ABX Air

[IFlyFL410]

Any good rumors or info on when they may hire again? What about the new Riverside sort?

 

[PCL_128]

Any good rumors or info on when they may hire again? What about the new Riverside sort?

Just had an ABEX DC-8 Captain on the jumpseat the other day. He said that the whole company is extremely understaffed right now, especially the -8. Still a few guys furloughed he said, but he doubts they'll be coming back. He said the rumor was that hiring should start next spring, but no confirmation yet.

 

[ABXbooger]

There are approximatly 30 retirements, we are taking delivery of 6 767's and then you have the medical-outs, we could be in need of 50-70 people next year. That's if everything stays status quo. Any addition to the flight schedule (rumored to be so) and the numbers could be more. Some mgmt have said in recent past that there could "probably" be some hiring next year. DHL has told us to paint the entire fleet yellow, except for 2 DC-9-10 that will be junked. They have also given us the go-ahead to bring back some DC-8's that had been scheduled to be junked...

 

[freightdogfred]

how do ya get hired??

 

[jacko123]

How is the QOL, days off, and do you ever brake guarantee of 65 hours?

 

[LarryinTN]

QOL depends on your situation. It can be very good on reserve if you live within an hour, or so, of ILN (two hour reserve call up). It can be very good if you are a line holder who can hold weekends at, or near, where you live. If you're just on reserve and commute it isn't all that great. Wilmington gets old pretty quick.

Bid periods are calendar months of either 30 or 31 days. (February steals one day from Jan and Mar so that they are all 30 days long) Reserve lines have 14 days off, hard lines have 15 days off.

The 767 is the only aircraft with any lines over 65 hours. Doesn't really matter, though. Any additional flying you do on days off is paid above guarantee regardless of how far below guarantee you might be otherwise. Any additional days are paid a minimum of 4.5 hours or the greater of actual or scheduled time. I've been averaging about 300 block hours per year as a line holder doing little, or no, extra flying. I'll be just under that this year.

Per Diem is $46 per day domestic. You get the full $46 if you land at another airport, it's not prorated by the hour or minute. That'll probably total around $7500 per year after subtracting out vacation and training days (which don't earn per diem). $41/day is tax free, $5 per day is taxed. That usually changes each year on Jan 1st.

Let's say you're a 3rd year DC9 FO making $99 per hour. Your guarantee is $6435/mo, $77,220/yr. If you pickup a trip on a day off you'll get a minimum of 4.5 hours which is $445.50 plus the $46 per diem. There are trips which pay over 8 hours in a day (deadhead legs are paid at full pay) so you could make as much as $800-$825 plus per diem for one extra day.

A lot of guys pick up a couple of trips per month which could give our 3rd year F/O an extra $14,000-$15,000 per year with per diem. Some guys really load up on the open time and can nearly double their base salary. I know one 5th year DC9 F/O who made $172,000 in 2004. 767 F/Os who fly that much are over $200,000 but that will take a bit more than three years of seniority.

I have no idea how to get hired. They aren't officially accepting resumes. I did hear some talk that the chief pilots were hinted that they'd take walk in's but that could be just a rumor. Some guys who've been through training recently said that the instructors were told that there could be new hire classes after the first of the year. There's also talk that they are planning on upgrading the four remaining second officers, leaving only PFEs on the DC8 panel, so any new hires would go directly to the right seat. No firm info, though. Just rumors.

Regarding Riverside... I've talked to a couple of guys who've flown RIV trips and they've said that the RIV operation is running smooth and on time. I haven't been there yet.

 

[jacko123]

Great post. What are the trips like for the line holders?

 

[LarryinTN]

Blocks of work must be at least three days but not more than eight days long. Blocks of days off must be at least three days. There must be a block of five, and another block of six, days off somewhere in the line. There are some exceptions to these rules but they mostly involve the transition between bid periods. Shuttle-only lines don't have to follow the minimum three day off rule.

A typical trip leaves ILN between 4am and 6am, layover over at an outstation for between 10 and 16 hours then returns to ILN arriving between 11pm and 2:30am. Some trips are too far away, or the time on the ground is too short, so a crew can't fly back the same night that they fly out. In those cases the layover is extended an extra day producing layovers of about 36 hours. i.e. Fly out Tuesday AM, 36 hour layover, fly back Wednesday night. Any of these trips would operate Tuesday through Fridays. Most cities have a three or four day weekend layover arriving either Friday or Saturday morning and leaving either Monday or Tuesday night. A hotel is provided, of course, but there is no requirement to stay in the layover city so many of us go home on our weekend layovers.

