Clyde
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2004
- Posts
- 660
aa73 said:To all of you "legacy skeptics"
I don't blame any of you for not wanting a job with the legacies. SImple, they are doing horrible, not making money, downsizing, etc. In other words, an exact replay of what happened to them in the early 70s, early 80s, early 90s, and now, early to mid '00s. Granted, this is on a larger scale than before.
However, during those times, nobody wanted to go to them either. Then the legacies turned around, and what happened, a massive flock to the legacies when they started hiring again.
Folks, it is very easy for one to say they will "never consider a job" with this or that particular airline, based on their current situation. The truth is, once the legacies start turning around (and they will), you will see, once again, an exact replay from the last 4 decades. Everyone will flock to them, because they are hiring, and because we have an oversupply of pilots. Simple but true.
Look at CO. Three years ago nobody would even consider them, due to their situation. Now look at all the pilots "suddenly interested." Throw in a DAL, and eventually a NWA, AA, UAL and it'll be just like the 90s all over again.
There will always be a select few who strictly want to go with only ONE specific carrier (a la SWA, Fedex, etc), but the majority will jump all over an opening at a legacy, when they start to hire again. Why, because of hope and optimism that maybe, just maybe, this particular legacy will survive.
JMHO, cheers to all.
73
I'm optimistic that AMR will pull through this a lot stronger than the other legacies. You make a good point with your reference to history. Within the past 30 years, we have seen American, United, Delta, Northwest (Northwest Orient), and Continental dominating the terminals at a lot of airports. We have also seen Pan Am, TWA, and Eastern too.
We also saw numerous carriers that were smaller than the big majors. Frontier (the real one), Piedmont, Huges Airwest, Western, Capitol, Presidential, New York Air, Southern Airways and Midway just to name a few.
What happened between 30 years ago and now? Well, Pan Am and Eastern have long since been gone and TWA has been absorbed. Western was purchased by Delta. Hughes Airwest and Southern eventually joined up with North Central to become Republic Airlines, which eventually was merged into Northwest Orient Airlines to be then called just Northwest. Frontier ended up in the Texas Air group's hands and became absorbed into the Continental system, taking New York Air along the way too. Midway ended up going out of business, and Capitol and Presidential were never heard from again either. People Express Airlines, probably one of the first with no-frills flying, was on the scene just long enough before being absorbed into the Continental system (via Lorenzo).
Southwest made it and continues to make it as does America West Airlines, the first airline to become a major since deregulation.
Where am I going with this? Don't be surprised to see one, maybe two major "legacy" carriers close shop. Look for a merger between a couple of more. We'll probably see some of the smaller LCC's either merge with each other or just shut down. Definitely going to see one, maybe two newer airlines (less than 10 yrs old) survive and be strong. (i.e., JetBlue)
Consolidation, mergers, and a couple of good-bye's is what I anticipate witnessing over the next 5 years. There is overcapacity and only the strongest are going to survive. History has a way of repeating itself, especially in the airline industry. People do not want to travel via trains and steamships, so they are going to have to and want to fly. The passenger industry has to streamline itself first before it can offer those services in a streamlined manner.
With less competition, you are going to see ticket prices go back up. And they should. You can't make a profit giving services away for less than what it cost to offer it. Hopefully, airline managers of the future will take note of the mistakes made by their predessesors over the last 5-7 years and NOT make the same stupid mistakes.