Alaska's New, New Payscale?

[CohoPilot]

Airline managers must be brain dead.

Why on Earth, would anyone think that this is a good idea.

Alaska taking on America West w/o the anchor in Virginia, I could see. But add that into the mix and it will be straight to the bottom.

 

[Boeingman]

Airline managers must be brain dead.

Why on Earth, would anyone think that this is a good idea.

Alaska taking on America West w/o the anchor in Virginia, I could see. But add that into the mix and it will be straight to the bottom.

Most of these guys think of one thing and one thing only. Short term financial gains, stock price pumps and their golden parachutes. There are millions in fees paid to lawyers, consultants, investment advisers etc. etc. with these deals.

The priority of building a viable healthy airline is more often than not at the bottom of their agenda. With the exception of SWA, the truly dedicated airline management team is a myth. Thye are all financial mercenaries and sell their soul to the highest bidder.

It takes a fairly large set of nads to announce this so quickly after firings and pay cuts.

 

[Boeingman]

Sorry B-man...I didn't see your post until after I started a new thread.

No problem.

 

[BeCareful!]

Airline managers must be brain dead.

Why on Earth, would anyone think that this is a good idea.

Alaska taking on America West w/o the anchor in Virginia, I could see. But add that into the mix and it will be straight to the bottom.

CoHo -

What very few on this web board would ever acknowledge is that US Air's strong east coast network is the reason all of this IS going to work. There's no way AWA could have attracted the kind of investment that has taken place the past few weeks on its own. It's the SWA-trumping route network that makes all of this attractive.

"....the anchor in Virginia"? Please don't take too much offence, but that's a pretty foolish thing to say, really. Ever fly around the east coast? Have you seen the population around here? Anchor.....exactly: that's why the whole freekin' airline is going to be called US Airways.

 

[CohoPilot]

Yes, I have flown on the East coast quite a bit both at work and for pleasure before I got into this miserable industry and yes US Air has a large presence and valuable slots at DCA & LGA. But unless US Air can get it's CASMs down (something that even after multiple rounds of cuts they can't seem to do) adding America West in the fray won't magically cut its costs to the same level.

Add in all of the LCC competition from AirTran, Southwest, & JetBlue for domestic traffic and the aforementioned airlines' numerous new jets they are adding and it becomes questionable if it will work. I hope it does work out for everyone involved, but there are many more doubters than believers. Time will tell.