Cargo Scheduling Practices - Needed?
 

Just a general question for the opinion of all our beloved freight dawgs.

I have been considering applying to the cargo carriers and ultimately the schedules being the way they are sway me away.

14 days on, extendable to 17 days on, with then a week off seems to be a standard in that part of the industry.

The question is; why? Of course the planes are scattered all over the globe etc but why are the schedules designed in such a manner? Would it be realistic to maintain the kind of operation that you have and to build 4, 5, 7, 10 days trips at a time?

If so, why is it like this? Is it just "the way its always been"?

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

What carrier(s) are you considering that schedules like that? ACMIs?

I have friends both at Kalitta and Atlas who have described the schedules like that.

If this information is a misrepresentation, I would be happy to know your personal experience. I need all the information I can get.

Well in general the schedules at Kalitta are 17 on... 13/14 off... 14 during 31 day months... certainly there are lines or bidding issues which result in less time off between a line... but you will get your 13/14 each and every month unless you work days off.. which.. most of us don't. As for why its that way... the company pays our way to work.. ie., they buy me an airline ticket (albeit coach class) to and from work each and every month. They would prefer NOT to have to do that 2 or 3 times a month.... plus... in an average line of 17 days flying you very well may spend 90% or more of those days outside the US.....

FedEx and UPS have widly different schedules. They have schedules that are much closer to 121 pax carriers.

Atlas does the same 17 work days a month. It can be all at once or broken up a bit. One of the reasons some ACMI trips run longer is they are don't operate every day. A Pac Rim trip may have six crews playing tag around the Pacific. One crew will fly a plane to Hawaii and go to the hotel. They hand the plane off to a crew that brought a plane out a couple days earlier and have been sitting in Honolulu. The second crew will fly down to Australia and pass the plane to a third crew who will take it to a fourth crew in China who will give it to a fifth crew in Alaska who bring it to the lower 48 and a sixth crew will start out to Hawaii again. With two or three planes in the circuit you can do that in two weeks. But if you have to bring crews back from Australia or China after a week on the road and ship their replacement crew out your costs go way up. Plus if the crews self position by flying the plane to the next you have a crew waiting. If you're shipping crews out and something happens to the passenger flight your plane could show up and not have an onward crew.

Thanks for the insights guys.

I am trying to figure out which direction to take for my next step. The schedules for companies like K4 and Atlas seem to be what I thought they would be.

For those of you actually flying these schedules, how do you find it works out with a home life? Of course its difficult and not ideal, but how do you balance it?

If you have young children 17 or more days in a row at work is an eternity. Infants and toddlers are practically different humans in that amount of time. Mine are mostly grown and gone so it works pretty well. What you do need if you are in a marriage or long term relationship is a strong and independent spouse/partner. If it's going to break, malfunction or a disaster happen Murphy's law is in full effect and it will happen soon after you leave home and you are on the other side of the planet. Unlike other airline jobs you won't be home in a few days to deal with it. It is much easier now than even 10 years ago though. Skype, Facetime and email have made it far easier to stay in touch.

Omni guy here, I know you weren't listing us (as we don't do cargo anymore at the moment), but we do similar 18on/12off schedules. Home life is like being a visitor for a week and then you go back out into the system.

I think these schedules are ideal for single people with no pets, people that hate their family anyway, and empty nesters nearing retirement.

Either way, seems like you're doing some research first so that's good. Good luck to you wherever you end up.

Thanks guys, truly appreciated!

I have all the times etc to apply but like before, I am swayed by those schedules. The flying looks like fun and the equipment is of course my childhood dream. QOL is a valuable lesson that I learned over time and I don't think I would be happy in the long run with schedules like those...

Its one of those things where I know that I probably shouldn't, yet there is that nagging little voice that keeps saying "Maybe???"

Thanks again! :)