Colodny Against Abandoning Pit

[wings396]

I think that Ed jumped the gun with PHL because he didn't want anyone else to have it. Midway almost got away with it after EA went down. PIT & PHL worked well for years even though they were in the same state. Having hubs in PHL & BWI and PIT & DAY was not going to hold up for very long.

 

[US1YFARE]

A good man really concerned with his employees well being. He would admit it was a HUGE mistake buying PI.

[post="170500"][/post]​

Actually, if you read the article, he defends the merger to this day:

"By the time [the PSA and Piedmont merger] was done, USAir was a real mess in terms of massively conflicting schedules, employee groups that had to be merged and then one problem after another," Lauer said. The deals, he added, "really destroyed USAir's high quality financial profile and left it something of a financial basket case in the early 1990s."

Colodny, interviewed by phone from Naples, Fla., one of his three residences, defended his decisions, arguing that if he had not made them, US Airways would have been swallowed by another airline.

I also find it interesting that:

In 1993, the airline filed a document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in which it predicted that low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines would expand its operations to additional markets and that US Airways, with the highest operating costs in the industry, had to reduce its costs to survive.

 

[BoeingBoy]

As far as I'm concerned, it's way too late to refight the whole merger thing. My opinion is that the merger(s) provided the opportunity to become something of a powerhouse.

Did Colodny make some bad decisions post-mergers? Absolutely. But I saw firsthand many instances of decisions by middle management based on which pilot group would benefit or be hurt. I presume that the same happened with regard to other employee groups.

Additionally, the "not invented here" attitude was alive and well in middle management - again I saw it time and again.

I never met Colodny and only saw him once, but it is hard for me to blame him personally for all the failures after the mergers. He, like Tom Davis at PI, were among the last CEO's at what are now legacy carriers that played a large role in building "their" airlines. As such, I just can't believe that he had anything but the best intentions, not just for the airline but it's people as well.

Jim

 

[funguy2]

This article is all about EGO. Colodny is upset because the centerpiece of the empire he created is being dismantled.

I agree with Colodny that UAIR had to find a merger partner(s) in the late 80's to survive. However, maybe Colodny should have stuck around longer than 2 years to manage through the problems with the empire he had built.

Should the company have built up IND or DAY, and dismantled PIT a long time ago? Maybe. Or maybe had the company been merged in such a way that employees were compensated in a more reasonable way, we wouldn't be here in the first place.

Complete aside: "Parity-plus-one" was one of the worst decisions... (I don't think that was Colodny), which took the pay-rates of other companies, with completely different route structures, fleets, and bases, and stuck them on to a primarily regional short-haul airline. Plus, it took control away from the company to control its own costs (control going to the other companies and unions). This was an awful decision.

Back to topic: Or a hundred other decisions could have been made differently. Perhaps if Colodny had stuck around to run the airline he created, some of the bad decisions made by the subsequent CEO's would have been handled by Colodny better.

But that's all history now. I am sorry Colodny's ego is bruised. Had the company been set up for long-term success, post-merger (i.e. Kelleher's largely set-up Southwest that way, Bethune has set up Continental that way, Crandall set-up American that way...) maybe his ego would not have been bruised.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

Some of you guys are pathetic! Ed Colodny isn't the problem, looking at the posts in this thread its obvious what's been a big factor contributing to the demise of this company. You guys make me laugh, you're so quick to blame a CEO that retired 14 years ago, but never once did you ever turn down a check from how you all put it this "loser airline."

 

[Hope777]

Bethune has set up CO nicely, but that was only after he was run out of U Management by the good old boys club of CCY.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

Bethune has set up CO nicely, but that was only after he was run out of U Management by the good old boys club of CCY.

[post="170532"][/post]​

Hope777, Bethune ran himself out of a job. Read his book from "From Worst To First" he pretty much torpedoed his management career at US with his sophmoric talk at meetings. It's all there in the book. BTW, Gordo is leaving at the end of the year at a time when Continental is in need. I don't know about you but I don't think that's so "noble" of him.

 

[Hope777]

Eye, I have read the book more then once, it is good reading. Truth be told, Management from PSA or PIEDMONT were not welcomed. It was all about MIRROR IMAGE, our way or the highway.

 

[blueoceans]

eyeinthesky said:

"never once did you ever turn down a check from how you all put it this "loser airline."

No, I never did. Of course, I don't work for USAir. I will, however, gladly accept all checks sent to me. (Whether their sent from a loser, or not, doesn't really matter.)

