That news has been out there for over a year though. The problem was that we couldn't get the slots to do the refurb and so we leased them out to World in the mean time

 

That actually makes some sense to me. If ATA buys World they will not want the freighters, those in-turn go to UPS/FedEx. That's 6 airplanes that don't need conversion slots.

 

The 3 planes that are leaving are pax birds that were originally leased by DAL from the owners. When DAL parked the MD-11, World subleased them from DAL. When DAL went BK, UPS purchased the planes and aggreed to sub lease them to World until they could be converted. They will be leaving at the end of the year. We are crossing our fingers because the company stated no job losses because of the upcoming B747 pax to freight conversions hitting at about the same time.

We have extended the long term leases on the freighters until well past 2010.

As to the paint job, there is a definite lack of orginality. After we painted N803 in our retro 1970's paint, there was a call for a new paint job. After an employee vote, we got the UPS lines with DAL colors. I think there must have been a sale in ATL or DAL forgot to pay for a batch of paint. The ironic thing is that the 3 planes going back to UPS don't have the new paint livery.

All the signs are there that World is in play. We are just hanging on to see what happens. The bottom guys on our list are bailing out. In one respect, we are merging with UPS. It's just happening one pilot at a time

 

Sounds good, but remember that all AMC carriers have to derive a certain percentage of their revenues from non-military sources. All of the AMC carriers have been operating on a waiver from this requirement since 2002. How much longer is anyones guess.

 

Good point (OMNI, WORLD, NA are all on the same AMC/Craft team)

When the waiver ends OMNI will probably have to cut back. Due to the fact that they are roughly 80% AMC. Most of those are Patriot flights back and forth to the sand box.

The really strange part is that OMNI was going to retire thier old CAL birds when the new NWA -30's came on property (5 or 6). Instead they are going through heavy checks. They are also hiring like gang busters and rumor from NWA training center is that OMNI bought the DC10 sims up there. However Ive seen airlines ramp up ops and then furlough 9mo later.

Just curious, but what do you guys think will happen to all the 121sups out there if we have a major political change in the next elections?

 

OMNI IS NOT ON THE SAME TEAM AS WORLD / NA - OMNI IS WITH ATA ON THE FEDEX TEAM FOR THE AMC/CRAF PROGRAM - WE HAVE ALREADY RETIRED 2 OF THE CAL -30S AND THE THIRD AND LAST ONE WILL GO IN MAY - THE 5 NWA -30S ARE ON LINE (1 IN C CHECK) WE HAVE 9 TOTAL DC10S AND YES WE ARE HIRING CREWS - BEEN DOING THIS SUPPLEMENTAL JOB FOR TOTAL 14 YEARS BOTH IN WAR AND PEACE TIME - THERE IS ALWAYS A NEED TO MOVE TROOPS

 

I always thought that the Atlas aircraft (not polar) look more like FedEx?

 

Sorry there Mr DC10pilot, last time I saw the paperwork I remember FedEx, ATA and ATI and a couple others but no Omni. That could have changed recently though becuase ATI may have dropped it. I guess the new owner overthere is made some changes for the worst. With thier fleet and crewing they may not meet the requirements anymore.

Some of the other sups have some frieght to fall back on. However, omni is all pax. You guys have a 757 doing something out of Vegas and the rest is AMC pax through EDFH. True there is always a need to move troops but once we have a re-alignment (if politics get in the way) I couldnt imagine the current levels could be sustained. You may have 9 on the ramp now at omni but lets check back with one another in 60 days. I bet 2-3 more show up. (not including the fire bomber)

 

Actually, over a year ago, we bought several former Delta MD11s, and three of them are currently on lease to World. Since we don't have conversion spots immediately available, and the current lease is only for a relatively short duration, World will continue to operate "our" md's for the nest few years. Then when the conversion slots line up off they go to the cargo door chopping block!

We'd buy all the MDs in the world right now if they were cargo configured. It's that conversion process that's the choke point. Whether or not World, or any other operator, goes bankrupt in the next few years won't affect (effect?) that choke piont or UPS's timetable....

 

Word is that some of the majior shareholders are ****ed off bigtime. World still hasn't released their third quarter results from 2006, and the shareholders are calling for managements head.