Any "Latest & Greatest" About Atlas?

[On Your Six]

you gotta admit, here's an airline with less than 1/20th the size of the DAL fleet, and yet their revenues, profits and market cap are, way, way, way, way, way higher as a percent of their relative size. Not to mention, today's Atlas captain makes as much as a DAL captain, if not more with the 2xmonths salary profit share check. Not bad..

Delta paid down $2 billion in debt last year alone, then posted a profit also of over $1 billion, which included $950 million in bag fees. This year will be very similar. Things have started to turn around. There will also be 7600 retirements at DL in the next 15 years. You can fly a whale here, too. Both Atlas and Delta are good carriers, but they have different missions. It's up to the interviewee who he/she wants to fly for.


Godspeed!


OYS

 

[On Your Six]

If you really aren't GL (which is a really big IF), and you are flying the bus, then I am sorry. My hostility was not meant for you. It was the other half of the fence that I can not stand.

I PM him now and then, and I agree with some of what he says, but not all of it. For now I fly the mini-bus, but we just had a big bid so I may be flying something else soon. I should know by Thanksgiving.


Godspeed!


OYS

 

[captainv]

Delta paid down $2 billion in debt last year alone, then posted a profit also of over $1 billion, which included $950 million in bag fees. This year will be very similar. Things have started to turn around. There will also be 7600 retirements at DL in the next 15 years. You can fly a whale here, too. Both Atlas and Delta are good carriers, but they have different missions. It's up to the interviewee who he/she wants to fly for.

Godspeed!

OYS

Good for you. I've got buddies at DAL and I hope things get much better in the new contract. That said, the latest AE sent a lot of guys up to NYC. Commuting/lodging is on them and they have to cover all three airports (although the 7ER is almost always JFK). At Atlas, the wait to fly the Whale is a wee bit shorter than at DAL (I'm happy with the light twin, myself), and I'll never stress about the commute because the company buys my ticket and pays for my hotel. certainly DAL has better trip options but you're not locked into 17-day trips at Atlas. Depends on the base and your seniority. I think percentage-wise the retirements at both companies will be of similar size relative to the pilot group. Would've been nice to sit reserve in ATL and drive to work, but the biggest difference between Atlas and DAL is that Atlas is hiring.

 

[atpcliff]

No business class travel domestic, and 19 days (including travel) on the road?

Just like in the old contract, 50 states travel is domestic, international is business or better. Not sure if this was in the old contract, but if your duty day is over 16 hours then domestic travel is business or better (not sure of the exact wording on this...).

Are you basically flying from one min-rest to another? Or do you get to enjoy the occasional 36 hours layover?

So its 17 days inclusive of travel? I'd heard it was 17+travel...

A normal overnight is 12 hours to 1.5 days. Sometimes it's 2 nights, sometimes 3 or 4. I'm sure there are overnights more than 4 days, but I've only done 4 nights once (in about a year online).
We owe the company 17 days of work. Your work can include R1 (Home Reserve). From Jan-May I averaged 17 days a month at home, with 14 being my lowest number of days at home.
Travel could be on days off, or days on. While based in HSV, I ALWAYS travelled to the trip on my last day off. Then, I got home either the last day of my days on, or the day before my last day on. Based in JFK sometimes I travel on my last day off, sometimes on my first day on. I usually get home on my last day off.
We get paid a daily trip rig unless you are on R1 at home.

when you guys get 80+ hours of credit in a 17 day month, are you really flying all 80? or is this more based on, like say, 60 or so of actual flying? And how much time do you spend in dead head? and is that business class?

It depends on why you are getting the credit. The most I have heard of a guy flying is 120 hours, and the most credit in a month the same guy (the same month) got about 190 hours of credit. That was a number of years ago. Lately the most credit I have heard of for a month was about 110.
Dead head can be on company aircraft, or it can be on another airline, or it can be via road/rail. Basically, domestic is coach and international is business. My last rotation I operated four legs. I deadhead on company aircraft two legs. I deadheaded on other airlines three legs. I deadheaded via road on three legs.

Let me know how that 10 grand a month spends when your wife leaves you.

My wife likes the schedule here at Atlas. For us, it is the best schedule I have had.

how is that at Atlas now? Are you at their beckon call? How long ARE the layovers and what is the maximum they can extend you without your consent?

