30 years of US Airways CEOs merger taks and business strategies

[Fixed Wing]

Colodny - Bought Piedmont and PSA mostly as an expansion strategy. Raised Piedmont and PSA wages to USAir levels to be labor friendly

Schoefield - Sold 24% of USAir to British Airways for $300M. Could not get unions to accept $2.5B concession package. Wanted to consolidate with either United or American but talks failed.

Wolf - Huge Airbus order. Pay Parity +1% with other majors. Talks with United and American. United merger announced but never materialised.

Siegel - After first bankruptcy, realized cost cuts were not enough. Searched for partners. Talks with United (again),Virgin Atlantic and America West.

Lakefield - Second bankruptcy - Court assisted labor concessions - Rekindled talks with America West.

 

[PITMTC]

I project a cut-and-pasting of the CEO blunders coming soon from our very own......

 

[Pylit]

Wolf-2 billion $ stock buyback that ultimately put us in bk1. buybacks should be illegal.

 

[NCFL]

Stepenwolf was the worst. Because he and his buddy Rocky lied - repeatedly. He laughed all the way to the bank, via his horse farm, while the rest of the employees took it on the chin. The "if you build it, they will come" formula of "paint everything gray and blue and people will think it's a class act" didn't work. His legacy consisted of some dark blue paint, 4 letters (as in US AirWAYS), some French planes, and a bunch of French names (Envoy, Attache) for stuff. I hope he's enjoying his wine collection while everyone else is eating hamburger helper and drinking tap water.

Siegel wasn't given a chance to succeed. He wasn't perfect, and people had been recently burned by Rocky and Bullwinkle's lies, so he was booted. Under different circumstances, he'd have probably done great.

Lakefield was just a lame duck and Bronner's puppet.

Schofield inherited a big fat mess from Colodny.

Colodny botched two mergers.

Do we have to go all the way back to Tom Davis to find a good one?

 

[TheWatcher]

Colodny was the worst in the since that he didnt stay around long enough to make it work. He and the person after him never tied the 2 coast together. Never had the vision of seeing beyond the borders of the USA. Never had the vision to realize at an early date the benefit of widebody jets. Never took the time to rationalize the fleet to reduce operating cost. Focus more on reducing the advantages gained through the mergers instead of looking ahead towards a future that wasnt immediate. US once again has the oportunity to build a strong franchise in the USA and Intl if only they can see beyond the borders of the USA. From what i have been hearing, seems as though the path of reduction will be the one that is taken, yet again instead of building a fortress around the existing combined franchise and expanding into to new markets. Remember, the competition usually doesnt come in in a large way until the dominant carrier begins to withdraw. One other observation, US was able to dominate the east coast because of the huge franchise and numerous flights it operated. The competition came in really when US began to shrink its operation. Never get comfortable in your position, always look for a way to capitalize on your business. Wolf was actually on the right track until he got in bed with selling the company off. His plan became nothing more than symbolism over substance. So, hopefully the new guy at the helm will try to build a strong franchise and plans to stay around for a long time to see it grow.

 

[Hello Newman]

It wasn't Ed Colodny that botched the PI merger, it was
the idiots in middle level management, but don't get me
started on that topic.

 

[Dog Wonder]

I project a cut-and-pasting of the CEO blunders coming soon from our very own......

Stalking again?

 

[MrAeroMan]

It was Colodny by far. He had a franchise in US Air that was being eaten alive. PI was entering his strongholds and he knew US Air couldn't survive with that kind of attack going on so he decided to buy the competition. He overpaid enormously for PI and then proceeded to gut the entire operation that was making the most money for PI which was the Florida Shuttle. Something in the neighborhood of 40% of the profits for PI came from the Shuttle yet they decided to abandon those markets. Colodny's whole management structure was not up to the task so the debacle falls directly on him just as it would fall on a head football coach whose team isn't performing like it should. He's not running each play but he's making the calls so ultimately the failure resides at the top.

 

[MrAeroMan]

...Do we have to go all the way back to Tom Davis to find a good one?

Nope. Bill Howard was a great CEO. Gordon Bethune came from PI and you see what he did at CO.

 

[calibrator]

This topic is like the cancer patient who wrestles with himself the reasons and actions he could have but did not take to prevent the dire situation he is now living. U the cancer patient worrying about the reasons for his terminal disease is vanity. Knowing the reasons will not bring back the powerful life force that once was but only assure certain death from focusing on things that matter not.

 

[delldude]

i'd put CEO'S and union reluctance to awaken to major market/industry challenges and changes.
coulda,shoulda,woulda.....
tell me now,i remember ALPA dragging their feet at RJ's on the property for several years while most other carriers were flying them....
i remember the SDT effort with IAM and managements reluctance to give decision making control to union membership....
i remember constant calls for givebacks and seeing constant waste day in day from both management and labor in all areas....
so tell me who's to blame??
honestly??
if the shoe fits
remember about the foo bird.....

 

[aerosmith]

Wolfe and Gangwal recalling all that common stock at an inoppertune time (although no one saw 9/11 coming) was a bonehead manueveur.

Then there's Siegel. :down: :down: :down: :down: :down:

 

[EyeInTheSky]

It was Colodny by far.

Bullcrap! Typical PI delusions. I wish we hadn't bought PI your planes were the biggest piece of junk that ever took to the skies...and we all paid for it. Worst CEO at this company was by far Dave Siegel. Hey, at least Wolf tried to make the company better, demanded a superior product, brought in new equipment...it's been all downhill since he left. His biggest mistake was the massive stock buy back...

 

[700UW]

767's were not pieces of junk.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

767's were not pieces of junk.

Okay those planes weren't junk. But the F-28s, 737-200s, 727s were just a disaster. Even US old BAC-111s were newer looking!!