Since DHL has a lease on the aircraft, I doubt they care who flys them as long as they do fly them. So DHL can peddle the 767's to any 767/757 operator out there.
Or they can create one, as they did with DHL Airways in the 80's. A fresh-start company brings no union problems, no contracts, no superannuated pilots, no anything. You come in, you work how, when, and where they tell you to work or you're out the door and in steps the next guy. Everybody is at first-year pay and happy to be. Their QOL is entirely dependent upon the quality of their relationship with their employer, and since they don't really "work" for DHL, there is no relationship. Thus, no "quality" in their QOL. Welcome to the new economy!
What DHL does like is the service ABX pilots have provided. So as long as everyone does their job well there should be no reason to risk putting that into some unknown. If they want to start pinching pennies is another thing however. Quality has a price and I think most would agree they would rather the sports car sit unused in the garage than sell it for the price of a pinto.
You're suggesting that "time" is a fixed asset, like a car. But it is not. In the context of this discussion, time is more like a perishable commodity. It differs in that while a sports car may sit indefinitely in a garage with little diminuition to it's intrinsic value, a person who does not work on a given day loses forever his ability to earn money on that given day. There is a threshold (which varies with personal circumstance, but which is often surprisingly low), above which "working at any price" is better than "not working at all" There are ample numbers of high-time, heavy airplane drivers out there who can, and will, man any sort of start-up operation DHL wants to get into.
EDIT: That is an ABX/ATI/Cappy/Astar issue and not DHL's. If throwing each other under the bus is the norm in the profession, maybe a change in profession is not such a bad thing. Just my personal opinion.
I can't speak to ABX/ATI or Cappy, but "throwing people under the bus" at Astar wasn't just the norm, it was a way of life for many, and a chance at promotion for some. And it cost them. Most have already undergone the "change of profession" you speak of. A few thought they'd dodged the bullet, only to find that "the ball was still in play," at least as far as their careers (and carriers) are concerned. So many mistakes being made...so many opportunities to "do the right thing" overlooked, or rejected outright. You're right...maybe a "change of profession" for some of those people isn't such a bad thing for them
or for the business.
