Gemini Chapter 11

[Ciao for now]

Good to read that Fogrunner is so positive...I do not believe anything that is coming from Dullas anymore.. It's a sad day. Just waiting to hear from he Union on the different ways how this can affect our contract. Chapter 11...of course! What else do you expect if you cancel a FedEx contract and and up flying some lowball operations out of France that Centurion didn't even want.
That is were the real problem lies.....long term planning.

 

[fogrunner]

Good to read that Fogrunner is so positive...I do not believe anything that is coming from Dullas anymore.. It's a sad day. Just waiting to hear from he Union on the different ways how this can affect our contract. Chapter 11...of course! What else do you expect if you cancel a FedEx contract and and up flying some lowball operations out of France that Centurion didn't even want.
That is were the real problem lies.....long term planning.

Well I spoke with one of our top union guys yesterday. We are going forward with negotiations. One of the positive aspects of the Ch 11 process is the company has to make a great deal of information public. I was also told by this union officer that this could be very positive for the company and employees. Less debt to pay down, more profitability to be pumped back into the company.

some lowball operations out of France that Centurion didn't even want.

Didn't want, or couldn't handle?

Do you think Centurion actually turned away business, then parked a/c and furloghed some folks?


I have no Crystal Ball as to how this will all work out. I was not surprised by the sale, I was very surprised by the Ch11 filing. If you decide you do not like it here or cannot trust the mangement then perhaps you should look elsewhere. I have not heard or read anywhere that the company per se wants to or has asked that our CBA be terminated.

Gemini, specifically the crews have a lot of Africa experience. We did a lot of flying for Air France a few years ago. The guys are very adept at moving the freight in some of the most bizarre locations on the planet.

Personally I would rather do the Africa stuff, than park a/c and furlough. As distasteful as you may think it is, it generates revenue. The Miami rotations puts a lot of stress on the a/c. Lots of cycles, shorter legs, flap 50 landings, full power takeoffs. It is hard on the a/c. Do you see our 11s down in Miami. NO. We have to put the 10 where we can generate the revenue. Did you know that we get 15% more on our Lan Chile contract this year than we did last year. You know why? Because we get the job done. We move the freight.
You know what we are an ACMI carrier and sometimes we fly for some unsavory characters, that's the nature of the business. We do a lot of flying for AMC (very lucrative), have you seen or been to some of the "STAN" places recently? Down right scary.

We all need to be educated about the process and involved. We need to go out and do our jobs

 

[kevdog]

Didn't want, or couldn't handle?

Do you think Centurion actually turned away business, then parked a/c and furloghed some folks?

For the record, Centurion did not park a/c. We replaced our -40 with another -30. There was a little lag time between the switch while we got the new plane ready and on the certificate. I did the African flying out of France. Yes, we had some problems with the a/c, but that wasn't why we backed out. We were flying 22-28 hour duty days for a month (our term), far exceeding our pilot contractual limits. The customer was never happy and went on to say their 10 was never down for mx since they had it. They always expected more. We had 2 mechanics on the airplane who lived on it for 4-5 days at a time keeping it flying. The plane was flying about 12 hours a day. If we didn't have some 5+ hour stops while 1 guy unloaded the plane, the plane would have been flying more. Do you know the history of this particular airline based in France? All I have to say is gun trafficking. I'm sure they are badmouthing us like they did to the guys who did the contract before we did. I'm sure Gemini will get badmouthed to the next guys in there.

I have to ask? Does Gemini do the same for the customer? You guys flying 24+ hour duty days in Africa? I wish you guys the best! Good luck!

 

[kevdog]

UPS isn't Teamsters. They have their own union called the IPA (Independent Pilots Association).

Sorry PCL, I meant to say used to be. Teamsters used to represent the pilots at UPS, and still represent drivers, etc. I thought UPS was under the Teamsters during the acquisition of CAC. Maybe I am wrong.

 

[fogrunner]

For the record, Centurion did not park a/c.

My apologies.

I have to ask? Does Gemini do the same for the customer? You guys flying 24+ hour duty days in Africa? I wish you guys the best! Good luck!

If the company is Avient(?) then yes. We crew rest in EBB or NBO. depending on the routing.
I just took a look at the plot we have an a/c departing tomorrow morning for XCR-LOS-NBO-BEN-XCR. Crew swap NBO. NBO has a great day Safari.

We were flying 22-28 hour duty days for a month (our term)

The same crew? Wow. I have nothing positive to say about that. How is TP and JP? DO and CP..

 

[Whale Rider]

Sorry to hear it guys. Our industry just can't seem to get out of this tail spin. Hang in there.

 

[Frank Towns]

I'm with Fogrunner on this one. I don't mind the Africa stuff, its kind of cool. Where else do you get an envelope full of cash for airport fees and stuff on the way. I agree with the cool one day safaris in NBO also.
If the prior contractors were doing the whole thing non-stop, shame on them. That would end up being like 17 hours of block time, and five cycles when they wrapped back up in France. I'm going out on a limb, but a US carrier can't put even a three man crew through that. And if your company makes pilots part 91 back (we had freight back to France) with that much time, that tells you something about them. Its just not safe, even with 12 hours of block it takes almost 16 hours of duty to get to NBO.

