Crandall on Airline OPS

[PBRstreetgang]

Videos of a candid interview, probably the best explanation of the industry ever distilled:

http://vimeo.com/6705165

For a teaser go to :18 in the first video.

 

[PBRstreetgang]

No comments? While I generally think airline managers all ride the short bus to work, while wearing styrofoam helmets, Crandall is interesting, and just told us where the keys to the treasure chest were kept!

 

[jdubya]

Well, the good thing about Crandall is his tell it like it is approach, which I appreciate, as so many CEO's are just cheerleaders/ bs orators such as many politicians today.

That said, I don't think he ever did anything to fix or contribute to labor relations at AA, I mean on one hand he is working for the shareholders and you can definitely show that point but unfortunately labor is just a side factor if the numbers are working.

Crandall does not support pilots, but what CEO/management does with the exception of a couple of guys as history shows.

 

[Dizel8]

Watched the whole thing, very interesting, the man has some opinions and many of which I agree with, some were quite surprising to me.

As a CEO has did very well for AMR, of course his view on labor will differ from mine, but then again, that is to be expected, just like he wanted great deals on MD-80's, he wanted great deals on labor cost, fortunately for labor, they had unions.

 

[KNOTS]

Very interesting video.... did anyone else catch him talking out of both sides of his mouth..

Early on he criticizes de-regulation because it killed off service from smaller cities to certain other cities... (His example is a 'southern city that had non-stop service to california' that had that non-stop service shut down because of de-regulation....Later, he talks about the rise of hub/spoke because of degregulation... and how hub/spoke can create '250 markets with 50 airplanes flying into the hub, then flying out of the hub... and how this was a boon to small cities which would otherwise not have service.') He's a master of double-speak.

 

[PBRstreetgang]

Knots,
He is the opposition, to finally be effective, we have to know them well. Crandall et al's downfall wil be as a result of vanity, they start to believe their own BS. Look at the current AA situation, did they really think that the thousands of people they plan to lay off were gonna play nice and come to work like nothing is happening? It's gonna be a bloodbath, and management heads will roll.

 

[Citjok]

Crandall was AA CEO in a very different economic/labor time. His opinion is just that. If he were at the helm today it won't be any different from what we are seeing now (greedy/unionbusting CEO's vs labor).

 

[desolo]

Problem with this industry and many others is the lack of innovation and imagination with CEO's. They command top pay but don's contribute anything to the bottom line and apply the same concepts as their predecessors in the form of labor destruction of benefits to reduce costs. Funny how some company's have greater pay and benefits than other company's and still make money. Another thing is you have to lead by example, asking for concessions and then waking away with millions in bonuses does not get you any respect. Labor is just tired of the same tactics with some of these CEO's, its getting old fast.

 

[chqflyer]

Problem with this industry and many others is the lack of innovation and imagination with CEO's. They command top pay but don's contribute anything to the bottom line and apply the same concepts as their predecessors in the form of labor destruction of benefits to reduce costs. Funny how some company's have greater pay and benefits than other company's and still make money. Another thing is you have to lead by example, asking for concessions and then waking away with millions in bonuses does not get you any respect. Labor is just tired of the same tactics with some of these CEO's, its getting old fast.

Nice summation. CEOs are interchangeable between completely unrelated industries. Just because someone was CEO of a widget corporation somehow makes them qualified to run an airline. Everything is guided by the bean-counters. Cut costs at every corner, give self a big bonus, move on to next company. Nobody at the top really gives a ******************** about the company. It's just a temporary stop on the resume.