bluesideup1
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2002
- Posts
- 179
I don't always agree with Boyd's group but I think they hit the nail on the head with this one.
From Michael Boyd's: http://www.aviationplanning.com/
----------------------------------------------------------
American & D/FW International:
Painted Into Their Own Corners
The PATCO strike of 1981.
The economic hit of post-9/11.
Jet fuel prices doubling since 2004.
Southwest flying 737s from Love to Kansas City and St.Louis.
These, apparently, are among the major financial disasters that have befallen the airline industry since deregulation.
At least that seems to be the party line coming from D/FW International Airport and from American Airlines. Now that WN can fly to MCI and STL from Dallas/Love, the entire air service health of North Texas, the nation, and, indeed, the world is being threatened.
Yes, friends. These two markets - DAL-STL, and DAL-MCI - are ostensibly the key underpinning of the health of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. And now that Southwest will be flying these routes, according to D/FW International, plan on the entire Texas economy eventually being reduced to the level of a bazaar in Kabul.
Sound & Fury Signifying Sloppy Hype. Love has become the airport equivalent of the Wizard of Oz, at least the way that American and D/FW International seem to see it.
They've built it up in their minds as this huge threatening bugaboo, yet the reality is that it's a peanut-size threat once you look behind the curtain. The reality is that American is in the driver's seat in the Metroplex, regardless of what happens with the Wright Amendment. Love is a declining, depreciating asset for the Metroplex. D/FW International is where the growth and the market power is and will be. AA doesn't see it that way, though.
Peru: 'Cause Of Herb, You Can't Meet Me In St. Louie, Luis. In response to Southwest, American claims that it's now been forced to move two - count them - the equivalent of two - MD-80s within its fleet of several hundred airliners, to compete at Dallas/Love. As a result of this major fleet shift, they and their friends at D/FW International Airport are telling the world that the following evils are unavoidably falling on consumers, all because Southwest is a first cousin to Darth Vader:
Loss of all AA service from D/FW to Long Beach. The fact that this is the worst-performing load factor AA market in the Los Angeles basin was not mentioned. (Wonder if this opens up LGB-DFW for jetBlue. That'll have a nice effect on AA's DFW-LA Basin yields.)
Loss of nonstop service from D/FW to Providence, Green Bay, Rochester MN, and Toledo.
Reduced service to SAT, AUS, STL, MCI, and CVG.
And, they claim, as a direct result of Herb Kelleher, D/FW will lose all nonstop service to Lima. (The one in Peru, not Ohio, although AA may claim that the latter city is in precarious shape as a result of the loss of DFW service at nearby Toledo.)
All of this is a truckload of theatrical overkill. With stuff like this, one can only wonder just what cosmic turnip truck these people think we all fell off of.
The strategy and tactics AA's using to fight Wright repeal look like something jointly concocted by Vito Corleone and Kermit The Frog. On one hand, tough threats and dire warnings. Then when they try to follow through, it looks like a bunch of puppets tripping over their own strings.
The result is that the airline is coming off like an angry, frustrated gorilla banging on its cage, tossing you-know-what aimlessly in all directions.
Suggestion for AA: open the windows, let in some fresh air, and maybe some fresh thinking, too. American appears to be operating from a position of fear and weakness, instead of being the dominant carrier in the region - a position that Wright repeal won't change, but AA itself could be in the process of scuttling.
It's inconceivable that the enormous brainpower inside AA doesn't contain some people who can easily see the chosen tactical strategy to fight repeal is weak, transparent, and backfiring out in the provinces. That you-know-what is beginning to splatter back.
Neutrality Not An Option? Speaking of backfiring, a key part of the AA strategy has apparently been to toss fear grenades at smaller communities, trying to gain their support in stopping repeal. There's no doubt that AA's passion for its position is real, but whether intentional or not, it can come across like a visit from Bugsy Siegel.
Trumpeting the cuts in service to PVD, GRB, and TOL is AA's attempt to strike fear in the hearts of other communities who don't fully agree with AA in regard to the Wright Amendment. Some airports have received calls from AA, intimating that jets will be cut to turboprops, or worse, if they don't wake up and join AA in the fight against further weakening of the Wright Amendment.
From the Morning Telegraph in Tyler, Texas, a community that lost three of seven AA Eagle nonstops "as a result of" the failure to stop WN from adding STL and MCI flights from Love:
"Officials with American Airlines warned Tyler's Airport Authority in May that the city (should support AA's position) or face a reduction in flights..."
Tyler didn't. And now AA is responding with major cuts. AA stated that they needed to "divert scarce resources" from Tyler to fight Southwest at Love. Real bad timing, as this was right at the point when AA announced entirely new service between DFW and Gulfport. The the current PR image of American out in the provinces isn't real swift.