 

[EyeInTheSky]

Eye, I have read the book more then once, it is good reading. Truth be told, Management from PSA or PIEDMONT were not welcomed. It was all about MIRROR IMAGE, our way or the highway.

[post="170546"][/post]​

At the time, can you blame them? usair was a cash cow. Clearly, what worked then doesn't work now, but at the time it seemed the logical. Back in the mid 1980's when usair looked in the "mirror" the reflection they got back was plane loads of money.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Eye,

"plane loads of money"

And therein lies at least part of the problem....

IIRC, when deregulation passed in 1978 PIT was the only airport in the country where 1 airline controlled over 50% of the traffic - the so-called "fortress hub".

During the "mirror image" phase of the integration (aside - technically that was merely standardization of operating procedures but has become something of a code-word for "not invented here"), we had US Air check pilots ride along with us to check procedures. I was amazed when they would say that "US Air doesn't need to advertise, we just add a flight and people flock to it". The amazement came from the fact that this was 1989 and traffic had been growing 10-12% during the boom years of the 80's while U had been growing about 5%. Under those conditions it's hard not to be successful.

Jim

 

[EyeInTheSky]

Jim, true. We could go back thousands of years and people that make money one way tend to stick with their plan, even to the point of being myopic. The problem with "plane loads of money" is that you are a takeover target. Hindsight is everything. Let's face it, I don't think there is an employee at this company that didn't benefit from working here in the 80's and 90's. I could be corny here and say we are in a true situation of "Ask not what your company can do for you, but what can you do for your company."

 

[BoeingBoy]

Eye,

Can't really argue (well maybe with the last sentence).

The 80's were great, but that was at the other company. The 90's - well let's just say that the paycheck didn't bounce. If the company gets anywhere near what they want and this place survives, I'll retire with approximately the same seniority number that I had at PI in 1989 from a company with about the same number of pilots, making considerably less than I did then (in all respects, not just W-2). But that's life - nothing's guaranteed.

I just didn't know that I was being so prophetic in 89 when I said that no matter what happened, I'd had 10 years of a fairy-tale career.

Jim

 

[usfliboi]

A good man really concerned with his employees well being. He would admit it was a HUGE mistake buying PI.

[post="170500"][/post]​

I agree. It shouldve been PIEDMONT buy US. Piedmont had a loyal loyal base. US did not. Sad tosee, three great airlines simply destroyed

 

[hadEnuff]

I think Mr. Colodny was great person and really cared about all his employees as did Mr. T.H. Davis, the founder of Piedmont. I think USAir made the deciison to buy Piedmont because the two were very competitive and it would ensure their survival but there was no long term plan as to waht to do. It was almost as if well they make money and we make money so we will just make money as one. As for Piedmont, Mr. Colodny knew that Piedmont was going to be purchased by Norfold and Southern railroad. In fact the $66.00 cas per share offer was on the table when USAir tendered their offer. Piedmont was to be purchased by the railroad and then the railroad was going to buy TWA and convert TWA domestic to Piedmont and retain TWA for the INternational routes and to get around the Union problems. Don't know the plan after that but that was very close to happening and in fact that is why Ican put in a bid to buy USAir so USAir would retract its offer for Piedmont so the BOD could meet and approve the Norfolk and Southern offer. All water under the bridge and don't really help us now. Certainly some thing could have gone differently after the merger but there was so much back stabbing in middle management in PIT that no one had a clue where the company was headed. Mr Schofied tried to put the pieces together with some 757 and 767 aircraft but then the economy took a dive and we had one crash after another which put tremendous pressue on the company to survive. These guys say they need these concessions but all their proposals for each labor group is so out of line with the amount of concessions they have labeled for each group. Obviously whoever runs their numbers cut too many classes in school because they have been unable to get anything right so far. Each time they will say if we can get this amount then we will be a competitor and each time they come back and say the industry has changed and we need more. In addition, both Bronner and Lakedfield are money guys so who is going to be the go to guy in regard to best decisions regarding route structure or will it be just trial and error. You would think as revenue sensitive as this company is they would ensure a much better operation than we have been providing, to protect our revenue base, especially from the express side. I wonder if any of the Union leaders from the different groups have considered approaching Bill Gates and asking him to buy the company and give a new avenue for software with In Flight Entertainment, Resverations, Computer Systems, etc. Lots of opportunities to make lots of money in an area he has little presence and recoup his small investment. He might even want to by UA and have the worlds largest airline to go along with the world's richest man.