Oak hill purchased the 777's about four months ago. The 400's have been in Cargo 360's hands for over six months. Is SAI's "union" recognized by the US government or is it a gentlemen's agreement with Neff and company? Cargo 360 utilization and on time performance during it's short life has been about 400 plus hours per month per airframe and 97% on time, what is SAI's? Having seen your rotations and trips your schedules are ineffiencent with a lot of sitting. If you had a national union maybe that would change? Have you guys thought of that? It is not hard and is the law. If history repeats itself Neff will be moved up to the COB of the airline and Oakhill will replace him, it only took oakhill eight months to do this with H. David Greenberg. He owned 15% of Cargo 360 funny how that number is being repeated with Neff. With Oakhill owning both companies there are two pilot groups and even thought the company is being called SAI holdings it just as well could have been call southern 180. The operating certificate is another matter Cargo 360 was certified under the new rules ATOS (SIC) the combining of certificates maybe harder than Oakhill understands. Best of luck and hold on for a ride.
Yes, it is NMB recognized representation.
Yes we have considered national representation, but as a group, not all pilots are accepting of the idea of Teamsters, or worse yet, ALPA. Remember, there is always a downside to working with a national Union as well. Plus any national union will have to work within the framework of the established CBA already in place.
Utilization of SAI aircraft has never been an issue, if anything, they need to sit around less.
Glad to hear that you have "had" the 400's, but in reality, until they are flying revenue for your operation, you don't "have them". Trust me that in this industry, you cannot believe anything until you have been flying it for a month, and even then you still cannot count on it.
Both the 400BCF's or 777 could go elsewhere, or they could show up at Southern. IMO Chances are pretty good that the 400's will arrive, and the B777 are (kinda sorta in a wait and see manner) likely depending upon the needs of the customer.
Afterall, no one can afford new 777 freighters, or even 400 coversions except for one of the major international airlines, or a company good enough to establish a solid long-term contract with them. I am betting that those customers would like to see Southern operate newer equipment, that saves on gas and has far better reliability.
That seems like the only real reason to even do this merger, because Southern was more profitable + experienced than C360, yet Oak Hill had the means to finance future growth. It's not like SAI was doing bad on our own, Mr. Neff had grown his airline from 4 to 10 747 aircraft in two years using the profits SAI had produced...
So now the idea is to use Oak Hill's money to allow the new company to grow, and make more money for both Oak Hill and the Neff's.
So try to look on this as a positive, instead of lamenting the changes. There will be enough growth for everyone, and many new opportunities to go with the hassles. But in the long run we will all have to fly with each other, for hour and hours on end, so your best bet is for us to each do what we can to get along.
