jetlaggy

https://aircargoworld.com/allposts/a...cargo-airline/


Based on a job posting from Amazon, the e-commerce giant appears to be planning an expansion of its already substantial air cargo operations. The company’s Amazon Air Science and Technology team is looking to hire an applied scientist “to help scale and grow a startup cargo airline.”

Amazon has not yet responded to a request for comment on the posting, but the development plans seem to be in very early stages. The position will focus on mid- and long-term planning around “how to bring disruptive changes [to] how a startup airline is run,” with a focus on statistical and optimization modeling and data analytics.

It is unclear how Amazon’s expansion of its cargo airline capabilities might affect its current arrangements with Air Transport Services Group– and Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings-affiliated carriers, which operate 767 freighters— and also 737 freighters, in Atlas’ case — on Amazon’s behalf. Amazon has already reassigned some of its leased aircraft among its contracted operators, as reported by our sister publication, Cargo Facts.

Amazon has separate lease terms, or dry leases, for its 767F and 737F aircraft, allowing the company to move its aircraft among operators. Whether that will lead to Amazon eventually utilizing those freighters for its own startup airline remains to be seen.

Tango Uniform

Beat me to it. I just read the email. Looks like UPS part deux. Gobble up planes have third parties fly them until ready to flip the switch. I don’t think they have a certificate yet? ( IE IPX)

Precontact

And Bezos loves pilot unions so this will interesting going forward.

ROBsINtheHOOD

Bezos is asking , “ Who do I pay off ? Who do I screw ? Who can I screw ? Who can I screw without paying ? Who can’t I screw ? What are my risks / liabilities ? How much market share can we take ? Who’s our competition ? He’s bloody ruthless.

Cloudkicker

UPDATE: Subsequent to the publication of this article an Amazon spokeswoman told Air Cargo World, “The role is a network design role and similar to positions we have had since we started our air network five years ago.”

Turbine1

Amazon also pulled the job listing off their Prime Air openings page. Guess they didn’t like their plans leaking out to the press and the AAWH and ATSG pilots getting a heads up that they may soon be out of a job.

BeanBurrito

Depends on how many of your peers are willing to step up and cut your throat for the “promise” of a future, good pay and retirement for what they hope is only Temporary Low pay and crappy non union work rules.... They actually should apply to an established airline that pays better from the start. They are willing to forego a competitive salary by trying to be on the “ground floor” of something that “might be Big” lol..... then they turn 50 looking at 7 other competitors cutting throats and keeping salaries down while they can’t afford to leave with a mortgage, two divorces, 4 kids (two starting college) and a mid life crisis car payment.
Pilots have been cutting each other’s throats ever since they sunk low enough to pay Com Air 10 grand for the opportunity to make food stamp salaries.... the biggest obstacle to a secure future are your peers. Our biggest enemy are our peers and they grow new ones every year that have only short term goals. I have seen the cycle continue for 30 years now... We are our worst enemies...

Here is a parody timeline
Year 1-5 - “I’m on the ground floor of something potentially great... all we need is a union to get our wages and benefits up, but I can afford it right now because I’m single and still live in my parents basement while I pay off my school and flight training loans”

Year 5-7.- We have a union and our 1st contract and better pay and work rules, but no where near where we need to be.... but the next contract should be a Quantum Leap...... I hope my girlfriend is not pregnant...”

Year 7-10 - “ Wow... the company is really dragging this contract out... it’s been 3 years of negotiations but we have a great guy on the negotiating team who says we will have UPS pay....I’m Captain now so I think I’ll buy this $400k house and this $53k mini van because wife is expecting baby number 2.”

Year 10-15 - “ I’ve gotta get out of here...nothing has changed... Wal Mart and Target are killing us....insurance is costing me $800 per month for my family.....and the economy is down and nobody is hiring. I can’t take a pay cut to start at the bottom of another airline but they are talking furlough because we are asking for too much and they brought on two other competitors...”

and the cycle continues on..

senecacaptain

I wouldn't loose sleep based on some job description that HR wrote. Who knows what exactly Amazon is doing. The easy button would just be buy FedEx and/or UPS. Or ATSG. Why reinvent the wheel. Amazon wanted to get into grocery stores, they bought Whole Foods, they didn't go build grocery stores from scratch.

Who knows what will happen.

BeanBurrito

glad you are hopeful.... Amazon likes that... I didn’t like it so I left for a great airline that pays close to what pilots are worth with great benefits, pension, 401k and job security .. that was my easy button and there are better options out there for everyone if you go for it.
when more than one airline and more than one airline pilot group is fighting for scraps.... you get scraps..

wjcandee

Pretty-clear now that this was a false-alarm by a completely-incompetent journalist.

That particular description as a "startup cargo airline" had been used before to describe what they're doing now, and this was a cut-and-paste of a previously-used job description in network planning.

I made the mistake of assuming that a "respected" publication like that would at least have had some internal Amazon source who gave them the skinny on background, that a journalist would know he needed to have it, and that an editor (a dying profession) would have demanded it before publication. Like the old days.

But nope, just a complete hack job by an idiot, that sucked all of us in. Nothing to see here.