Not to mention the addition of MSP by DHL and the additional flying supporting UPS.

 

FO premium is rare. Open time for straight pay, mixed bag.

 

What exactly is additional business? We're doing routes for jets that are in for heavy checks. I can verify it personally, I witnessed 21Air at MSP. We all know how this works. We'll recover for (insert ACMI) and be done in a few months. Let's not pretend that we are not a recovery airline. I hope it changes, I also WILL NOT hold my breath. The superiority complex is insane at ABX. We're still one of the lowest paid ACMIs. 21 beats us there AND has home basing. Yes, we have a much better 401k. Instead of pushing for better, we're walking the fine line of Stockholm Syndrome. Further, flower season is exactly that- flower season. Good to see that we actually got a "sales department" though.

 

Quito & Medellin - 500 hours in two weeks in January/February and coming up again in May. UPS through the end of March.

I know the deal with MSP. Recoveries and covering heavy checks are the whole reason we have the GTs - they are DHL dedicated spares. DHL owns them and placed them with us for that specific purpose. Would you rather we didn't do that? We could just tell DHL we're done doing recoveries, let 21Air do them instead, and we can pare down our crew numbers by about 20 pilots or so. That should really improve the red/green calendar.

I have bad news. It's not going to change. This is the nature of the ACMI business. Contracts begin and end. Destinations change. Charters come and go. Get used to it or find something you like better.

I have heard many stories of former ABX pilots who went to places like American, United, Southwest and UPS who wish they had never left. Most of us who are sticking around for an extended time have surveyed the landscape and judged ABX to be the best deal around, so...yeah. If it makes you crazy, well, tough. Deal with it.

Based on available information, our rates look comparable to Atlas.

There is a lot more to compensation than rates and guarantees. We're all in the same business, flying the same type aircraft to the same places for the same customer. What they give in one place, they have to take from another. But if you think it looks that good, have you applied there?

There was another company once on the DHL ramp that signed a big contract with their pilots. The base pay was huge. Has anyone heard from them lately?

Are you unaware that the union meets twice a year with management to discuss items of interest on both sides? It's how we got R1 lines (for those who like that sort of thing), a significant improvement to short-term disability, and got the company to at least try long call reserve. We're pushing for better, but the company doesn't simply hand us whatever we want just for asking.

Why are you at ABX? Why are you still at ABX? You clearly hate it.

Life is too short to be miserable in your job. I can only hope that you have applications out everywhere and that you'll soon be scooped up by Big Name Airline where you will be insanely happy, right up to the point where a four-day trip feels like the Bataan Death March, you're not the highest paid guy on the ramp anymore, you're 5 years into negotiations with no end in sight and you discover that you're dealing with exactly the same problems as when you were at ABX.

Bon voyage and bon chance.

 

Could there ever be a point in time where MIA re-opens as a base?

 

I consider that highly unlikely. None of our Miami flying (or anywhere else for that matter) can ever be considered permanent. It changes constantly with customer demand.

 

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/al...executive-says

This isn't anything we didn't already know. It's just in print now.

My guess is that Alaska pilots will not ratify a JCBA that gives up enough to make a deal that Amazon will find palatable, and Amazon will not pay up just for the sake of having one more airline in the mix.

 

So 330's by summer?

 

Place your bets. See if you can get Kalshi to set it up.

 

So how much flying do we think we will be keeping for the foreseeable future with the UPS news?