Twincezzna

Word on the street is 21air secured the rest of the 767 Atlas tails for the Amazon network

Reactivity

Simple comparisons are all that many pilots do. But there is always more to it than that.

Based on a simple comparison of rates, minimum monthly guarantee, retirement and work days per year, and accounting for the retention bonuses currently being paid to 21Air pilots, they are making good money today, especially with home basing. At current rates, they're making about 16% more money while working about 12% more than an ABX pilot (221 days per year vs 197, not counting vacation days). ABX pilots see a tax advantage since their company contribution to retirement is three times that of 21Air (12% vs 4% max), althought a 21Air pilot could make additional contributions to their 401(k) for a similar tax benefit.

Once the retention bonuses stop, though, it's not such a great deal. 21Air pilots are then working 12% more for considerably less than 12% more money (somewhere between 4% and 7% for the ones I checked), and the margins get thinner every year as ABX pay rates are increasing at a faster rate year-over-year than the 21Air pay rates.

Going a bit farther after the end of retention bonuses, if an ABX pilot were to work as many days as their 21Air counterpart, at the ABX minimum of 4.5 hours per day for the extra two days per month (and it could be 6 to 8 hours per day or more for premium open time), that would give them 74 hours per month which, when paired with the higher retirement contribution, pushes their total compensation well past that of a similar 21Air pilot, even with 21Air's higher pay rates. 21Air's pay rates would need to be more than 6% higher than those at ABX just to keep up at that point, and today they're only 2-4% higher.

You can certainly say you only intend to be at a place for a short time before jumping to your "dream job", so you should take the one with the bigger $$$ attached today. But as I've shown, what looks like more $$$ isn't always quite what it looked like when you get below the surface. And you're assuming that you'll get that call and that nothing goes sideways between now and then. I have known several good people who didn't get that call, and I've seen three major events in less than 25 years that set people back several years relative to what they had planned for their career trajectory. We are well due for such an event. So my advice to people entering this industry is to find a seat you're going to be comfortable sitting in for a few years because you may be there longer than you expect.

Cargoh

Doing a detailed comparison is reasonable, just make sure it's a fair comparison.

21 Air pays 6 hours per day for every day away from home. That's 108 hours of pay if you work a 18 day month, regardless of how many hours you fly. 12.5 days of work and you're at the 75 hour guarantee. Do the math! Also, full per diem from the time you depart your home airport.

Upgrade at 21 Air can be very fast for those with the required 121 hours. Getting on the CA pay scale sooner should certainly be considered in the pay calcualations.

ABX pilots need a crashpad or hotel in CVG, in most cases. This should be subtracted when making any comparison. Jumpseating/traveling is also done on the pilot's time, which should also factor into the calculations......"working for free" versus getting pay and per diem for all time away from home. Do ABX pilots get per diem when sitting in CVG? 21 Air pilots do!

If you're planning on stagnation in pilot hiring at the majors and many years at your next job, K4 and Atlas may be better long-term options.

Stgh93

So are you guys hiring at the moment?

Jetpowered

Yes sir we are hiring for the foreseeable future.

Tibhar87

So using info that's posted on 21Air's profile of this site on 9/2027 a 12 year CA can make $320 hourly x 6 min daily credit x 17 work days x 12months + $25000 prorated 3 year bonus + ($61×17x12)yearly per diem = about 429k yearly being home based is that accurate? or my math is not mathing?

C17B74

Wonder what the pilot ratios are with 12 tails or so to include a robust increase of pilots well beyond the numbers posted? Probably still high usage rates and since they are supposedly hiring direct entry Capts; therefore, upgrade times should be to significant perhaps??? Sounds like new management is headed in the right direction if the stated increases are true.

Reactivity

Well, that's fairly amazing.

108 hours is well beyond the average utilization for ACMI 767 crews. Are you actually blocking anything like that during the month?

Tell our friends over at ATI what your secret is. They would love to know.

CVG73

Is the schedule 18 on 12 off hard, or is it bid quarterly / monthly and changed?

Cargoh

The bonus stops after 3 years.

75 hours is the minimum guarantee. Planning on anything above this every month may not be a good idea.

You are guaranteed 12 days off per month. If you work 18 days at 12th year CA pay = $34,574.04 per month.

You get $61.20 in per diem for every day away from home. If you work 18 days = $1,101.60 per month.

21 Air is growing! With many F/O lacking the FAR required hours to upgrade, quick upgrade is possible for those hired with 1000 hours of 121 time. Those who get paid for 108 hours don't block anywhere near that. 40 - 60 hours is probably the average utilization, but that may change with new routes being added.