TheFoose

Thanks! Odds for something good are in my favor then!

P-3Bubba

Im confused as to what’s not “good” on that list?

-Bubs

opt0712

Exactly my thoughts. Perhaps one base choice over the other? But seriously, if you have been pure military before FedEx, please read Flying the Line Pts. 1 and 2 at some point for perspective. You'll get them in a thumb drive from the union when you start.

subin30

How are the openings for foreign base? HKG in particular.

IQuitEagle

HKG base is shrinking by about 50% on the last system bid. And with everything that is going on, there is real doubt it will remain much longer. Even if it does, there are unlikely to be openings for New Hires for a long time.

wrxpilot

It is shrinking, but honestly nobody at the pilot level has any clue what’s going to happen. It’s not easy to get us out to Asia, and it’s going to cost a fortune to buy us DHs out here. Not to mention it’s a major PIA to deal with any Asia IROPS from crews in OAK.

More importantly, FDX has come this far with HKG... If they decided to close it next week, it would take a really long time to wind down. By the time they did, COVID would be long gone and everything will more or less be normal. Kind of a stupid time to limit our ops in Asia.

The upcoming situation with temporary SFO relocation will be a good test of what works I guess!

IQuitEagle

I agree no one at our level knows what will happen. But I disagree that it is a much bigger PIA to position us/deal with issues if we are based on the west coast. Having to position us through SIN or NRT/KIX as it is, it takes the same amount of time to get us in position as it would from SFO/OAK. Airfare is slightly more to NRT from SFO vs. HKG, but not a game changer. If they wanted to close the base, I think they could do that fairly quickly if they wanted to.

wrxpilot

You're thinking short term, as if what we dealt with in 2020 is how it always used to be. It used to be that it was a car ride of a few hours from CAN-HKG, or a quick flight in the AM or PM on KA (or a quick train ride if you deviated). Even now, as much of a PIA as it is to start a trip, it’s WAY quicker to fly HKG crews into SIN/TPE/KIX/NRT then a 12 hour flight from SFO.

Also, they can’t just close the base next week and say “Ok, you guys are all OAK based as of next month!”. There has to be a bid, new training, etc. Again, by the time that was even done I think many of the travel restrictions won’t even exist. It would just make the whole thing expensive and pointless.

IQuitEagle

I remember how it used to be. I’d love for it to go back to that. I think you are more optimistic than I am about how fast things will recover. Of course the company can’t close the base overnight. Perhaps your idea of “a really long time” in relation to closing the base is different than mine. And sure, the flight from HKG to SIN/NRT is shorter, but effectively not so much in terms of getting us into position. It just means that the layover once you get to SIN etc may be shorter.

The coronavirus is ultimately only one aspect of several that affect the base. One other is that China is making it much more difficult for all types of companies to do business in HK. That change in attitude in control and regulation began before Covid, and it won’t go away after it.

Regardless, the writing is on the wall. They intend to transfer a large portion of our flying to OAK. The only question is if the company continues to see enough value in having a small base out here. And neither you nor I know that. (Btw, I hope it stays and we can get back to normal again. Six months ago I was with you and thought they would never close this base. Now I am not so sure.)

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

Precontact

UPS has never had an Asia crew base and we have been operating intra-Asia for years so it can be done.