That is a heck of an assumption. Is it based on anything?

Amazon said at the time that the A330s were to replace older, smaller 767s, not for expansion. Amazon ships a lot of air. They're not looking to move it very far. They want volume, and the A330 has more volume than the 767 does. They move stuff around between distribution centers domestically to facilitate their Prime 2-day shipping. They have other networks for their foreign operations, and if they're moving significant volume across oceans, I'm not aware of it.

 

I heard it from a check airman so it’s gotta be true!

 

I thought those planes were all being delivered without a crew rest module?

 

That sounds great but we don't need an augmented crew to fly to Europe from CVG. West coast sure but this is way out there from reality and a stretch considering we haven't even got all 10. If that was the case it'd be AMS, FRA and LEJ. How many more planes will have to come to start flying Europe or even South America?

The short term, "next year" we'll need augmented crews. I heard 4 from a webcast or snacks and facts maybe. IDK.

 

3rd 787 end of 2024, 4th and 5th 2025.

at most, 5 by the end of next year. Assuming no delivery delays or mandatory grounding….

 

Awesome thanks, I like "at most"! At least 5 would be great, we can only hope for that, more would be awesome! 🤙🏻
So 5, if all 5 are flying destinations greater than 8 hours ie JFK, BOS, SYD, then I hope hiring continues for those poolees, including freighters that are coming.

 

Does anyone including you CJO'ers know about upcoming classes? Was there a May class and will there be a June class?

 

I've been told that we are running classes once a month for rest of year. Not sure of the size, but definitely has to be smaller than previously as planned.

 

There will only be 3 more classes of 5 for the rest of the year. Apparently we’ll have 7 Amazon freighters by December, but we’ll only be operating 5 of them (Amazon doesn’t want to add AC during busy season…)…the rest come next year. From what I’ve been told Amazon is impressed with our operation and wants to expand (up to 50 aircraft). I think all expansion is on hold until the dust settles with the merger…

 

With the way the conversions have been going I would guess that there might be 4 operational by end of year. There are still only 2 now, and one has barely been operational for a month.

The big question is what happens when August 5 comes. Will merger go thru without being contested? If it’s contested does HAL have enough financial credit to keep on losing 1.5 million a day, or do they pull the plug ?

If it’s not contested does Alaska start making operational decisions before the merger even goes through like to stop operating empty flights to and from other continents and paying people hundreds of thousands to continue inefficiencies causing the company to lose 1.5 million a day.

Does the freighter operation have enough meat on the bone to make it worth operating or is it another money losing operation that HAL management tries to spin as something profitable? (“right where we want to be” to make a direct snacks and facts quote).

Those are all big questions that only a few in the C-suite in Seattle know the answer to. Pretty sure the entire management team in HNL is just waiting to cash out their stock options at 12 or 18 a share and retire depending on what happens on Aug 5.