MCDU
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2003
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WOW! Looks like the furloughed pilots at America West had no career expectations after 9/11.
2001 was the year Parker got tapped as America West's CEO, starting the new job on Sept. 1. The company had improved its finances and things like on-time performance, and there was a fair amount of optimism in the room when Parker and his new management team went outfor drinks across the street from the office on the evening of Sept. 10, 2001. One of the things they felt good about was the $200 million in financing they had just lined up for the company.
Parker was getting dressed just before 6 a.m. local time the next morning when he got a phone call from his sister about the first plane hitting the World Trade Center. He watched a few minutes of the coverage before he left the room to continue getting dressed when his wife ran in to tell him about the second plane. His system operation and control people immediately called to say all planes were being grounded.
"I remember being elated to learn all our planes were safely on the ground," he said. "Later that day, once we started having conversations with FAA and DOT, who were telling us the skies were not going to be reopened the next day, it quickly became clear to a number of us that this was going to have a real impact."
The airline's new financing had disappeared, and it was left with significantly less cash on hand, even relative to its size, than other carriers.
When Parker spoke to the America West board before being named CEO, he remembers telling them the one area he didn't have much experience in was government relations, but he didn't think that was much of an issue for an airline its size.
But he was soon attending meetings at the White House, and he testified before Congress on Sept. 19, urging both direct help for airlines and loan guarantees from the new three-member Air Transportation Stabilization Board.
"We were the poster child for the ATSB program. We literally were an airline that could raise money before 9/11 but with the capital markets closed couldn't raise it," he recalled. "Without a loan guarantee we were going to find ourselves liquidating."
The $380 million loan guarantee was approved on a split vote, with a Treasury official voting no because he thought the government would end up on the hook for the loan. America West had the breathing room it needed to survive, and the federal government controlled a third of the company.
2001 was the year Parker got tapped as America West's CEO, starting the new job on Sept. 1. The company had improved its finances and things like on-time performance, and there was a fair amount of optimism in the room when Parker and his new management team went outfor drinks across the street from the office on the evening of Sept. 10, 2001. One of the things they felt good about was the $200 million in financing they had just lined up for the company.
Parker was getting dressed just before 6 a.m. local time the next morning when he got a phone call from his sister about the first plane hitting the World Trade Center. He watched a few minutes of the coverage before he left the room to continue getting dressed when his wife ran in to tell him about the second plane. His system operation and control people immediately called to say all planes were being grounded.
"I remember being elated to learn all our planes were safely on the ground," he said. "Later that day, once we started having conversations with FAA and DOT, who were telling us the skies were not going to be reopened the next day, it quickly became clear to a number of us that this was going to have a real impact."
The airline's new financing had disappeared, and it was left with significantly less cash on hand, even relative to its size, than other carriers.
When Parker spoke to the America West board before being named CEO, he remembers telling them the one area he didn't have much experience in was government relations, but he didn't think that was much of an issue for an airline its size.
But he was soon attending meetings at the White House, and he testified before Congress on Sept. 19, urging both direct help for airlines and loan guarantees from the new three-member Air Transportation Stabilization Board.
"We were the poster child for the ATSB program. We literally were an airline that could raise money before 9/11 but with the capital markets closed couldn't raise it," he recalled. "Without a loan guarantee we were going to find ourselves liquidating."
The $380 million loan guarantee was approved on a split vote, with a Treasury official voting no because he thought the government would end up on the hook for the loan. America West had the breathing room it needed to survive, and the federal government controlled a third of the company.
