So what was the result of the base arbitration?

I agree. This place has gone through so many ups and downs over its 43 year history. It’s got a solid contract, above average W2 earnings, I will be willing to bet new bases will be added, others will move to them or commute like 80% of the industry does. Managements posturing is just that. It’s negotiations.That’s what they do. MSP will continue to grow. Not like it has in the last 15 years but there will be spots. Planes will come, the contract will get solved, not in 90 days like that last one but that was not the norm with Covid. I’ve been in this industry for 25 years. The last 5 was unforeseen. Lots of new pilots that are perplexed why they can’t get hired at a legacy with 1500 and 500 jet FO time. It’s cyclical. This is the norm. 3000 jet PIC in a regional jet was probably the average in my new hire class. Good luck and I hope you get an interview!

Thank you everyone for the information! I am interested in the potential for a CVG base; I live ~2.5 hours from it in OH. I could commute to MSP but would not be ideal. I have a few additional questions:

1. If arbitration was favorable to CVG as a new base; how long before it would open? I have read anywhere from Jan 1 to end of 2026?
2. With FO reserve being a year at this point, how long to be able to hold Long Call Reserve?

Thanks again and looking forward to the potential of joining the team. I see SC as a place to finish my career.


Cheers,

Randy

I wanted to, first of all, wish you luck. Given your location it’s a good move.
As an update, we’ve been told the arbitration has become more of a mediation to resolve outstanding items. Believe that speaks to mgmt’s eagerness to open CVG and seeing their complete position as untenable. Good news for those hoping for a clean opening. I’m just a cog in the wheel but Feb 1 is certainly possible IMHO. Standby to standby.

It doesn’t matter how long on reserve. Getting a NB cjo is what matters. Capeesh? Besides, it’s impossible to predict anyhow. All your other questions have been spot on. Good luck!

Edit. PS. I rode that 2.5 hour callout pony for some time. It works.

Thank you! I greatly appreciate the information and hoping to hear something soon!

I have some additional questions regarding mechanics of reserve but will move them over to a more appropriate thread. Thanks again!

Obviously things will change once CVG opens, but can anybody shed light on what the typical Amazon schedules look like right now? One, two legs a day? The planes look like they do some pretty gross all nighters like PDX-LAS-CVG, was curious if the crews do the same.

I haven’t seen any pairings where you fly PDX LAS CVG in the same duty period. Every time I have flown PDX LAS, it was a single-leg duty period. During my time at Sunny the max legs I’ve flown on a day involving cargo is 3. Normally it is 2. 1 leg days are not uncommon at all.

​​​​​​There is a lot of backside flying. More than ever with the increase in Amazon flying. Hard to avoid unless you are pretty senior. Some of the sting as of late is probably due to the draw down in passenger block while at the same time increasing cargo block.

Three leg backside is pretty rare. Two is not uncommon. Fatigue calls are through the roof. Maybe someday they will figure out how to stage crews to avoid fatigue calls. Some schedules people just can't make it through.

staging crews is inefficient and costs money in hotels,offlines (company spends literally millions on offline DH travel) and per diem. Jude and the analytics team have determined it’s cheaper to take a fatigue cancel (Amazon only penalizes the first cancel in 24 hours the rest become secondary cancels) than to stage crews to mitigate fatigue. That 1am STL-CVG-LAL was brutal

I hate redeyes but nothing I have done recently, on the cargo side of things, is worse than the SFO LAL or PDX MCI LAL redeyes we used to do. I’m glad I never have to worry about being assigned true transcon redeyes. Idk how many LAX JFK redeyes I’d have in me.