Fedex Purple Runway (Empire/MAC)

[daydreamer]

Well, FedEx pilots are gonna get bonuses of 40K - 110K just for sticking around during the six-week peak season this year . . . should help to put things into perspective as far as ATR FO pay is concerned!

FedEx to use special bonuses to keep pilots from retiring: report

Yup, I saw that article also. It’s always the mainline pilots that benefit through the peak season while the feeders get nada and no aknowledgement.

Are pilots really retiring early at FedEx? Money must be super duper.

 

[jmre]

Exactly! I suggest getting your fleet of trucks, trains, and barges in order!

 

[Cóndor]

Yup, I saw that article also. It’s always the mainline pilots that benefit through the peak season while the feeders get nada and no aknowledgement.

Are pilots really retiring early at FedEx? Money must be super duper.

Well, ATR Captain pay just went up to 84K and change at MAC so it looks like some of it is starting to trickle down to the feeders.

 

[Jonesberuitchamp]

84k starting pay?

 

[jspeed87]

84k starting pay?

For ATR Captain yep. Still waiting on Caravan increase....

 

[Deleted member 27505]

For all of those interested in a career with Fedex this program has just been announced. Its the most direct pathway to Fedex that has existed.

Details can be found below.

fedexpurplerunway.com

Want to fix this problem, Hilary?? (recruitment manager, not Clinton)

I've got your answer! PurplePayCheck.com!!

 

[Deleted member 27505]

This is a very interesting agreement (I'm assuming that criteria laid out for MAC and Empire are the same, our internal memo is more complete than the purple runway website.) I'm surprised by how well it caters to people who have mixed experience. If you read it carefully, you can boil it down to 6 months and 500 hours at a feeder (needs to be ATR since it specifies "multi-engine turboprop or turbojet"). This seems to work out very well for those who already have multi-engine turbine PIC time, say from 91 or 135. So much so that, ironically, it puts me in a position where I would actually stand to shave about two years off the process by LEAVING the FedEx feeder where I work, and going somewhere to get the PIC time under a different part, and then returning for the 6mos/500 hours. I'm not sure if that was the intention in designing the agreement this way!

As it were, it's still better than anything previously available, it shows the FedEx is very serious about hiring from the feeders. It is still only an interview, though, so I won't be referring to it as a "flow." If anyone wants data from the memo PM me.

I'd say it shows that FedEx is very serious about filling the hole that exists between retiring old guys and drones.

 

[nibake]

After I made that comment multiple qualified applicants from feeders got turned down. So maybe the phrasing should have been "FedEx will hire from the feeders if and when it is convenient for them, and only then, regardless of any interview programs or smoke and mirrors."

 

[Hacker15e]

Well, FedEx pilots are gonna get bonuses of 40K - 110K just for sticking around during the six-week peak season this year . . . should help to put things into perspective as far as ATR FO pay is concerned!

FedEx to use special bonuses to keep pilots from retiring: report

I know I'm late to the show replying to this, but this report is effectively "fake news".

They're referring in that article to bonuses that were placed in the 2015 contract at FX, where if a pilot notified the company of their retirement a year in advance, AND that retirement was after peak season, then depending on their years of service (and several other factors) they'd get a bonus.

It is a tool FX is using to manage manning through peak season during the years the contract is effective from 2015-2020. It isn't an indicator of some panic this year that management was throwing money at...it is a negotiated benefit in a 5-year contract.

 

[Hacker15e]

After I made that comment multiple qualified applicants from feeders got turned down. So maybe the phrasing should have been "FedEx will hire from the feeders if and when it is convenient for them, and only then, regardless of any interview programs or smoke and mirrors."

That is accurate. The feeders are not a substantial source of newhires.

 

[nibake]

I know I'm late to the show replying to this, but this report is effectively "fake news".

They're referring in that article to bonuses that were placed in the 2015 contract at FX, where if a pilot notified the company of their retirement a year in advance, AND that retirement was after peak season, then depending on their years of service (and several other factors) they'd get a bonus.

It is a tool FX is using to manage manning through peak season during the years the contract is effective from 2015-2020. It isn't an indicator of some panic this year that management was throwing money at...it is a negotiated benefit in a 5-year contract.

Figures. Stinking fake news.

 

[Apophis]

After I made that comment multiple qualified applicants from feeders got turned down. So maybe the phrasing should have been "FedEx will hire from the feeders if and when it is convenient for them, and only then, regardless of any interview programs or smoke and mirrors."

Which completely defeats the purpose of the Purple Runway. Only a fool would actually take that bait.

 

[Hacker15e]

Which completely defeats the purpose of the Purple Runway. Only a fool would actually take that bait.

Well, what you really have to ponder what the actual *purpose* of Purple Runway is (was?) if not to actually provide a direct path to the trunk seniority list for feeder pilots.

In my opinion, "bait" is probably an accurate descriptor.

If you go back and look at the announcement made when it was first introduced, 2 out of three of the "objectives" have to do with benefiting the feeders:

• To further career development of pilots during their employment with the feeder;
• To assist the feeder operator in its efforts to recruit high-quality, well-trained candidates; and
• To provide FedEx Express with an early opportunity to evaluate feeder pilots as potential applicants for available FedEx Express trunk positions.

 

[Apophis]

Well, what you really have to ponder what the actual *purpose* of Purple Runway is (was?) if not to actually provide a direct path to the trunk seniority list for feeder pilots.


If you go back and look at the announcement made when it was first introduced, 2 out of three of the "objectives" have to do with benefiting the feeders:

Yep, and I'm not complaining about it at all. Most guys at the feeders are smart enough to realize there are much less time consuming ways to FedEx than this Purple Runway program. At least at my feeder (MAC) I feel that upper management is grasping at straws by using this as a way to get enough warm bodies in the door to prevent mass cancellations and nothing more.

The amount of time you have to dedicate to MAC just for the possibility of maybe having an interview isn't worth the sacrifice in my opinion. The 121 (ATR) side of our operation has hemorrhaged pilots in the last several months, and is critically short staffed. I think management believed this could solve that problem, but it hasn't even made a dent as far as I can tell.

 

[USMCmech]

I'm not familiar with staffing levels at the respective feeders, but considering the number of JC'ers hired at FedEx over the last 18 months I would imagine that if there were a real "Purple Runway" there wouldn't be anyone to fly the feeder routes inside of a year.

 

[nibake]

I'm not familiar with staffing levels at the respective feeders, but considering the number of JC'ers hired at FedEx over the last 18 months I would imagine that if there were a real "Purple Runway" there wouldn't be anyone to fly the feeder routes inside of a year.

I'm not familiar either, although I did sigh with relief to know that the company was still around long enough to send my W2.

 

[nibake]

I was told today that the pilots have unionized. Does anyone know if that is a true statement?

 

[Troy McClure]

I was told today that the pilots have unionized. Does anyone know if that is a true statement?

Union of Concerned Scientists.

 

[Apophis]

I was told today that the pilots have unionized. Does anyone know if that is a true statement?

No. Not at MAC at least.

 

[Pilot86]

What would be the requirements for sic caravan?
Im way more interested in working my way into PIC with the cessna caravan.