D/FW International - A Delicate Financial Flower? D/FW International came out with their own "statement" - one that was consistent with its approach to this matter from the beginning - i.e., a completely inane tantrum that not only made no sense, but assumed that consumers are total idiots.
They also seemed to blame Herb Kelleher personally for AA dropping nonstops to Lima. Maybe their intent was to get the support of Alberto Fujimori, who's currently running for president of Peru from his jail cell in Chile. Any help is welcome.
It is obvious, however, that D/FW International has several disadvantages over Love Field - grave flaws that the management of D/FW has been trying desperately to conceal from the public:
D/FW is saddled with a location that accesses the entire Metroplex - all of it and all of its population. Love has the advantage of accessing only the slow-or-no growth Dallas area.
Unlike Love, D/FW has quick, easy, fast freeway access from all areas of the Metroplex. Love has the advantage of nothing but stop-and-go traffic on choked roads leading to a single, traffic-lighted entrance to the terminal area. And Love doesn't need to worry about handling the future traffic that will result from domestic and international investment in Fort Worth and the Northwest/Alliance quadrant of the Metroplex. It's simply too far away, and its surface access takes too long.
Love has the advantage of far less runway capacity. D/FW is cursed with lots of efficient capacity for future growth.
D/FW has just opened the Skylink - a rail system that has turned what was a clunky 1970s multi-terminal design into one of the most connection-efficient and passenger-friendly airports in the nation. Whatever you do, D/FW, don't let information like that leak out.
Lions Cowering In Fear. Not since Richard Nixon's staff forgot to call a Realtor before visiting Watergate, have we seen such examples of folks trying desperately to yank defeat from the jaws of victory.
American over the past three years has become the model of a well-run airline that's preparing for the future. A CEO who's brought the company together. Costs slashed. Cooperation with its labor unions in a manner that other airlines would kill for. They've short-stopped United at ORD, grabbing important China authorities. Their hub at D/FW International is better postured than any other in the nation to take advantage of the emerging revenue cross-flows between Latin America, Northern Mexico, the Deep South, and China.
And now they're trying to have the world believe that Southwest can queer the whole deal, just by being able to toss more flights from a highly-constricted airport that currently, and in the long run, is completely non-competitive with D/FW. Sorry, the "Love is far more preferred" line is total, concocted yogurt.
Bottom Line: WN gets to fly DAL-MCI and DAL-STL. AA responds by dumping part or all service to 13 cities. All this because AA decided to shift two MD-80s and a couple of RJs.
Memo (or did they used to call it an AOI?) to AA: A new strategy is desperately needed. Nobody's buying the current one
From Michael Boyd's: http://www.aviationplanning.com/
----------------------------------------------------------
American & D/FW International:
Painted Into Their Own Corners
The PATCO strike of 1981.
The economic hit of post-9/11.
Jet fuel prices doubling since 2004.
Southwest flying 737s from Love to Kansas City and St.Louis.
These, apparently, are among the major financial disasters that have befallen the airline industry since deregulation.
At least that seems to be the party line coming from D/FW International Airport and from American Airlines. Now that WN can fly to MCI and STL from Dallas/Love, the entire air service health of North Texas, the nation, and, indeed, the world is being threatened.
Yes, friends. These two markets - DAL-STL, and DAL-MCI - are ostensibly the key underpinning of the health of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. And now that Southwest will be flying these routes, according to D/FW International, plan on the entire Texas economy eventually being reduced to the level of a bazaar in Kabul.
Sound & Fury Signifying Sloppy Hype. Love has become the airport equivalent of the Wizard of Oz, at least the way that American and D/FW International seem to see it.
They've built it up in their minds as this huge threatening bugaboo, yet the reality is that it's a peanut-size threat once you look behind the curtain. The reality is that American is in the driver's seat in the Metroplex, regardless of what happens with the Wright Amendment. Love is a declining, depreciating asset for the Metroplex. D/FW International is where the growth and the market power is and will be. AA doesn't see it that way, though.
Peru: 'Cause Of Herb, You Can't Meet Me In St. Louie, Luis. In response to Southwest, American claims that it's now been forced to move two - count them - the equivalent of two - MD-80s within its fleet of several hundred airliners, to compete at Dallas/Love. As a result of this major fleet shift, they and their friends at D/FW International Airport are telling the world that the following evils are unavoidably falling on consumers, all because Southwest is a first cousin to Darth Vader:
Loss of all AA service from D/FW to Long Beach. The fact that this is the worst-performing load factor AA market in the Los Angeles basin was not mentioned. (Wonder if this opens up LGB-DFW for jetBlue. That'll have a nice effect on AA's DFW-LA Basin yields.)
Loss of nonstop service from D/FW to Providence, Green Bay, Rochester MN, and Toledo.
Reduced service to SAT, AUS, STL, MCI, and CVG.
And, they claim, as a direct result of Herb Kelleher, D/FW will lose all nonstop service to Lima. (The one in Peru, not Ohio, although AA may claim that the latter city is in precarious shape as a result of the loss of DFW service at nearby Toledo.)
