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The planes in DHL colors are Astar.
Nope!
ABX has at least as many if not more aircraft painted in DHL colors as Astar.
ABX operates DC-9's DC-8-63's and B767-200's. Astar operates 727's A-300's and DC-8-70's.
All of Astars roughly 40 aircraft fleet is in DHL livery with the exception of 1 DC-8 (I think). Not all of ABX's aircraft are. Some are still painted in the old Airborne Express livery, a few in the new ABX livery and the rest in DHL colors. I'm not sure what the exact breakdown is.
Interesting. I just hung out with a guy at a cookout who said he flys for DHL. He didn't mention those other companies and said he's over seas a lot. He said he's flown for DHL for 14 years.![]()
Interesting. I just hung out with a guy at a cookout who said he flys for DHL. He didn't mention those other companies and said he's over seas a lot. He said he's flown for DHL for 14 years.![]()
Interesting. I just hung out with a guy at a cookout who said he flys for DHL. He didn't mention those other companies and said he's over seas a lot. He said he's flown for DHL for 14 years.![]()
A lot of the Astar guys don't seem to have fully realized or accepted the fact that they are now an ACMI carrier and no longer work for DHL directly. I had one on my jump seat a while back who said "my jet says DHL on the side, I'm hauling DHL freight, my callsign is DHL, the only thing different is the name on the paycheck". Duh!!!
Eric,
Well Im not sure what his intentions were by saying that since you left out the rest of the conversation you had with him, but it's not that Astar pilots think we are still employeed by DHL directly it's the fact that DHL runs the show at Astar. Granted we are an ACMI by definition but DHL is our one and only customer.Our management is somewhat a filter for DHL to tell us what and when to do something. As a pilot group we have realized this and we are even dealing with DHL directly. Especially on the scope side with the recent ruling that DHL violated our scope. But besides that our Management has an advantage in dealing with DHL since we are a private company. Nothing has to be reported in press releases or the like. The plain fact is we wouldn't be around if DHL decided not to give us business. We don't do any charter or non-dhl flying like you guys do.
For cryin out loud. Here we go again.
The guy you were talking to was AStar. How do I know? If he's flyin overseas, that's us. The fact of the matter it is easier to just tell folks you fly for DHL, and...it's true. DHL even signed our contract. If an ABX guy say's they fly for DHL it's true as well. No problem. I'll tell ya who we DON'T fly for .....Airborne Express. Sadly, Airborne Express is no more.
As for the AStar guy mouthing off on the JS....totally unacceptable. I can honestly say that I have experienced only courteous professionalism on our JS's from ABX folks and I'm sorry you had to listen to that jacka$$.
If you want to fly for DHL, apply to both and see what happens. Hopefully you'll be good either way.
The conversation was about hauling freight for DHL and being an ACMI carrier for them. The gist of his remarks was summed up by that one statement. I was struck by the fact that he seemed unwilling or unable to acknowledge that from a legal standpoint his employer was Astar, not DHL.
If he was an ASTAR pilot, the indisputable fact is that he IS flying DHL airplanes, freight, schedules, and using DHL a call sign. As a legal matter, it may be ASTAR that's signing his paychecks, but he's working for DHL, plain and simple.The conversation was about hauling freight for DHL and being an ACMI carrier for them... I was struck by the fact that he seemed unwilling or unable to acknowledge that from a legal standpoint his employer was Astar, not DHL.
If he was an ASTAR pilot, the indisputable fact is that he IS flying DHL airplanes, freight, schedules, and using DHL a call sign. As a legal matter, it may be ASTAR that's signing his paychecks, but he's working for DHL, plain and simple.
Obviously, the same applies to our brothers at ABX. We're ALL working for "Da Man."
As for the legal situation, there may be some hope on the distant horizon. The NLRB recently ruled against FedEx and their use of so-called "independent truckers" in their ground-haul operations. There are some clear parallels between those operations and DHL's use of "independent airlines" in transporting freight. Obviously, we're still operating in a very gray area here. We're "employees" when it suits them, "independent contractors" when it doesn't. DHL is doing a very effective job of exploiting the void between the rules regarding foreign ownership of domestic airlines and established labor law. We need to be equally effective in seeking interpretations of those laws in our favor.
These are just a few of the things that the pilots of both groups should be highly concerned with. Who signs your jumpseaters paycheck or the logo on his tie tack needn't be one of them.
.... DHL has definitely made numerous requests of ABX and Astar (schedule changes ad naseum) which they seem happy to oblige .....