap in late 2012. Each case is different- objective number crunching doesn't always win out.

 

Yep. They know that they are at best about 36 numbers away from a new hire in the left seat and at worst around 54 numbers away.

 

Wow. Don't know about those offers. This is like a kings ransom compared to those. Lol

 

Yeah, I was surprised by the number of people that bypassed upgrade. You might have some early outs in that group as well I guess.

 

Was there a new hire class in February? Is there one planned for March? I thought we were short pilots thus the reason you guys went on strike. Seems strange to offer a buyout when you need all the bodies you can get allegedly yet we haven't hired many new pilots since the December class and now there is a buyout. If the rumors about how long the new contract is going to take are true then they better hang onto everyone they can because I bet 95% of the new hires are getting their apps updated and will be leaving for greener pastures if they have to wait around too long for a new contract. Just my crappy opinion. Personally, if the single carrier filing doesn't get approved and we aren't running new hire classes every month then I will leave regardless of the contract status.