Ok, my point still stands. When was the last time DHL or Amazon flown to airports like ORF.... there are a ton of cities that don’t offer great commute options on own metal to CVG or DHL/Amazon.

 

I know more about ATI thanks to our common parent company and management's "not one dollar more" philosophy that set the cost of ATI's 2018 CBA (which is now five months past its end date, by the way) as the limiting benchmark for ours. Kalitta just got a new contract and I don't know enough about that one or Omni's to be able to make good comparisons. As for Atlas, I don't know a lot about them. But I do know they're three months past the last deadline waiting for an arbitrated contract where management is chummy with the arbitrator, after five years of contentious negotiations and the company filing lawsuits against the union. Make of that what you will.

 

I think the moral of the story is that every job has its plusses and minuses, and what works for one person doesn't work for another.

 

DHL currently flies to Richmond via GSO, and then direct back to CVG. Yeah, I know that's not a short drive.

I get it - people like their no-thinking-no-sweat home basing. But I might ask the question this way: If you were a commuter and home basing became an option, would you give up $20,000 per year in pay, benefits and time off to get it?

 

I'd give up 50k, at least.

 

If you aren’t offering Mainline, LCC, Fed/UPS pay benefits. I’ll keep my home base/gateway travel. 20k isn’t worth the stress of crash padding, jumpseat ing, and jumping through hoops of getting to base.

A lot of folks aren’t going to jump through hoops to commute to ABX if there isn’t cargo options into CVG. Folks aren’t going to drive 2 hours to 2-leg to commute to ABX either. Don’t get me starting on OALing on pax carriers right now.... I am sure ABX is a good place to work for. It has a limited appeal. The problem with CVG is if you don’t live in a city that allows for commuting on own metal/Amazon/DHL, isn’t going to appeal to a lot of folks unless you have homebasing. That’s just the reality.

 

The thread is just drifting into a debate over home-basing vs. domiciled. The only airlines that typically offer home-basing are the few ACMI cargo operators. AA, DAL, FDX, UPS, Regionals, etc all stick with domiciled bases. ABX has kept that same model, even from the legacy days, as it works for them. If you are a job seeker it's just a matter of what works for you. Should you require tickets, live if ORF or wherever, apply to ATI, Connie, or Atlas. Want a few better rules and $$ in the long run, go with ABX. I've heard numbers ranging from 15K to 30K for what basing is worth vs. domiciled but it really doesn't matter since the math is there for personal assessment. All this has been mentioned before, it's very individualistic to your personal mileage in this area.

ABX's yearly hires about 40-50 per year. That cycle will most likely continue with attrition from retirements and resignations for the foreseeable future. Numbers may increase should ABX acquire additional flying/aircraft over what has already been announced. FO's have seen hard lines as quickly as 4-5 mths (varies). Captain upgrades at 5 yrs and may lower slightly over time.

 

"Find out what you like doing best, and get someone to pay you for doing it"

Not Many people here likes or wants to see this as a life opportunity; their mind set is only based on commuting and other minor jaggedness thinking. Let's keep the drive and purpose of the forum!
Safe flight everyone!

 

Then drive to a city that has one....or give up the rest of the QOL and every other item that makes the difference between an ok contract and a great one. I not trying to convince you, I could care less either way. Just telling you it comes at a cost. I would rather have a great contract and go to work like the other 90% of airline pilots in the US do. ABX crews airline everyday on company paid tickets into and out of position just like you would. If the trips starts or ends at other than domicile they have to buy a ticket. I have one this weekend I not going to use because I can ride the system and not have to go near a passenger terminal. Then the money they did not spend on a ticket is put into a bank for my future use. Also on the new contract we airline from/to home instead of from/to domicile. Old contract if it was cheaper to airline to domicile that is where the ticket was issued to...not now.

 

Hired 50+ this year and 36 more start in the next 3 classes.