About Atlas and Schedules

Schedules Kyle's Schedule
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This topic is just a few things about Atlas in general and how the schedules work.

Atlas does ACMI flying. For those that don’t know what that is, ACMI stands for Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, Insurance. It’s basically flying other companies cargo around based on a contract while Atlas provides the aircraft, the crew, the maintenance, and the insurance.

Atlas has gateway travel. This is where they buy you a ticket (positive space) on an airline to get you to where the plane is. That’s generally to your base, but it could be elsewhere. If you live outside of base and are using gateway travel, you generally have to leave on your day off (the day before your schedule starts) to get to where the plane is at. The same thing goes for the end of your schedule. They will also book you a hotel to stay at during this gateway travel period (no crash pads!).

Atlas provides private transportation to and from the plane. You generally don’t have to worry about KCM unless you are doing gateway travel. I’m not sure about the other fleets, but the 73’s transportation is private with the exception of 1 or 2 hotels where we use their shuttle.

The general schedule structure at Atlas is 17 on, 13 off. However, the past year I’ve been here that definitely hasn’t always been the case. I have seen plenty of 17 on, 13 off as well as many lines with days off ranging from 15-20. There have also been some split lines with 10 on 7-8 off. Schedules vary month to month. Atlas has about 4 different types of schedule structures which can be 30 days or 60 days long.

  • Fixed pattern line - you are on a SET 17 on 13 off every month for the entire year and you do NOT bid at all for your schedule. You start and end on the same day every month. Your schedule gets filled with flying as you get closer to your days on.
  • Secondary line - very similar to fixed pattern except you bid for these lines every 30 to 60 days. You don’t know what flying you are doing until you get closer to your days on and scheduling starts filling your schedule as needed.
  • Reserve - you bid for these every 30 to 60 days and are generally 17 days on, 13 days off. They pay higher hours due to credit rig which I won’t get into. They have R2 and R3. R2 you are at the hotel (paid for by Atlas) and have a 1.5 hour callout. R3 is airport reserve and I think is a 15-30 min callout.
  • Primary line - also bid for every 30 to 60 days. These lines you know what you are flying when you bid.

As far as the 73 goes, it is a VERY easy going lifestyle. We average 1-2 legs a day. I would say 75% of our flying is between the hours of 7am and midnight with the other 25% being redeyes. The average length of day is 6-10 hours. Most redeyes are 1 legs, but there are two routes that have recently come into the mix which are redeye hub turns.

Things change monthly here and airports are constantly being added/removed and departure times change. You pretty much just have to go with the flow here.

The 73 schedule is pretty stable, meaning what you plan on flying is generally what happens. I can’t say the same for the other fleets, but we don’t have too many delays or cancellations that affect the fleet. Amazon wants their cargo on time!

Feel free to ask any questions you may have!

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Kyle,

This is a really interesting insight into the cargo world, something I know very little about. Thank you for posting!

Chris

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17 on, kind of like when I was over the road trucking…of course, I didn’t get 13 off. Looking forward to more about the cargo side of things!

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Yeah, it’s a long time on the road for sure. Luckily I’ve been pushing only 10-12 days the past few months.

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Kyle,

This is really useful and interesting information, thanks for sharing. I look forward to seeing your schedules and the cargo operations, here on the forum. I am sure it will benefit many that are interested or did not know anything about cargo.

Brady

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Kyle,

Wow, this is great! Thanks for taking the time to share all this. The cargo side is such a huge part of the industry, it’s great to get some more visibility on it.

Hannah

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Kyle,
Thank you, that is super helpful.

I have been scouring the web trying to find information about Atlas’s schedule structure. I have a few questions, if you don’t mind.

  • What is the typical duration from when a bid closes until the bidlines are published or you find out what you have been awarded? (Ex. if you were bidding 60-day lines - April 01 thru May 31, the initial bid opens 1200z on Mar 15 and the initial bid closes 1200z Mar 18) when do you find out what lines were you awarded?
  • If you are bidding a 60 day schedule and you are awarded line 1234 for April, is your May awarded line 1234 as well, or could it be different?
  • If you are bidding a 60 day cycle do they award both months at the same time?
  • When you are awarded your schedule, does Atlas provide you with a schedule in the format as you show in your schedule attachments, showing line items for each day or do they just tell you the line number you are awarded?
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Hi Mr. Mattchu,

Hopefully I can give you the answers you’re looking for.

