American Airlines Dangles $250,000 Bonuses to Poach FedEx and UPS Pilots

[GON]

Wow, being an airline pilot seems like a pretty lucrative profession for certain classes of pilot. I don't know how seniority works for those offered the 250k bonus. Being away from home, flying crazy dynamic hours is not a good thing for many.

Nonetheless- $250k USD bonus is a nice thing...... very nice.....

"The next recruiting hotspot for U.S. airlines in need of experienced pilots is FedEx and United Parcel Service.

PSA Airlines, a regional carrier owned by American, is offering bonuses totaling $250,000 for UPS and FedEx pilots who can come work as captains and help fill a gap that has forced PSA to keep planes grounded and curtail service to some cities.

FedEx is saying its pilots might want to consider the offer. UPS passed on the details to pilots who recently accepted a company buyout.

Major U.S. passenger airlines are on a hiring spree that has left regional carriers like PSA desperate for aviators with enough experience to fill the captain’s seat in their cockpits. Cargo carriers, by contrast, are slowing down, unable to offer pilots more than the minimum level of flying or offering buyouts because of the slump in parcel volumes.

Shuttling passengers from cities like Knoxville, Tenn., and Birmingham, Ala., to Charlotte, N.C., on small planes could mean a step down in prestige, pilots said, with more uncertainty over pay and working conditions. Cargo pilots typically have fixed schedules and fewer legs to fly in a day compared with their counterparts at passenger airlines, and historically have had a lower risk of furloughs.

Pat DiMento, FedEx’s vice president of flight operations and training, told pilots last week that the air-cargo slowdown would likely continue for the foreseeable future, and they might want to consider PSA’s offer if they are frustrated with their flying hours and career progression.

“Frankly, I was pessimistic about how attractive the opportunity might be when first approached, but the details are compelling,” he wrote in a message to pilots."

MSN

 

[cptbarkey]

Pilot school for those who didnt go the military route is about that much isnt it? My brother's son is trying it without the military and its been very expensive.

 

[Dave Hess]

Global economy is slowing, FedEx and UPS trying to trim their payroll and retire older cargo jets.

Very nice total compensation these pilots make.

 

[tbm5690]

Seniority doesn't change for anyone like this coming in...hire date is hire date regardless. So yes, the bonus is nice but they are bottom of the bid pool. Most of these guys still won't do it as they've experienced the fact that boxes don't cause problems like people do.

 

[Astro14]

American is a case study in bad management. A decade ago, airlines knew this day was coming. From 2001 to about 2012, no airlines were hiring, except poorly paying discounters. Big airlines were furloughing and merging.

No jobs. No future as pilots. Why borrow a couple hundred thousand dollars to become a pilot? Didn’t make sense.

This created the shortage. United saw this day coming, and created hiring programs, bought a flight academy, provides easy access to loans, partners with universities to train pilots, even reaches out to military pilots with a conditional job offer years before they get out, all with a clearly defined path to a job at United.

United Aviate

Start flying for a world-class global airline in record time with United’s specialized pilot development programs.

unitedaviate.com

American - did nothing for a decade - and with their poorly run company, lousy profit margin, and failure to plan for the future, is now desperate and has to resort to throwing money at the problem.

I wish them luck.

If a pilot was going to leave FedEx, it would be for United, perhaps Delta.

 

[jeepman3071]

Anytime a company like this is offering a huge sign-on bonus to recruit new hires it is a red flag.

 

[GON]

UPS has officially reduced its total number of pilots by 193 after offering a voluntary early severance package.
Per earlier reports, the deal offered pilots 55 and up a lump sum of 357,000 dollars if they voluntarily opted to retire from the airline early.
Details: https://aerocrewnews.com/wa3r

 

[edyvw]

American is a case study in bad management. A decade ago, airlines knew this day was coming. From 2001 to about 2012, no airlines were hiring, except poorly paying discounters. Big airlines were furloughing and merging.

No jobs. No future as pilots. Why borrow a couple hundred thousand dollars to become a pilot? Didn’t make sense.

This created the shortage. United saw this day coming, and created hiring programs, bought a flight academy, provides easy access to loans, partners with universities to train pilots, even reaches out to military pilots with a conditional job offer years before they get out, all with a clearly defined path to a job at United.

