The landscape is changing. FL and B6 seem to have a pretty good thing going, and there's only so long that LCCs can expand into new markets before they start competing for the same customers.
Weiss: That knife cuts both ways. The B6s and FLs of the world are going to have people clamoring for money as they post healthy operating margins. It is the old "kill the golden goose quick to get all the eggs out" mentality and it is not limited to any single company. What WN has done is prove that it is possible to have your cake and eat it too...or at least have a cupcake and nibble at it frequently. WN has been able to keep their costs low WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY paying their people well.
But back to the USAirways situation. This has everyone involved with the airline on the horns of a dilemma which is a horse of a different color and opens up a whole new can of worms. How is that for mixed metaphors?
I do not think that management of this company can be trusted to take whatever concessions the employees provide and couple them with structural changes within the airline to keep it a going concern.
I doubt that is even their real goal. I would not be a bit surprised that what they REALLY want is to get the company down to Mesa-like employee costs and then to sell the whole shooting match to Orenstein.
It is a shame, really, when you are unable to trust management at all. But that is what has happened here.
So what do you do if you are an employee?
You offer up some concessions (nowhere near as big as they are asking for) but don't execute until and if the management points the airline in the direction it needs to go (from a sturctural point of view).
Will the delay (in seeing concessions) kill the airline? That is a risk you have to take, if you are an employee.
Management doesn't have all the cards in this equation, they just think they do. They are threatening to take another BK and abrogate all the labor agreements. That might work. Then again it might not. Lots of things can happen in a bankruptcy and you are not entirely master of your own fate.
Management has thrown "go fares" at selected PHL markets (Gee I wonder why) and over at DCA/IAD (wonder if that had anything to do with the Independence startup?). To me, that suggests they are not serious in righting the ship. To fix this thing now it is essential that major surgery/shock treatment be performed. That does not mean sit on your butt and change incrementally. That means a whole new fare system in place, loaded in the computer, by tomorrow. Day after at the latest. To those who say it cannot be done, my reply is B.S. What are all those managers and folks doing at CCY every day? Eating bon bons and watching soap operas? They ought to have the excel spreadsheets/legal pads/10 keys going full blast to concoct something that might work.
Why hasn't scheduling ALREADY implemented a depeaked hub at PHL? Nothing is stopping them from doing it...tomorrow.
This whole thing is a mess, though. If this were a sick person I think I would recommend a living will with a Do Not Resucscitate order. Management has intentionally made it such a confusing mess and one has to wonder why????? There is no rhyme nor reason to it....different airline subsidiaries, different code share partners, multiple fleet types, mainline express stations where some people get paid different wages because the airline changes equipment on a whim (or was the equipment change simply to cut labor?) Truthfully, I would not have given in on the contracts that USAirways' management did in terms of scope, salaries, work rules over the years. But the facts are they did...and contracts are contracts and were agreed to in good faith and trying to change the rules because you don't like the way the game is going is pretty low-rent....especially since what is killing you is not the wages....it's managerial stupidity and recalcitrance.
I go back to what I said earlier - if management wants to save this outfit, the place to start is not wages and employee concessions. It is the overall structure of the company. Total overhaul is required. Some will say 'we cannot/will not/do not wish to remake our beloved USAirways in the image of AirTran/Jet Blue/Southwest/_____ (insert name of favorite LCC).' To that, my only comment is: "can't never could, and it is the only chance you got."
