chrisreedrules

The hard thing about making a decision to leave regional X for ACMI Y, is that there really is no safe place at the moment. I’d personally be reluctant to leave anywhere that I was already 50% up the seniority list at. Airlines will feel the pain in 2020. But if the economy doesn’t show signs of making a relatively quick recovery I certainly wouldn’t feel very safe at the bottom of an ACMI seniority list going into 2021.

We haven’t even really started to see the true economic fallout from this just yet. And the May economic data was really really bad. 40M unemployed.

shinydiscoballs

Stay put, have a friend that worked at Atlas and she left for commutair prior the "Kung Flu" debacle.

bababouey

Stay put, 4 legs a day and an Akron overnight is better than 10-15 day tour of China or the Mideast.


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ZeroTT

Two questions

1) do you want to work at an ACMI

2) can you tolerate a significant furlough

if you’re a guard guy whose long term goal is acmi ... go

if you want a major pax job and think acmi
is a step forward... don’t

Happyflyer

Are you married?
Do you want to stay married?

If either is no then go ACMI.

Otterbox

If they’re a FO at PSA, they probably still have a while to flow. There won’t be much movement on the seniority list until 2022/2023 when everyone starts hiring en mass again if the projections are correct.

It wouldn’t hurt to drop applications in at the ACMIs and consider going if receiving a CJO.

I know several folks who went RJ FO to Atlas FO to LCC FO and even one hired at DAL without ever upgrading at any of the airlines. 1000hrs of Wide body and international experience over the next 3 years will help the resume more than another 1000hrs of RJ SIC time if they decide to go and if they can probably go back to being an RJ CA under a DEC program in a few years if they miss it.

If they’re senior enough to upgrade at PSA it could be a different discussion if upgrades restart before they get an ACMI CJO.

C17B74

If they get to keep their seniority number and need a paycheck I say that lightly, than why not. If they can land a FedEx/UPS slot than even better. This is not the first time Big 3 folks were knocking on cargo doors, then they left when recalled. Top Cargo outfits were burned a little and remember it no doubt. Probably easier at the ACMI doors and they’re used to it by now, but even their lines have grown rather long. If your eventual goal has changed to top cargo outfits than ACMI experience is unmatched/unbeatable, not a bad delineator for the Big 3 when they start hiring again more competitively as the re-shaped 3 but smaller 3. Domestic may rise quickly we hope, international will lag significantly it seems.

kevin18

My understanding is that DEC programs were due to not having enough FOs to upgrade in the regionals. Given the lack of movement in the next couple years, do you think they’ll still be around immediately in a few years?

Delsol

To quote Airplane!, it's a completely different kind of flying, altogether. You're used to 4 day trips flying people out of nice airports, nice terminals with a Starbucks, and heading to a short overnight in Akron at the Holiday Inn Express. The flights are easy, kind of short, but get boring. You get good sleep at night since you cross maybe 1-2 time zones max. You're senior, so you're likely getting 15+ days off a month, you get pass travel on your airline and ZEDs on others. You get vacation time. You have a great union (ok, good enough) but generally when the phone rings on a day off and it's scheduling, it goes to voicemail.

Most if not all of that does not exist at most ACMI carriers. You owe the company a certain number of days a month-everyone does-and even though they buy you a ticket, you're traveling on an off day. So maybe 11-2 days at home a month, max. You show up to the cargo ramp at 0300 for a 12 hour flight on a 747-400F, it's hot, muggy, and pouring rain. All outside, hope you at least brought an umbrella. You have an uneventful flight to HKG, you get to be cruise pilot meaning you dont land of take off, which sucks since you dequal for landings soon and will have to go back to the sim for currency. But the airplane is awesome, it truly is-if only you got to fly it once in a while. You land late-afternoon, get to the very nice hotel in Kowloon, and go out for a dinner alone. You are so tired you can barely see but you're hungry. You sleep, but since you only have 22 hours off it's not great sleep. You look forward to your day off (your "one in seven") and hope it's somewhere nice, last month it was in a place you'd rather not be with a nice hotel. The next day you wake up a bit jet lagged and get lunch, and get ready to go.

Rinse and repeat 14-15 more days. Then come home very tired, and have two days in a fog due to jet lag. No or few ZEDs.

Enjoy until retirement.

ZeroTT

yes

probably not with great options but yes

This has not stopped one major pilot from turning 65; the demographic mess is just as bad and when the pax do come back hiring will be furious and the regionals will get smacked hard