Commando

ABX Air Finalizes Severance and Retention Plans: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

I'm sure ABX will survive for a while. KIX and ACMI work.

Albief15

Are there any programs for guys displaced to get type ratings with some workforce funds? Might be a good chance for some of them to pick up either 737 or some biz jet (Gulfstream, Hawker, etc) type ratings. SWA and the fractionals are hiring...

VegasBoy

A lot of states have displaced worker vocational re-training programs that offer tuition subsidies. However, the specific amount varies from state to state and in a lot of places is capped at 3-3500 dollars.
Every little bit helps.
Ohio Unemployment Compensation Online

Workforce Improvement Act Application Assistance:
http://www.doleta.gov/usworkforce/statecon.cfm

Rottweiler

Kinda quiet on this thread.... Not very many offers of hiring assistance this time around.

My .02 is that the ABX and Astar guys and gals are shooting yourselves in the foot. Anyone wasting their time writing letters to their senator, making picket signs or walking at a protest are wasting time you could be networking with friends, sending out resumes, and looking for a new job.

You're not the first to ever have this fate befall you. Thousands have walked this line at Aloha, ATA, Champion, etc... And many airlines from Eastern and Pan Am to West Pac and Vanguard. And with 10,000+ "Post-911" furloughees from United, American, Delta, USair, Northwest, Continental, and America West all finding their careers recovering, you're hard pressed to find sympathy while protesting DHL and UPS. All of the pilots I mentioned above could have "put up the good fight" and "died with their boots on" and all of the other catch phrases I've read, but it would not have amounted to any saved jobs.

Good luck. I, personally, have not had the ideal career, but I have spent each downturn remarketing myself, not writing stern letters to the CEO of the company where I was furloughed.

Rott

hvydriver

I'm sure everyone who is interested in staying in aviation are networking. I'm also sure there are thousands of awesome aviation jobs out there right now. So obviously, we are wasting our time trying to derail this deal. I apologize to everyone for the inconvienience. Thanks for the good luck though Rott. Everyone is going to need it.

qiutong

The loss of jobs at ABX/Astar would be easier to take if DHL's decision made sense. After years of mistakes led to their loss of market share/profits, they seemed to blame everything and everone else for it rather than say "what are we doing wrong?" Then they decide to pay the competition a billion dollars a year to compete against them, throwing away what they perceived to be the problem; ABX/Astar/Ohio workers. This would be like Delta Airlines making the anouncement that they can no longer accept their current losses, so they are going to fire their pilots and FA's, park their airplanes, and pay American Airlines a billion dollars a year to fly their passengers, and still consider themselves in competition.

In the past when an airline has gone out of business, with hindsight people can say "if only they had done this or if only they had done that", but with DHL, their current situation was seen with foresight, not hindsight. Everyone screamed "don't do this, don't do that" or you'll lose the business, but they didn't listen. What a shame!

I have nothing to back any of this up with, only my emotions and gut feelings. I'm frustrated with the situation, but it's water under the bridge and now I'll move on with my life. Guys flying for UPS telling me that I'm a fool for fighting for my job only add to my frustration. Have a little sympathy. My thanks to the ones that do.

In closing I believe that FedEx and UPS were never afraid of DHL. They were afraid of Airborne Express with money! Anybody else believe that?

SaltyDog

The majority of brown pilots understand that the shark that bit the ABX/AStar pilots can easily turn and bite us too. We are not immune, we worry about scope, especially internationally. A rough and uncaring business. Best of luck to all.

757upspilot

What has happened with Airbourne may be the best argument against allowing non- U.S. ownership of an airline.
Best of luck to both Astar and Airborne folks.

hvydriver

Thanks 757. I wonder if the topic is going to come up in the treaty negotiations. I hope it does.

Commando

BINGO!!!!!!

This is the Biggest Threat Hands down in my opinion.