Airline Pilot Central Forums - Amazon NOT starting it's own airline.

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Originally Posted by Radioactive (Post 2085599)

Your lack of knowledge of the situation strikes again. UPS and FedEx will be welcoming this news as it will remove high density, low margin volume from their networks and free up space for much higher yielding volume that they had to previously turn away as the contractually guaranteed Amazon volume got priority.

If UPS and FedEx wanted Amazon's crap-business off their airplanes, all they had to do was not renew their contract to carry it. It may have been low-yield, but it was a guaranteed income stream, and it doesn't make sense that either company would leave a "higher yielding" product on the ramp simply to accommodate Amazon. Ton-miles are leaving A-list carriers to be flown by C-list carriers...a net loss to the A-list pilot groups.

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As for wages, this will have no effect on FedEx and UPS but will have a huge impact on ATSG. ABX and ATI will now see themselves as peers of FedEx and UPS and not as a traditional ACMI. Therefore, they will be wanting a new contract that's comparable with FedEx and UPS.

It matters little what they "want." ATSG already has labor contracts with both pilot groups, has bid on this flying based on those contracts, and will likely steer most of the flying towards whichever one will do it for less. So for the next 5 years they (the pilots of both groups) are going to make whatever their contract says they're going to make. After that, they'll get to bid against Southern, Kalitta, Atlas, and whoever else Amazon can dig up (or create) for the next 5 years flying. Who knows, maybe UPS or FedEx will sharpen their pencils and the flying will go back to them?

Like I said, for a whole lot of reasons, this Amazon deal is no panacea.