193 UPS Pilots Take Buyouts, Regional Offers Soft Landing

A total of 193 pilots have accepted buyouts offered by UPS, and they can all walk straight into a job at American Airlines subsidiary PSA. According to Freight Waves, UPS offered the buyouts in August and hoped that 167 pilots would bite. At the same time, PSA, which is actively recruiting pilots, asked UPS if it would be OK to contact the pilots who decided to leave. Those pilots are being offered $250,000 signing bonuses and left-seat jobs in Embraer and CRJ regional jets. As we reported earlier, the same deal is being offered to FedEx pilots.

Although the signing bonus sounds generous, it's not quite a year's pay for senior captains at UPS. Freight Waves says a 30-year captain on the 747-8 makes about $34,000 a month while FedEx top-tier pilots get about $30,000 a month. All parcel carriers are up against new trends in consumer spending. People are spending more on services and experiences and less on merchandise and instead of having goods shipped, more are ordering online and picking their stuff up at a brick-and-mortar store.