The "normal" years long pace of contract negotiations is only thanks to management dragging their feet in order to realize additional "savings" by operating under a cheaper contract. The union is prepared to expedite negotiations but only for FAIR INDUSTRY STANDARD TERMS.
Unfortunately, the opportunity cost here for everyone are the customer contracts NOT signed (Amazon) because the company is sorely understaffed and poorly managed during the recent growth phase.
Why are they poorly staffed and missing opportunities for more growth? Because of the same cheap contract that they insist on dragging out as long as they can.
This is called: Cutting off your nose to spite your face.
All you have to do in order to prove this point is to compare recent ATSG stock price action to AAWW. Clear as day.
Oh, and guess which crews are more expensive? Further proving the ability to attract customers is NOT based on crew costs but the ABILITY TO DELIVER.
At this point, Atlas is failing to deliver on several different levels.