Is the end of UAL finally here?

[AA717driver]

Are hedge funds becoming the Icahn's and Lorenzo's of the '00's? TC

 

[Nado]

Flopgut, JBL hasn't sent a plane down south for over a year, I think more like 2+ years.

There was a little matter of not having a hangar to do the maintenance in as a brand new startup airline.

 

[AAPilot]

AMR turned it's Tulsa facility into a contract maintenance center. Contracting outside business, that is.

It's been very successful and profitable. Many carriers here and abroad are using AMR as a maintenance source getting both high quality and a competitive price.

To bad the clumsy bloated crooks at UAL can't figure out how to leave the mens room crap stall.

UAL is getting more pathetic by the minute..........

good point eagle////its just a matter of time for the once proud ual...

 

[Flopgut]

Not to start a flame was here amigo, but how do you figure?

UAL has been broken for a long time, but government intervention kept them (and others) on life support. Leaving the weaker players in the market saturates the market and drives down prices.

IMO this is what has harmed our industry and our profession.

One might go back further, but go back as far as when UAL wanted to buy America West. That probably should have been allowed, but DOT stopped it. Then you have USAir, not formally halted, but basically the same effect (except that the threat of intervention ran the price up) costing UAL dearly. UAL needed to grow in this manner, and in a truly free market there should have been no problem. Then look at the ATSB. UAL deserved a loan, instead they got turned down twice resulting in the airline taking action almost singuliarly against labor and not fixing the real corporate problems.

UAL was a DOW component and a great company that should have been allowed to complete some transactions. Not allowing a large, successful [then] company the free market ability to grow is what has weakened our profession for most of us IMHO.

UAL would be twice as big if it weren't for deregulation. It would be bigger than AA now if they could have bought America West (that was a biggie...it would have spared them the USAir expense). That's my guess anyway.

 

[Flopgut]

Flopgut, JBL hasn't sent a plane down south for over a year, I think more like 2+ years.

There was a little matter of not having a hangar to do the maintenance in as a brand new startup airline.

I've heard at least two jetBlue aircraft on CENAMAR this year. Maybe it was two new EMBs coming from the factory.

Nevertheless, it would have been fun to see Peter Greenberg leave AA's TUL MX facility and go show everybody where jetBlue was getting their planes fixed.

You've got to tip your hat to these companies that still do heavy mx. I'll be the first to admit my company comes up short on this.

 

[AA717driver]

One might go back further, but go back as far as when UAL wanted to buy America West...
...UAL would be twice as big if it weren't for deregulation. It would be bigger than AA now if they could have bought America West (that was a biggie...it would have spared them the USAir expense). That's my guess anyway.

UAL (Stephen "don't call me Steve" Wolf) wanted to buy AWA to create an alter-ego LCC and do away with UAL domestic. At the time, International was where the big yields were and domestic was only dragging down the bottom line.

UAL ALPA stopped that move (Operation Root Beer), not the government. That was back when ALPA actually drew 'lines in the sand' and meant it.

If it weren't for deregulation, TWA would STILL be the largest airline in the world. Oh well...TC

 

[Flopgut]

I'm talking about year 2000 time frame. When Wolf was at USAir. UAL/America West was stopped by the DOT.

 

[hoover]

The UAL execs are stuffing their pockets while moving to morph UAL into a "virtual airline."

It sure seems like it. If you outsource everything that an airline is (flying, mx, ground support) what do you have left?

 

[hoover]

Since emerging from bankruptcy in early 2006, United has continued to trim costs and explore new ways to wring more money out of its franchise. The moves are intended to strengthen United's finances as a slowing economy threatens the recovery of the airline industry, and to improve its standing with investors.

Except the obvious one: RAISE TICKET PRICES YOU FUKCING MORONS!

None of thse "new ways" is going to have any lasting effect because UAL management has yet to attack the basic problem. They aren't charging enough to cover the cost of producing the product.

For the last I don't know how many years they have been trying to cut costs rather than increase revenue. As yet it hasn't worked, but they keep right on trying. Isn't one definition of insanity to do the same thing over and over again but expect different results?

 

[Trigger]

And they're real too.......