Its not that its automatic profits, its that the affects of the war and sept 11 have gone.... The people are flying again. GW'S economics are why the money isnt there!!!!!!!!!
It''s not the fact that WN and boys are all over our map. It is the simple fact that Dave and his boys have no idea how to RUN an airline. High 70''s and low 80''s load factors and no profit? We have literally given them the billions they said they needed and now the pax are back and we still are mired in a management that can''t run an airline.
Bronner won''t make money unless his stock goes up. That won''t happen with Dave at the helm becuase he does not know how to turn a profit by OPERATING an airline. He is masterful at navigating BK and getting the concessions but he has no clue what to do now. Both employees and passengers are seeing that on a daily basis. Bronner better find someone who can run this company or he is going to have to answer to the people whose money he invested in U.
Many airlines have shown profits this past quarter with load factors below ours. By bet is our numbers will show a loss BECAUSE of the mismanagement of U once again. The unions have done, and continue to do, their part. Now we need the BOD to step up and hire someone who knows how to run an airline. Don Carty comes to mind.
Many airlines have shown a profit this quarter because they got a huge windfall from the feds that pushed net losses into net profits.
Excluding the $358MM federal payment and other special items, AA lost $357MM in Q2 2003. It ran about a 75% load factor.
DL reported $184MM net profit. Without the special items (the federal payment), DL lost $237MM for Q2. DL''s load factor was also about 75%.
CO reported $79MM in net profit - $111MM of which was from the federal payout. Its load factor was about 76.5%.
Of course, we don''t know what US will post or not. Time will tell.
The simple fact of the matter is that intra-east coast travel is still way down. Aviation Daily and several other industry pubs have stated so. Owing to security issues, delays, and whatnot, many passengers feel that taking a flight from LGA to BUF, or LGA to DCA is simply not worth the headache. Many of those passengers will not fly unless you priced the product to near zero. So, long-term, you''re going to have to come up with a different strategy.
Precisely correct itrade. And this management team is not coming up with a different strategy. They assume things will eventually get back to a pre 9/11 routine. The paradigm has shifted and Seigel is not thinking outside the typical box. That is POOR management. Not to even mention the extreme lack of leadership and getting the employees on his team. The employees have done their part and now it is time for the BOD to put into place a management team that can imagine what this company can become rather than trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
RJ's are not the answer. And this guy doesn't recognize that. We (the employees and the pax) are at the mercy of his operational ineptness and lack of foresight to the future of this industy. Hopefully Bronner will recongize how unprepared he is to RUN this airline before it is too late.
1. What is the stated purpose of the fed funds? Is it reimbursement for security activities provided by the airlines, cockpit doors, what? If it''s $$ for previously unfunded federal mandates, then the money would be appropriate, and not a windfall. On the other hand, no one knows how to carve out a piece of federal pork better than airlines. Which deal is this one?
2. With labor coughing up billions six months ago AND keeping U to the forefront of DOT stats, what else would you have us do? Dave got EVERYTHING he asked for. It doesn''t seem out of line to me for the focus to be on him - we''re doing our jobs.
So far as contract interpretation, U has been very creative in the past. As Dave knows not to ask for anything else, he will take what else he wants with ever more creative interpretation. Shame on the high-priced legal beagles the unions hired for not seeing this coming. (But wait, the company reimbursed the unions for the BK attorneys ---HUMMMMMMM!)