Layovers, see above. They can extend you 3 days in one month. On R2/R3 (base reserve, or reserve other than at home and other than in base) reserve you are on 16 hours and then off 8.

So with gateway basing (ie home basing), day 1 and the last day of the bidline is not a travel day from/to home?

Atlas uses Gateways, and has a base for the pilots-really strange, I know! You normally travel out of your gateway. Your gateway may be in your home city, or it may be farther away. My gateway was MKE, which was 2+ hours away. Now I have GRB as my new gateway, so for me it is now the same as home basing. You CAN travel to/from somewhere besides your gateway, depending on how much it costs....you work that out with travel.
You may have to travel on your last day off/first day off, or you may travel on one of your work days...it depends on a bunch of factors. I typically travel to a trip on my last day off or first day on, and then travel from a trip on my last day on.

Do your lines give you trips with layovers flying for specific airlines, or do you start at a gateway and then wait to be assigned specific flights? Are there certain trips or routes or airline customers that are more popular or not as popular? Which longer trip has been your favorite so far?

All of our trips are highly variable, and subject to LOTS of changes. Your gateway is where you normally travel to/from wherever it is the company wants you to go. You may travel from your gateway to sit R2 (base reserve). You may travel to another location to sit R3 (reserve not at home and not in your base). You may travel to meet a company plane somewhere. You may stay at home on R1 (reserve at home).
There is a LOT of variety, so there is pretty much something for everyone....unless you just don't like working for Atlas, then everything is crap.
I have liked a lot of my trips so far. I enjoyed an overnight in Sri Lanka, and now want to go on vacation there (hadn't been there before). I enjoyed going to military places and feel like I was helping out the military/our country. I enjoyed a two-day safari in Kenya. I especially like Amsterdam, Campinas (Brasil), Coogee Beach (Sydney) and Hong Kong. I liked the 32 day trip I had. I put two rotations back to back, didn't have to deadhead to/from Europe, and got the end of the 2nd month off for a vacation with my family (without using any vacation days).
We operate for DHL, Emirates, Qantas, Panalpina, TNT, Sonair, for the US military, and for various organizations via charter.

So are there 4,5, and 6 day trips with as many days off, or is everything at Atlas 13-17 days on straight?

My shortest trip was one day, my longest 32 days. "Normal" in JFK is 1 week-2 weeks. In MIA 1 day trips are common (out and backs), and in IAH 2-3 trips are common (IAH-Luanda)-IAH). You can do 17 days in a row if you want to (not as easy to do now with line bidding...under our old PBS you could ask for 17 days in a row).We also now can bid for 30 and 60 day schedules. I just bid for a 60 day schedule, which got me Thanksgiving off and the 26th-31st of Dec off. On the 25th I am on R2, so will ask to change it to R1, and I may be home for Christmas. Pretty nice for less than two years seniority.

cliff
GRB

 

[JonnyKnoxville]

Wow, Cliff! You need so sort of forum award for that post. Nice work!

 

[Emb120Trash]

Thanks for the info atpcliff. Is LAX senior and how long too hold?

 

[big pimpn']

Yeah, lax is a polar base and it seems to b pretty desirable with the atlas guys that are now eligible to bid lax. Another senior base is MIA, we just had one of our captains downgrade himself to hold Mia... I just bailed out of LAX for HSV, the HSV base seems to b where they r putting most of the newhires

 

[big pimpn']

I have no idea how long to hold LAx; but, I would immagine u would b in JFK or HSV for a little while... Might b wrong, just my .02

 

[Emb120Trash]

Thanks...seems like a gig I'd be interested in. Don't mind leaving the wife and 2 dogs for 4-7 days, but for anything longer, other than an isolated long trip where you would have the rest of the month off, I think maybe life a little too short. I really like home, and kissing the wife and two dogs goodbye consistently for a week and a half could be rough.

 

[Talon757]

How it is.

Thanks...seems like a gig I'd be interested in. Don't mind leaving the wife and 2 dogs for 4-7 days, but for anything longer, other than an isolated long trip where you would have the rest of the month off

I'm afraid that Atlas is not the best choice for you then. It is a great gig for those who like this life style but if 17 days on the road is an abhorrent to you then this won't work at all. That's OK. Not all solutions are workable for all families. That's how it is in the ACMI world, though. It is what it is and I give you kudos for checking it out before jumping in to the pool.