There are a limited number of day trips on Tuesdays through Thursday, and some Sunday flying, but most of that is done by the 767s.

Shuttle trips either deadhead or commercial to an outstation then spend six to eight days flying trips which do not transit ILN. All of the current RIV trips are shuttles.

Here's a relatively junior DC9 line from the December bid package.

01 TUS 36-hr TUS layover
02 -
03 LIT
04 - 61-hr, 3-day LIT layover
05 -
06 X
07 X
08 X
09 X 8 days off
10 X
11 X
12 X
13 X
14 BHM
15 ICT
16 COS
17 LIT
18 - 61hr, 3-day LIT layover
19 -
20 MDT
21 X
22 X
23 X
24 X 7 days off
25 X
26 X
27 X
28 FSD
29 SHV
30 HRL
31 LIT 85hr, 4-day LIT layover
01 - 3 days carry over to January
02 - They become open flying if they
03 - fall on days off in Jan.

The pilot who got this line lives about a two hour drive from LIT so he'll go home on those LIT weekends.

 

[jacko123]

Thanks,
sounds like a goog gig.

 

[festus]

Very informative, thanks!

 

[Turbosnake03]

great information!!!!! any ballpark guess on how long the upgrades are running in the three different a/c?

 

[GoABX]

What upgrades are running right now is meaningless. Over the past few years we've had up to 42 on furlough. 8 years ago upgrades were running 5-7 years. With the exception of the last few months, there have been minimal upgrades....STAGNATION. Looking forward retirements will be 24-36/yr over the next 5+ years, Riverside rumors say 16-34 crews starting in Feb/Mar. So there is potential for movement finally. Rumors range from 75 to 130 newhires next year. Obviously, an Astar/ABX consolidation would change that. So for those that are here...hang on. For those who really want ABX, apply early and apply often.

 

[IFlyFL410]

Thanks for all the info. Can reserve pilots pick up trips out of open time? Is there only the one reserve system with a 2 hour callout?

 

[LarryinTN]

Upgrades aren't running. Over the past four years there have been so few as to be meaningless. The most junior Captain has a seniority date of 8/4/1994. At some point they will have to start upgrading again but there's no way to estimate upgrade times without information that we don't have.

 

[LarryinTN]

Yes, reserve pilots can pick up open flying on days off although there may not be a lot left over for the most junior pilots. When your seat is running short there's plenty but then there are cycles where everything is pretty much bid up by the more senior guys.

All reserves are scheduled for off-premises reserve with two-hour callup. Each night they have some hot standby crews (called R1) who come in and sit at the airport all night waiting for recoveries or flight assignments. These assignments are given to reserve pilots from the reserve rotation but, like any flight assignment, they get at least two hours notice before they must report for R1.

 

[IFlyFL410]

Ok, thanks for the info once again. What is first year FO pay? Is there per diem if you are R1? Do they tend use thier reserve on a regular basis or is there alot of sitting around?

 

[LarryinTN]

First year pay shows $38/hour ($29,841 at guarantee) for all F/O and S/O seats.

You are paid per diem if you land at another airport. The same applies to R1 crews.

Reserve usage goes in cycles. Some times you fly nearly everyday of reserve and sometimes you fly very little. They like to keep the staffing such that the reserves are fairly busy but it's rarely balanced between seats and aircraft.

If I am correct in my assumption as to who GoABX and ABXBooger are then they have spent a lot more time on reserve than have I and can give you a better idea of what it's like.

 

[IFlyFL410]

Thanks again for the info. It's been of great help.

 

[GoABX]

Are all these little knit-picky details on reserve rules, duty times etc. really that important? If you had a copy of our contract, would it some how effect your decision?

5 years ago all these details might be relevant when we ranked 8-9 in industry pay. Now ABX is #1 for what we fly. (We haven't moved everyone else went into the sh1tter.)

The fact is from an (overall) pay perspective we are the third best game in town. If you look at QOL some could make the argument ABX is number 1.

Besides UPS/FDX whom are you going to hold out for?

If you are interested, update your paper and get it in.

 

[PCL_128]

If you are interested, update your paper and get it in.

Get it in? I didn't think you guys were taking resumes yet. If you are, I will certainly get it in as quickly as possible.