United Aviate

Start flying for a world-class global airline in record time with United’s specialized pilot development programs.

unitedaviate.com

American - did nothing for a decade - and with their poorly run company, lousy profit margin, and failure to plan for the future, is now desperate and has to resort to throwing money at the problem.

I wish them luck.

If a pilot was going to leave FedEx, it would be for United, perhaps Delta.

Every day American is in the news I am amazed how that company managed to survive for so long. Lindblom's "Science of Muddling Through" gets reconfirmed since 1959.

 

[GON]

Every day American is in the news I am amazed how that company managed to survive for so long. Lindblom's "Science of Muddling Through" gets reconfirmed since 1959.

Come on now. Just because American borrowed 12 billion dollars to buy back it's own stock, while the American airlines CEO sold $110 million dollars of AA stock of which he was gifted as part of his should not be held against him (Doug Parker). Many lawyers, investment bankers, and others made a lifetime of money in under 24 months. Doug Parker wnr from a net worth of a little under one million dollars to having over 110 million in cash in under two years. Very impressive by some measures.

Of course aa now has double the debt per passenger miles flown than United and Delta. AA pays double what united and Delta pays on interest on its debt. American is no longer a major player in los Angeles or Chicago. But American is a major player in Charlotte.

American is no longer a major player to Asia or Europe. Kind of sad, but then again, Americans CEO emeratius Doug Parker has nine figures cash in the bank, and made a lot of investment bankers a lot of money, so when aa flgoes bankrupt again, Doug Parker will come back to AA while in bankruptcy to do the same hustle again.

It should be noted that aa used it cash and borrowed billions to buy back its own stock. AA was the very first airline with hat in hand to go to the White House asking for a COVID bailout, which it received. If I was in charge I would not have given a penny of bailout without doug parker buying 110 million dollars in newly issued aa shares, with the stipulation he could not sell those shares for 20 years. Would have taught a lot of lessons to "too large to fail" CEOs.

 

[edyvw]

Come on now. Just because American borrowed 12 billion dollars to buy back it's own stock, while the American airlines CEO sold $110 million dollars of AA stock of which he was gifted as part of his should not be held against him (Doug Parker). Many lawyers, investment bankers, and others made a lifetime of money in under 24 months. Doug Parker wnr from a net worth of a little under one million dollars to having over 110 million in cash in under two years. Very impressive by some measures.

Of course aa now has double the debt per passenger miles flown than United and Delta. AA pays double what united and Delta pays on interest on its debt. American is no longer a major player in los Angeles or Chicago. But American is a major player in Charlotte.

American is no longer a major player to Asia or Europe. Kind of sad, but then again, Americans CEO emeratius Doug Parker has nine figures cash in the bank, and made a lot of investment bankers a lot of money, so when aa flgoes bankrupt again, Doug Parker will come back to AA while in bankruptcy to do the same hustle again.

It should be noted that aa used it cash and borrowed billions to buy back its own stock. AA was the very first airline with hat in hand to go to the White House asking for a COVID bailout, which it received. If I was in charge I would not have given a penny of bailout without doug parker buying 110 million dollars in newly issued aa shares, with the stipulation he could not sell those shares for 20 years. Would have taught a lot of lessons to "too large to fail" CEOs.

I cannot remember was AA featured on that CNBC series Greed or whatever. But, it was really good episode.

 

[GON]

I cannot remember was AA featured on that CNBC series Greed or whatever. But, it was really good episode.

Thanks, will have to look that up.

One thing Doug Parker did was never hedge fuel. In comparison southwest always hedged fuel. Southwest I believe has zero net debt as a airline, American has double the debt of united or delta.

Doug"s position of not hedging fuel was if fuel went up, just bankrupt the airline. Kind of like not insuring a large office building with a lot of debt. If the building burns down, just walk away. Sorry attitude and ethics.

 

[Dave Hess]

UPS has officially reduced its total number of pilots by 193 after offering a voluntary early severance package.
Per earlier reports, the deal offered pilots 55 and up a lump sum of 357,000 dollars if they voluntarily opted to retire from the airline early.
Details: https://aerocrewnews.com/wa3r

View attachment 187800

Crazy news articles about senior captain pay might attract the wrong people to want to become a pilot.

 

[edyvw]

OK, so I think we overestimated issues at Boeing and underestimated at FedEx: