lowecur said:Gary is one smart person. His handling of the MDW deal was excellent, but lets not forget that Herb iced the deal with George on the code share. I'd be interested in finding out if that was Herbs or Garys idea.
It's too early to knight him king of the round table just yet. He has a formidable task ahead of him in the next few years. Payroll and loss of the hedging advantage will be staring him straight in the eyes in Jan 2007. I believe the pilots contract is up before that, and the backloaded FA contract will come back to bite SWA in the butt in 2007. Can SWA keep growing fast enough to stay ahead of the reaper? I don't think so, but never say never with Gary at the helm. One thing he will do though, is leave the negotiations to Herb and others, and lead the company with his genius. His biggest mistake would be to try and grow too fast. If UAIR or UAL take a dump, he will be unable to block the other carriers as he did at MDW. There's just too much space to cover. Herb needs to make sure he keeps a tight rein on him, as I think he can be overambitious.
2007 will bring the eventual limited showdown with Jetblue and their 190's.Neeleman thinks B6 will do quite well when they cross swords. They will stay out of WN's focus hubs, and go to BUF, ISP, RDU, STL, SDF, SLC, AUS, and ABQ. JFK will be the main 190 base in NE, MCO in the SE, STL in the Midwest, and SLC in the West. SLC has a soft spot in Neelemans heart, and he has many friends there when he's ready to make his move.
All in all, Gary cannot be judged until the end of 2007. It will take all of his genius to look as good as he does today.
AAAHHH!!!! I can't take this anymore. You're a f&$%$g know-it-all windbag! I bet your co-workers would concur!
No sit down and shutup!