  1. Per the CBA, the company has to post bid awards no later than 2359z on the 18th. So the same day it closes is the same day you will find out what you’re awarded. Although the majority of the time, the company will post the bid awards by 1700z on the 18th.
  2. I’m not 100% sure what you are asking, but I’ll try to answer the best I can. For 60 day lines, month one and month two will have the same bid line number. However, that doesn’t mean that the flying will be exactly the same from month one to month two, if that’s what you’re asking. On your 60 day line you can have certain type of flying on the first month and then the second month is completely different. The line numbers have nothing to do with it.
  3. Yes. When the bid award comes out, you will know your schedule for the next 60 days if you bid a 60-day line.
  4. When the bid award comes out, you will simply see the bid line number that you are awarded. So you can go back to the bid package, find the bid line number and then see your schedule. It’s not until, I think the 24th of the month, where the bid awards are actually posted to the online crew scheduling system where you can see the schedule in a much more user-friendly format.

Hopefully I answered your questions. Please let me know if you have any others.

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Kyle,
Thank you very much for that information. That helps tremendously.

When the initial bid award comes out, how is it delivered. (Ie. Do you receive an email stating your awarded line, do you have to check a website portal, etc.)

Does this bidding process, regarding the posting and award processes / timeframe stay similar between the different fleets.

What does CBA stand for? You reference this in your bullet point 1).

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CBA - Collective Bargaining Agreement

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Mr. Mattchu,

The initial bid award is delivered through email in a PDF format. It simply tells you the line for are awarded and you will have to go back to the bid package files and find the line number you were awarded to see your schedule.

Yes, the timeframe is laid out in the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement), which is the union contract between the company and the pilots. So regardless of fleet, that timeframe is followed.

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Edward!

Not to rain on Kyle’s thread, but how have you been sir? How are things going?

Brady

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Hey Brady, things are going well and I frequently lurk the forum keeping track of all your careers. I am still Flight Instructing - best retirement job I’ve ever had, go to “work” with a smile everyday. Close to 1200TT and 800+ Dual Given, might look at 208 cargo gigs next. I have increased my aircraft exposure to C150, C172, C177, C82T, PA28, PA44 and E300. IFR experiences on 430’s, 530’s, G1000’s and GNC355’s. Helped establish a new RB FMX AATD and cross train with another Flight School on it with a BE58 Panel. Looking forward to whatever is around the corner.
Blue Skies to all - Ed

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Ed,

Fantastic, sir! Lurking is fun, don’t forget to at least pop in and say hi as you can. :slight_smile:

I always like seeing familiar faces and touching base with everyone. It sounds like you’re doing well, all those different experiences with the avionics packages are going to come in handy. I think most C208’s have 430/530s; I know I seen a few Mountain Air (FedEx feeder) and Friendly (Southern Airways Express) have them.

Brady

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Is there a way to compare the 74 schedule

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Hi Melissa,

Alex posted his first 74 schedule here. Check it out. I don’t know if he’s planning on continuously putting his schedule up or not, but the 74 is pretty much guaranteed to be gone 15-17 days at a time. Much like any wide body here, departure times can be any time of the day or night and likely average 10-15 hour flights. The 74, however, is prone to more schedule changes than any other fleet.

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Does this apply to 74 cargo as well that’s what I was meaning to ask I just left out the car go out

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If you’re asking if these schedule types and private transportation and all that applies to the 74 cargo, then yes. They apply to the company as a whole, regardless of fleet.

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We probably do 90-95% cargo, on the 74 we have a few passenger planes that do some charter work but that’s in the minority. However “cargo” is a very broad term and depending on the company the schedule can be very different even though we are all “cargo” pilots.

Even within the same company it can be different between fleets. For example the 777 fleet at Atlas flies much more consistent routes and destinations compared to the 74, which has a more varied schedule.

If you want to peel back the onion even further, at the individual pilot level, we see so much change on our schedules on the 74 not necessarily because the 74 schedule is that much more random, it’s that the schedules are packed very tight 24/7. Therefore any delay on any one leg can have a huge butterfly effect as those crew may not make their next assignment or the plane won’t make a new customer assignment 3 legs down the line and they have to tail swap etc etc. So I might be pulled off my line to patch a hole somewhere else in the schedule but then they need to backfill my spot with someone else and so on and so forth.

Probably deeper than you wanted to get into but suffice to say it’s different at each company and on different fleets within the same company, if you are really interested in a specific company you should try to talk to a few different people to see what their schedules are like.

Alex

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Thank you I am appreciate you
Have a blessed weekend