All of this is a truckload of theatrical overkill. With stuff like this, one can only wonder just what cosmic turnip truck these people think we all fell off of.
The strategy and tactics AA's using to fight Wright repeal look like something jointly concocted by Vito Corleone and Kermit The Frog. On one hand, tough threats and dire warnings. Then when they try to follow through, it looks like a bunch of puppets tripping over their own strings.
The result is that the airline is coming off like an angry, frustrated gorilla banging on its cage, tossing you-know-what aimlessly in all directions.
Suggestion for AA: open the windows, let in some fresh air, and maybe some fresh thinking, too. American appears to be operating from a position of fear and weakness, instead of being the dominant carrier in the region - a position that Wright repeal won't change, but AA itself could be in the process of scuttling.
It's inconceivable that the enormous brainpower inside AA doesn't contain some people who can easily see the chosen tactical strategy to fight repeal is weak, transparent, and backfiring out in the provinces. That you-know-what is beginning to splatter back.
Neutrality Not An Option? Speaking of backfiring, a key part of the AA strategy has apparently been to toss fear grenades at smaller communities, trying to gain their support in stopping repeal. There's no doubt that AA's passion for its position is real, but whether intentional or not, it can come across like a visit from Bugsy Siegel.
Trumpeting the cuts in service to PVD, GRB, and TOL is AA's attempt to strike fear in the hearts of other communities who don't fully agree with AA in regard to the Wright Amendment. Some airports have received calls from AA, intimating that jets will be cut to turboprops, or worse, if they don't wake up and join AA in the fight against further weakening of the Wright Amendment.
From the Morning Telegraph in Tyler, Texas, a community that lost three of seven AA Eagle nonstops "as a result of" the failure to stop WN from adding STL and MCI flights from Love:
"Officials with American Airlines warned Tyler's Airport Authority in May that the city (should support AA's position) or face a reduction in flights..."
Tyler didn't. And now AA is responding with major cuts. AA stated that they needed to "divert scarce resources" from Tyler to fight Southwest at Love. Real bad timing, as this was right at the point when AA announced entirely new service between DFW and Gulfport. The the current PR image of American out in the provinces isn't real swift.
D/FW International - A Delicate Financial Flower? D/FW International came out with their own "statement" - one that was consistent with its approach to this matter from the beginning - i.e., a completely inane tantrum that not only made no sense, but assumed that consumers are total idiots.
They also seemed to blame Herb Kelleher personally for AA dropping nonstops to Lima. Maybe their intent was to get the support of Alberto Fujimori, who's currently running for president of Peru from his jail cell in Chile. Any help is welcome.
It is obvious, however, that D/FW International has several disadvantages over Love Field - grave flaws that the management of D/FW has been trying desperately to conceal from the public:
D/FW is saddled with a location that accesses the entire Metroplex - all of it and all of its population. Love has the advantage of accessing only the slow-or-no growth Dallas area.
Unlike Love, D/FW has quick, easy, fast freeway access from all areas of the Metroplex. Love has the advantage of nothing but stop-and-go traffic on choked roads leading to a single, traffic-lighted entrance to the terminal area. And Love doesn't need to worry about handling the future traffic that will result from domestic and international investment in Fort Worth and the Northwest/Alliance quadrant of the Metroplex. It's simply too far away, and its surface access takes too long.
Love has the advantage of far less runway capacity. D/FW is cursed with lots of efficient capacity for future growth.
D/FW has just opened the Skylink - a rail system that has turned what was a clunky 1970s multi-terminal design into one of the most connection-efficient and passenger-friendly airports in the nation. Whatever you do, D/FW, don't let information like that leak out.
Lions Cowering In Fear. Not since Richard Nixon's staff forgot to call a Realtor before visiting Watergate, have we seen such examples of folks trying desperately to yank defeat from the jaws of victory.
American over the past three years has become the model of a well-run airline that's preparing for the future. A CEO who's brought the company together. Costs slashed. Cooperation with its labor unions in a manner that other airlines would kill for. They've short-stopped United at ORD, grabbing important China authorities. Their hub at D/FW International is better postured than any other in the nation to take advantage of the emerging revenue cross-flows between Latin America, Northern Mexico, the Deep South, and China.
And now they're trying to have the world believe that Southwest can queer the whole deal, just by being able to toss more flights from a highly-constricted airport that currently, and in the long run, is completely non-competitive with D/FW. Sorry, the "Love is far more preferred" line is total, concocted yogurt.
Bottom Line: WN gets to fly DAL-MCI and DAL-STL. AA responds by dumping part or all service to 13 cities. All this because AA decided to shift two MD-80s and a couple of RJs.
Memo (or did they used to call it an AOI?) to AA: A new strategy is desperately needed. Nobody's buying the current one
