ABX Air Hiring
 

Requirements
Unrestricted ATP (Airline Transport Rating) with asymmetrical thrust
2,000 hours total fixed-wing flying time
1,000 hours multi-engine
500 hours turbine
First Class Medical
Legally authorized to work in the United States and Canada
Current passport with 3 years validity remaining and no restrictions on international travel
FCC radio/telephone permit
College degree preferred

Looks like they just opened the door-
ABX Air Careers: Pilot Careers

Goddamit, I have to do the FE written again??? How senior is the DC-8 back seat and whats the time to hold the Caravelle? I heard guys are getting left seat YS11 in like two years. Those grey uniforms are cool. Almost star trecky!

What exactly is ABX's schedule? They haven't hired in so long everything is way out of date on APC and I don't know anyone there. They aren't home based like ATI, right? Is APC payscale accurate, etc. Can someone current there please update everyone on things? Their website doesn't tell much.

Anyone wants a copy of the CBA PM me.

So I've been at ABX for a while as a FO and while the captains are a great bunch of guys (generally) I would really, really like to upgrade! So if anyone has realistic questions besides this ass hat let me know and I'll try and answer them.

I know for me I am wondering the normal stuff. Realistic first year and after pay. Schedules. Work rules. contract renewal date.

As a new hire you're going to work some combination of 17 on 14 off with 2 weeks of vacation a year all on reserve. Vacation tops out at 4 weeks. I generally get 4 solid months off per year but occasionally work as long as 28 days. (It's all in how you bid) The current bases are CVG and MIA with the Amazon operation out of ILN (company paid van down there from CVG.) There's only two FO's at the MIA base right now so they'll either back-fill it or close it. Your guess is as good as mine. I suspect they'll back-fill it.

Pay is $51.92 first year, $100.62 second year, $109.68 third year, etc.
68 hour monthly guarantee. There M.O. is to not to have enough crews so there's plenty of extra flying if you want it.

Health insurance is pretty good (I don't notice any big bills) They match the 401K, I can't remember the match maybe 3 or 4%.

It's generally a pretty good job. The 767 is relatively easy to fly. The biggest thing I flew before ABX was a Beech 1900 so it's doable.

Our last contract was 2009. It's one or two years past the effective date which is common with airlines. You just plug along with what you have and maybe get retroactive pay when the contract is settled again. It's just how the airline game is played.

ABX Contract
 

PM sent. Thanks in advance... AU.

Pm sent. Thanks

Jim

Awesome info, thanks for taking the time.

APC pay rate figures are woefully outdated. Those are the 2012 rates that you see posted. For those who don't have a copy of CBA available, add ~ 7.16% to the rates that you see. (Compounded effects of 2,2,3 percent raises from 1/2013 through 1/2015.)

What kind of routes (domestic/international) are being flown out of each base? Are CVG and ILN mainly domestic with MIA doing a little of both?

CVG you get it all- domestic, Honlulu, Mexico, Central and South America, the islands. ILN is Amazon and is flown by the CVG crews. MIA you mostly fly the islands, Central and South America. A little bit of military charter out of CVG.

Thanks for the info!

From the ABX Career page:

"In addition to the application, you will be asked to take an online assessment. Please allow a minimum of one hour of uninterrupted time to complete the assessment as some portions are timed."

Has anyone taken the assessment? If so, kindly explain what it consisted of.

Thanks

It's an IQ test and one of the psychometric tests that asks you questions like 'do you enjoy being in large crowds' agree, disagree, or neutral. No aviation knowledge

I'm surprised, but pleased, the company is paying for at least some level of vetting for new candidates. If you do any research, you'd have found the old days of interviewing offered a simple 20 or 25 question aviation test (and it may still be part of the process) without any online assessment. Heck, most on the property now would probably fail! <Grin>

If you were a young guy, had no PIC "turbine" but lets say for instance you could have a shot at ABX or even ATI...Would anyone do it again? Is it somewhere where a young pilot should invest his or her time at for awhile? Just trying to shake it up and see what people have to say about all of this Amazon movement (and maybe trying to get a little advice for myself).

The reason I say PIC with no turbine is because that's where I stand. I could go to a regional or even a corporate outfit and upgrade a lot quicker than ABX. But, at ABX if this Amazon stuff takes off, I would stay there as long as I could. Upgrades wouldn't matter to me at that point (granted this Amazon stuff takes off and goes well beyond the 5 yr contract).

I was a young new hire at ABX in 1995. After a couple of decades of slow decline, I jumped ship to a legacy carrier. Should've done it 15 years ago, hindsight is always 20/20.

Hey Kougarok, did you get a captain bid yet? Best of luck, my friend.

But you probably had turbine PIC to jump ship to that carrier didn't you?

Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk

Not yet Boyz. They need to hire someone to replace me first. :)
Best of luck to you as well!