 

[Classicdriver]

The good news, with a preplanned BK, they won't have time to mess with the employees. There are time constraints that are more important than employee contracts. If the time limits are not met, planes return to the owners.

According to the military folks I deal with, they use you sparingly. They don't like the confiruaration of the pallets and you sometimes just don't show up, never giving them a heads up.

Also, what's the story with Gemini killing half a load of horses? Just did a horse charter (very lucrative) and the contractor said "Gemini" never again.

Lanchile and Africa flying are "not" the big money makers. There may be other issues out there that noone is aware of. Be careful.

 

[kevdog]

I'm with Fogrunner on this one. I don't mind the Africa stuff, its kind of cool. Where else do you get an envelope full of cash for airport fees and stuff on the way. I agree with the cool one day safaris in NBO also.
If the prior contractors were doing the whole thing non-stop, shame on them. That would end up being like 17 hours of block time, and five cycles when they wrapped back up in France. I'm going out on a limb, but a US carrier can't put even a three man crew through that. And if your company makes pilots part 91 back (we had freight back to France) with that much time, that tells you something about them. Its just not safe, even with 12 hours of block it takes almost 16 hours of duty to get to NBO.

I think the routes were different, but we did 3-4 legs each way to/from EBB and flew about 11 block hours down and 10 up. Duty day was about 22-24 hours. Crew Change at each end. All the crews liked staying in Africa much more than Vatry. Better hotel and much cheaper food.

 

[dojetdriver]

Wasn't Atlas's Ch.11 a few years back similar to GAC's situation?

 

[Classicdriver]

Wasn't Atlas's Ch.11 a few years back similar to GAC's situation?

Yes, it was very much the same, except it envolved Polar Air Cargo as well, and the Polar creditors were not all on board at the time of filing. That's one reason it took six months. Atlas/Polar were within hours of losing some -400's.

That's the primary reason they didn't mess with the Polar and Atlas contracts, they didn't have time to waste. Of course mangement uses it to show how nice they were, right.

It was explained to us that BK was a way for the creditors to get tax breaks to even out some the loses with the reduced leases.

 

[kevdog]

Doesn't HIG now own Amerijet? Read they are probably going to acquire Gemini.

 

[Chronic Jetlag]

Carlyle is not in the business to lose money, that's why they sold it to Bayside. By filing for bk, they now have the ability to break the union contract and sell off the airline piece by piece; parts is worth more than the sum. Get out while you can, don't go down with the Titanic.

 

[RJDC]

I heard that UPS is looking to buy 4 MD-11's that are currently operated by a single anonymous operator in financial trouble. Any idea who that could be?

 

[Ciao for now]

Fogrunner, I do like it at gemini, I like the Airplane and the people that i fly with...Do I trust the managment? Do i trust the things that were said and promised in the past??? sorry to say but no. Do I think that the payfreeze that was supposed to last a short period of time to help out the company should still be in effect??? Do I think we as pilos should be giving the company weeks of vacation to make things work??? NO!
Everybody here bend over backwards to make ends meet....now it should be the time that we get some appriciation for the sacrifices that were made in the past. Thats all.

 

[30West]

I heard that UPS is looking to buy 4 MD-11's that are currently operated by a single anonymous operator in financial trouble. Any idea who that could be?

Source?

 

[RJDC]

Ask any UPS pilot. Going around their pilot group big time. They are looking to buy any and all MD-11s they can get their hands on.

 

[Chronic Jetlag]

be objective

Fogrunner, I do like it at gemini, I like the Airplane and the people that i fly with...Do I trust the managment? Do i trust the things that were said and promised in the past??? sorry to say but no. Do I think that the payfreeze that was supposed to last a short period of time to help out the company should still be in effect??? Do I think we as pilos should be giving the company weeks of vacation to make things work??? NO!
Everybody here bend over backwards to make ends meet....now it should be the time that we get some appriciation for the sacrifices that were made in the past. Thats all.

I really wish the best for all my ex G spot buddies, they are some of the best pilots I've worked with but I'm afraid the writing is on the wall. Pay freeze still in place, LWOP, surrendered vacation, loss of Q of L, and the company still ended up in BK. Bayside Capital will liquidate the company in a heartbeat if they think they can make a buck or an extra buck. I'm not saying this to wish ill will on the good folks at Gemini, I still have good friends there. Get out and save yourselves.

 

[IHaveAPension]

I hope that we take back our flying that you guys are doing. Hopefully this chapter 11 will be the tool we use to take back our flying.

 

[treetopflyer]

it must be spring break at the tech school rhoid/ihaveapension/rjdc goes to. what are you studying this quarter, dental hygenics? still dreaming of an airline career i see. so sad, but completely entertaining.