ASpilot2be

Kind of a random question.

But where does the fleet spend the weekends? I notice that the ANC hub is pretty much dead on the weekends. Are the planes flying elsewhere? It doesn't seem smart to have them sit idle for two days. But then again this is airline management we are talking about. How does this reflect in trips you bid? Are there longer layovers somewhere?

Thanks. Oh, and I am prepared for sarcastic answers.

MD11Fr8Dog

They keep flying. Fedex is pretty much a 7 day operation, especially internationally.

ASpilot2be

I was just curious where they go if they are not flying around the US. I get that they work around businesses. It was just a random question I was wondering about.

Lineslug

Same with my company, they keep them moving for the most part 7 days a week, Saturdays are pretty similar to the other weekdays. There is however a little reduction in flights on Sundays thru Monday mid-day. Maybe 20-30 percent less than normal, at least on the international routes.

fr8rcaptain

Most of our volume is business to business (Monday-Friday), with some Saturday delivery (at a premium cost). At UPS we generally don't fly on the weekends for domestic operations. Our trucking side is so efficient we don't even do Saturday sorts anymore, they just truck almost all the Friday pickups for the Monday NDA deliveries.

However, we do a bit of international flying during the weekends on the major trunk routes. Our European hub in Cologne, and China hub in Shenzhen are quiet on the weekends, so 48-73 hour weekend layovers there are not uncommon. There are also many weekend layovers in other Asian gateway cities. No weekend layovers in European gateway cities, usually just in Cologne.

Depending where an official holiday falls, it's usually a UPS off day (the drivers don't deliver on major holidays), therefore an extended layover for the crew if out of domicile. "Golden Week" in Asia can lead to 5 or six day layovers. The same holds true for holidays in Cologne. Although < 5% of Germans regularly attend church, they ALL get over 23 extra days off for religious holidays during the year, causing the occasional 3 to 5 day layover in Europe. Believe it or not, the pairings that lay over for 4-7 days in Cologne during Christmas and New Years usually go senior; pilots flying their spouse or significant other over for a wonderful Christmas holiday (the hotel's free at least)!

If you ever drop by our main hub in Louisville on the weekend, it's very quiet. But there are a lot of planes flown into the hub for routine MX checks over the weekend. Less than a dozen fly out Sunday, and the rest join the party on the Monday outbounds.

I con't speak with much authority about our Anchorage hub on the weekend...I spend my weekends in Cologne!

CactusCrew

Its generally pretty quiet, a few Asia flights wander through at odd times. The busiest is Sat night into Sunday mornings (1800-0400) when approx 6-8 SDF flights make their tech stops from Asia.

You're not missing anything ...

ASpilot2be

Thank you for the answers!

TallFlyer

Since Europe came up frequently I'm this thread I have a question or two about Ops over there. Am I correct that both FedEx and UPS have a pilot domicile in CGN? And there's also a FedEx hub in CDG, right? Do you guys just deadhead over?

Swedish Blender

You are incorrect. UPS does not have an overseas domicile.

TallFlyer

So just a hub, then? Do you usually operate into the hub then spend some time bouncing around Europe or deadhead in and do the same?