jetjockey

I have read about the new expansion plans for IND. Do any of you FedEx guys think that IND will ever become a pilot base?

Thanks for any info.

Nitefrater

[quote=jetjockey]I have read about the new expansion plans for IND. Do any of you FedEx guys think that IND will ever become a pilot base? quote]

My guess would be no... at least not anytime soon. FDX management likes the pilots under close control of MEM (Pilots based outside MEM tend to develop a little too much independence for management's taste). Add to that the costs of a pilot management infrastructure, and the relative paucity of available deadheads, and I don't see where management would find a compelling reason for an IND domicile.

They've been waffling back and forth for YEARS over a European domicile, something that's needed far more than another mid-U.S. domicile.

RedeyeAV8r

In a word............NO. Rumors are always rampant in this industry . Some rumors are Good, others are bad. Experience has showed me that few rumors ever come true. Usually, both good and bad news is a big surprise. Rumors have popped up every now and then about crew bases in AFW, IND and a European Domicile. They never come to Fruition.

AFW once was a pretty active hub........now it is almost a Ghost town.

IND is expanding big, but it has been expanding for over 15 years.

FedEx once had domiciles in LAX, EWR, OAK as well and the elected to close all of them. (even though they made sense.)

There are Rumors that Greensboro NC will be a crew base when construction is complete in a couple years. (why would they put a crew base there when the 2nd largest hub IND isn't a crew base?)

MGT recently...(2 1/2 years ago), re-opened LAX as a crew base. There have been several On-Off rumors of closing that base again......I don't think that will happen either. I personally put no faith in any of these rumors.

If it happens, it happens.

Overnitefr8

Another reason for not having IND as a crew base is that there is not good (availability, not quality) commercial airline service in and out of there. Not too many places that you can one hop to/from IND. Memphis and LAX are good domiciles because so many cities can be serviced with one leg in and out.

BoilerUP

Where does FDX fly out of IND that commercial air service doesn't go? Its definately not ORD but for a non-hub it does have a decent amount of nonstop markets.

How many crews sit hot (or hotel or whatever) reserve in IND at any given time? Just curious...

Ranger

Usually, the company is more concerned with the availability of international commercial flights. I didn't look but I'd bet there aren't too many non-stops to anywhere in the world out of KIND.

I don't do hot reserve pairings so I have no idea how many, if any, there are sitting around there.

BoilerUP

I would hazard to say you are right. I wasn't aware FDX did any international out of IND, so I was thinking in terms of domestic gateways.