Dhl Buy's 49% Of Astar

[AV8OR]

"That Daz is a crafty old man. Has he ever been to ILN?"

Yep. Once. Last year to tell us if we didn't give him concessions DHL was going to shut us down. Called his bluff.

 

[LarryinTN]

Yes, one third the services, i.e. "cities and thru flights". But one half the weight. Its all on the lift sheets and nightly freight tonnage. Not that it even matters.

That's what DHL doesn't seem to understand. You have to provide service to all of the smaller cities with lighter loads in order to have a comprehensive route structure that will attract, and keep, the big accounts.

Every time they replace a DC9 with an extra through stop in a larger aircraft the DC9 city gets it's freight too late to make morning deliveries in anything but the areas immediately surrounding the airport. The big shippers don't want to have a long list a zip codes where morning delivery is not available.

 

[erwaz]

I hope ABX get some good news too. There is nothing worse that to sit and wonder about your future. I know this is long from over. I don't know what the plan will be but I would not be surprised if the airlines will be merged together into one streemlined airline. I will look for the sale info in the DP Q report. I bet you a dollar that it will not be there! Hand shake shooter!

 

[Whistlin' Dan]

First of all, to all Astar employees, congratulations on the support from DHL.

I'm still not sure that DHL's purchase equates to "support." History has shown that mergers and acquisitions, especially in the airline business, rarely result in a betterment of working conditions for the employees of those companies. Thus, I remain skeptical that a change in ownership will have any effect on our day-to-day operations or working conditions.

As I see it, Astar is John Dasburg's prison b1tch, and this "sale" is little more than a transfer of our "services" 3 nights a week to DHL for an undisclosed number of cigarettes.

 

[hvydriver]

You cannot operate a profitable company and pay people to bid "no fly" lines........

Box,

I think you might be confused on what "no fly" lines are here at Astar. It's simply a reserve line where you request to be put last on the call out list. It doesn't mean you literally are paid not to fly. We don't have it that good.

 

[Box-Hauler]

Box,

I think you might be confused on what "no fly" lines are here at Astar. It's simply a reserve line where you request to be put last on the call out list. It doesn't mean you literally are paid not to fly. We don't have it that good.

Thanks for clearing that up. I was told that they were like a "voluntary" paid leave. could not understand why everyone would not bid one, heck I put a bid in to ABX scheduler for one of your no fly lines.

Your no fly lines sound a lot like the pass system TWA used to have. It makes way more sense now.

I did get a reply to the one post about your ACMI. Did it change at all. Was there anything else negotiated in it besides a paydown of the % that DHL pay to Astar.

Thanks for clearing me up. You know how the rumor mill is...... :beer:

 

[Whistlin' Dan]

Also I bet there were some discussions of the no furlough clause or staffing levels. You cannot operate a profitable company and pay people to bid "no fly" lines. Has anyone seen the new ACMI agreement. This might not be as good a deal for Astar as I first thought.

DHL Airways used to operate 2 flights to Brussels each day, one from CVG and one from JFK. I don't recall the actual pairings, but I know that because of the departure times and the necessity to have reserve crews standing by at the departure stations, they tended to "eat" a lot of crews. Somehow, the numbers "7" and "8" stand out in my mind.

In the late 90's, most of that flying was transferred over to Gemini. We picked up some London and East Midlands flying, but not enough to cover what was lost to the Brussels runs. The company, forbidden by contract to lay anybody off while Gemini was on the property, began offering voluntary LOA's (with benefits intact) to the pilots. Only a few junior guys took them up on the offer, the rest realizing that it was better to be sitting "last call" reserve (and not flying) than to be on "Leave-of-absence" (and not flying).

A "No-furlough" clause is no panacea, as many companies will find other ways to thin their ranks when it is in their best financial interest to do so. It will be interesting to see if ours survives the current negotiations.

 

[hvydriver]

Thanks for clearing that up. I was told that they were like a "voluntary" paid leave. could not understand why everyone would not bid one, heck I put a bid in to ABX scheduler for one of your no fly lines.

Your no fly lines sound a lot like the pass system TWA used to have. It makes way more sense now.

I did get a reply to the one post about your ACMI. Did it change at all. Was there anything else negotiated in it besides a paydown of the % that DHL pay to Astar.

Thanks for clearing me up. You know how the rumor mill is...... :beer:

No problem BH. We've been told that the terms of the ACMI are the same, just an extension to 2019. Of course, I presume that part of that % will now go back to DHL. We've asked for a hard copy, but it hasn't been produced yet.

 

[flyinboxes]

deleted

 

[flyinboxes]

"That's what DHL doesn't seem to understand. You have to provide service to all of the smaller cities with lighter loads in order to have a comprehensive route structure that will attract, and keep, the big accounts."

Good point, i don't know how they handle the time issues.