Correct. At ABX, consistent with what Kougarok notes, there is a group of aircraft that are DHL-owned or DHL-dry-leased. And there is a group of aircraft that, while they are painted in DHL colors and used by ABX primarily on DHL routes, aren't actually owned by DHL. So you can see those tails flying really on any route of ABX's, even though they wear the DHL livery. ABX has the flexibility to use those in a way that Atlas and ATI (and ABX) do not have with the aircraft that are actually dry-leased to Amazon. It's like the two Sonair-owned 747s that Atlas flies for Sonair on the Houston Express. Sonair will occasionally give Atlas permission to use them on certain specific charters (think NFL). But at least when World had the contract (for a dedicated VIP MD11), Sonair was super-extroardinarily-pain-in-the-tuckus persnickety about what groups would be allowed to charter their aircraft, and hyper-alert for any damage to the interior arising from such a group's use. I assume that they're pretty-much the same way with Atlas.

 

Your assumption is correct. Heck, it took two or three years of flying those aircraft before Atlas was able to talk Sonair into picking up ANY other contracts. Atlas said, "we have the industry contacts to get these aircraft flying, and hey look you have one spare sitting doing nothing." Sonair's answer: "That spare is a spare... we won't use it for anything other than that."

A couple of lucrative charter trips broke that ice. Now the relationship is a little more flexible when it comes to pursuing flying that will be mutually beneficial.

 

You guys seem to know a lot of useless info about how companies utilize and shuffle their aircraft to generate revenue. Any ideas on how to get these same dirt bag operators to pay their pilots industry standard?

 

Great response. I have a suggestion. It’s proved to get management fired in the past.

 

First, define "industry standard".

All jobs depend upon two factors, supply and demand. And this is what sets the pay for these jobs. If you have pilots who are willing to work for these wages that satisfies the supply portion for the company, hence no need to raise wages when the resources are available.

Start reducing the supply, pilots not applying and pilots leaving for better paying jobs, then the demand kicks in to increase wages to counter the diminishing supply.

However, in the history of US air carriers this simple concept is still hard for many to comprehend.

 

Uh, yeah, because the unions and companies long ago cemented loyal pilot groups that won't leave: it's called company seniority.

 

No need to define it. The work has already been done. Multiple pilot unions have published Contract Comparisons for the last few years now. When you take emotion and opinion out of the equations, the standards speak for themselves when they are plotted out in chart form. Now, getting pilots who all think they know more than the next guy to actually look at these charts, let alone study them, well, that is another challenge altogether.

 

Ha! I remember when you were just whippersnapper... now you sound like a grizzled veteran.

Keep up the good work, buddy. And Happy New Year!

 

Thanks and Happy New Year to you too!

 

You might want to reserve your kudos until you see what we have been paying them for in the form of a cba or an arbitrated settlement crammed down our throats. You might find them blaming the crew force for the contract we get despite all the efforts/risk made by us resulting in the recent court injunction.

Keep in mind, they have no professional negotiators working for us despite their availability to us from international.