For Pilots Only: April 6, 2024

Connecting the Dots

It's been a wild ride in the cargo world lately, and if you're like me, you've been keeping a close eye on the news. The important part of this story is not just about cargo. It’s about how, in the aviation industry, whenever there's bad news, there's also good news. You need to know where to look.

Take this week's big news for example:

The United States Postal Service (USPS) ditched FedEx after a 20-year contract and jumped ship to United Parcel Service (UPS). Talk about a plot twist!

Actions like these can have the net effect of energizing one pilot group (UPS) while simultaneously demoralizing another (FedEx). Watching your biggest competitor leverage a major win (at your expense) into a pilot hiring wave, while you continue fighting for a contract is never easy, and it will have some ripple effects.

UPS is doing a victory lap right now. They've been working behind the scenes to snag this contract, and it didn't happen overnight. This is the result of some serious strategizing and competitive maneuvering. And what's one of their first moves? Publishing Vacancy Realignment Bid 24-101 and Displacement Bid 24-201 in preparation for the recently awarded USPS contract. In other words, they're hiring pilots.

These bids are adding 134 Captain and 64 First Officer slots as a result. The follow-on Displacement bid will close May 6th and will realign 5 MD-11 Captains, 5 MD-11 First Officers, and 15 ANC 747 First Officer positions.

UPS also informed the union of their intent to publish an additional follow-on Vacancy Bid later in the year that is projected to be similar in size.

Additionally, the union was informed that UPS HR is resuming its UPS pilot hiring process to account for the additional volume surge that will occur as the year progresses. The initial projected estimate for hiring is expected to be 300+ additional crew members, which is subject to adjustment once the network plan for the additional USPS volume is finalized.

👇👇👇👇👇 Link to UPS First Officer application at bottom of article 👇👇👇👇👇

So, what does this mean for you?

If you’re one of the pilots impacted by iAero shutting down, this means you have hope and a new direction. If you’re a military pilot stressed about separating or retiring within the next 12 months, congratulations you have another new clear path into the majors. If you’re a regional pilot stuck in a flow, struggling to find a way out, cheers, UPS just gave you a yellow brick road to freedom.

The question for pilots is, what do you do about all this?

If you find yourself in a bad position, don't panic. Get on LinkedIn, scroll your connections, and start reconnecting with your aviation friends. (If you’re not yet on LinkedIn, get on it, connect with me, and LinkedIn will start making recommendations for folks you should connect with. Here’s my profile link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesonieal/)

When you start conversations on LinkedIn, don’t ask for favors here - ask for information. What are they seeing behind closed doors? What's the chatter on the internal comms? The more you know, the better positioned you'll be to make your next move.

If you are one of the pilots privileged to be able to help a buddy or former co-worker, you now have a direction to steer them in. Know someone struggling right now, call them up, see how they’re doing, ask if they need a letter of recommendation, and tell them about what’s happening at UPS. They aren’t qualified for the job? Doesn’t matter, a rising tide raises all ships. The people who will take those 300 positions, will open 300 positions somewhere else.

At the end of the day, this FedEx and UPS news is just a reminder that change is the only constant in the aviation world. But with the right network, the right mindset, and a little bit of guidance, you can navigate even the roughest of skies.

So, keep your head up, your wings level, and your eyes on the horizon. And if you need a little help along the way, remember - your aviation family has your back.

Fly safe,

James

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UPS First Officer Application

UPS to replace FedEx as U.S. Postal Service's primary air cargo provider