You have to look at the facts. ABX is an ACMI carrier. DHL or Amazon can change, cancel or move any of these contracts with just 90 days notice. Currently the management at ABX is one of the worst in the industry with Labor-Management relations. The union has much less bargaining power now that ABX is just an ACMI carrier. ATSG the parent company owns both ATI and ABX. The management is notorious for moving airplanes in a shell game from carrier to carrier as they deem necessary. This is often done to keep airframes at ATI which has a much lower cost structure. The DHL contracts still have a few years left in them but could be easily moved to Atlas, Kalitta or any other company who wants to bid on the work. The Amazon contract could also be diversified with other carriers in order to spread risk. Amazon also is a company which is highly sophisticated technologically and one can imagine their future use of drones, single pilot, and other labor saving enhancements. In other words thing might be good for now but an ACMI carrier is one contract away from unemployment. This is NOT your grandfather's ABX.

Like a former ABX chief pilot (J.E.) once told me...
"If this tumbles your personal gyros, maybe this isn't the job for you"

Proceed with caution.

Yes but you can get turbine PIC almost immediately at some regionals these days. Good luck👍🏻

You mean Joe actually spoke? I never heard him speak..... but I only worked there 14 years.

Not easy to move flying anymore...not enough pilots...and sometimes can't get the planes u want, either...

Guess uncle Joe doesn't figure on getting pilots being a problem since he terminated all the furloughees the same week they opened the application window.

Uncle Joe figures he can find plenty of 23 year old wanna be wonders just like his VP's son who was hired at the sister company. Its his version of hiring from within. But the good news is: All captains will be paid check airman pay from this point on!

Can any current employee of ABX answer these for me, if possible?

1. Someone in another thread has said that new hires will start at 2nd year pay. Can you please verify that?

2. What is the current, as of today aircraft count on property? Is the fleet list here on APC correct? What is the current pilot count?

3. What, if any, are the confirmed future aircraft delivers for ABX? Not both ABX and ATI.

4. What are the confirmed, "confirmed rumor" if need be, for the hiring goal for 2016 and 2017?

5. I set up an interview for next week but since ABX hasn't hired in awhile, there's no current gouge out there. Was told a panel of 4 and possible sim after. Anything you can add would be great.

Thanks in advance and I understand if not much is known at this point.

1. Seriously? Why would you start at second year pay? We will get all the pilots we need at first year rates. Friday they are interviewing previously qualified 747/767 Captains and check airmen.

2. 47 confirmed tails with conversion slots in Tel Aviv. These are CAM assets. You will see a 50/50 split, ATI-ABX

3. Confirmed hiring ten a month at least through the next two years based on current Amazon projections. We will double crew force by that time.

4. You will get either a DC-8,DC-9, or 767 sim. Flying is flying, but you better have hand skills. Glass skills won't really be what they are looking for.......trust me on this!

Didn't say that you wouldn't get pilots, just wanted clarification. I found it silly myself but always best to find the right info. Thx and appreciate the rest.

Just checked. That second year pay issue only applies at ATI. It seems like they are having trouble attracting candidates.

In order for ABX to start new hires at second year pay it would have to have Union approval.

The ABX pilot group is relatively old. Median age is somewhere in the late 50's.
If you're under 35 and get hired in the first group you'll be number one on the seniority list eventually. If they hire like Moto thinks you'll be off reserve within a year and probably captain in 5 years. I don't have a crystal ball so these are just educated guesses.

We have pretty good work rules. The ABX pilot group is what the Navy calls plank owners. We are the pilot group that started Teamsters local 1224.

2 years ago the median age was 55.7. We've lost some older guys but no youth added...

Thank you for that. I hate to bother you, but just a couple of more questions. I live in South Florida, do you know if the chances of being based in MIA would be good, bad, or 50/50 chance if I went into this May class.

Has there been any hint to what monthly bids would look like? Commutable trips if not living in base? Do you have a lot of commuters now? What are lines like now? 3-4 days on 3-4 days off, etc...?

I'm betting it's not too long until the mandatory age is increased from 65 to 70.

It it's still operational, I'd put them in the old level-B DC-9 sim and give them the ret/0, NDB 6R at DAY with the wx. set just above mins. That'll show you who can hand fly and who can't. :eek:

Chances of being based in MIA are pretty poor. I commute from the West coast. Commute of MIA to CVG is pretty easy right now. So yeah it's commutable.

MIA domicile will close May 31. All MIA flying will be done with CVG crews.

Commuting into CVG... ABX work day is from 3AM to 3AM. Because of this you can commute into CVG on any DHL flight, they all land prior to 3AM and all outbound flights depart after 3AM. At ABX, if you are booked on the flight and you don't make it in, no harm. You just make up the day on a later day off.

Each airplane has 4-5 jumpseats

Lines are a mixture of 17 on 14 off and week on week off. I'm 12 from the bottom and can hold which ever pattern I want if you factor in reserve.