Cargo/AMCI rankings?
 

Hi all. New to the forums with a question I haven't seen answered elsewhere. Is there any consensus with regard to ranking the desirability of cargo and AMCI carriers from a pilot's perspective? I'll be retiring from the AF in a couple years and trying to fly while remaining in Europe so I think this world is my future. With the recent volatility in the industry (and a lot of salt in the forums) I'm curious as to which is the least worst option? :) I'd imagine FedEx and UPS vie for 1 & 2, Atlas at 3 and then the rest? How would Kalitta, Omni, ABX, ATI, National, Global etc. rack and stack after that? Thanks!

Just my personal opinion as a former K4 guy…..and it’s worth what you paid for it. I’d say as far as AMCI carriers go Atlas would be my #1. Kalitta next. I’d like to say Omni is right up there too….but the fact that they are now owned by ATSG gives me pause. I worked for an ATSG company in the past and I would not trust my career to an ATSG carrier. You’ll want to stick with home basing/gateway travel.

Unless you are married to someone holding citizenship within the EU or a dual citizen yourself it may not be possible for you to stay over there. FedEx just announced they are closing their Cologne domicile and intra-European flying at UPS goes relatively senior. An ACMI with home basing may work well (assuming you can legally establish residency there), but a lot of them have legalese about requiring a U.S. address. If you just want a few more years over there I’d suggest working a GS position for USAFE or EUCOM.

All good points. I think we have German residency requirements met with a side business my wife will be running and we own a house in the States that should meet the US address requirements.

I've had trouble finding info about UPS's intra-Europe routes. (Did I miss that forum thread?) If I couldn't hold them as a new hire it wouldn't be an option for me.

Thoughts on how easy it'll be for young guys to hold FedEx CGN routes they switch to the 777 and commute from MEM? I'd just commute from home.

I'm guessing Atlas and Kalitta would be the safest bets. Seems like guys have moderate success asking scheduling to start and end trips in Europe.

Anyone living this life right now that can speak to the realities of it?

Thanks!!

Unfortunately, I think you’re living a dream that doesn’t exist. Hopefully, you can make it work. If you fail, don’t beat yourself up. You aren’t the first.

You could try Western Global. I know a few of their pilots reside in AMS.

Don’t do this unless you really hate yourself

As someone who flew for ATI, so an ATSG company I second this. I was at ATI for 7 years and I will tell you that all airlines are cheap but, I don’t even have the words to explain how cheap ATSG is.

All airline executives are greedy but, ATSG management would drink their employees blood to save a dollar. They’re ruthless.

So, if you make the decision to go to ATI, it won’t matter where you live because they use JA’ing as just a normal part of the monthly scheduling system, so you won’t go home anyways.

I've got no illusions that it'll be cheap or easy, but we'll give it a try. I know there's a couple FedEx guys that commute STN-MEM that seem to be doing ok. We looked at staying in the UK but after Brexit the immigration lawyer said don't bother. Germany however will gladly take all our money in exchange for residency. And we've already got an Airbnb there so it makes sense. Whichever way it goes, I'll be happy to share my experiences here for future guys like me.

Currently at ups. Our Germany flying is mostly on the 75/76 fleet on the “z lines” (Sdf intl). While they are out there, the z trips also encompass domestic operations. It might take you a year or longer to get the Germany trips, which are 2-4 legs a night. That is if you start in the z, if you don’t you are looking at 18 month seat lock or anywhere between 6-12 months to swap domiciles within the 75/6 bases. Could be longer depending on staffing and how many people move around. I’m domestic and still can’t touch z yet at over a year. Germany lines are either: company dh’s, commercial flights or operating the flight from Sdf to phl then over the pond, and same coming back so it is possible you would be commuting all the way over here to fly right back if you have to operate.

When I interviewed at atlas prior to here, you could live overseas if you wanted. They are not exactly home basing, they do gateway travel. They only provide a ticket within the us, it’s your responsibility to get to the us. Debated looking into living overseas there as they said they have many people who do it successfully. So if you commute to phl (or ewr, whatever works) from cgn, they will get you a ticket from phl to anywhere you need to start in the us.

good luck