SWA wants to fly from HOU to MEX and SouthAmerica

[redflyer65]

I don't think anyone knows. GK really did put in the effort. He sat through questioning for 4.5 hours with no break. Meanwhile, my CEO was sipping congac from the shrunken, hollowed out head of a furloughed pilot...

Flop,

That was both hilarious and sad at the same time. I hope you guys somehow find better leadership. Bethune was the man back in the day I guess.

 

[Saluki Dawg]

Bethune and Brenaman were both the man back in the day. I really enjoyed working at CALEX during their tenure. It's truly sad to see what UAL is doing to the great employees at Continental. Smisek has been an absolute train wreck. UAL's only hope to right the ship is to bring either Bethune or Brenaman back, but that's probably a long shot at this point unfortunately. All UAL employees deserve better than they've gotten from this management team.

 

[XR650R]

There is no decision yet, that I know of. However, from what I saw I think a lot of people changed their mind about the UAL position on the issue.

Just to clarify, you mean SWA was able to sway a lot of opinions to their way of thinking?

 

[waveflyer]

http://blog.chron.com/houstonpolitics/2012/05/southwest-and-united-slug-it-out-at-council/
People*****said it repeatedly today, that*****this isn’t a war between Southwest Airlines and United Airlines.

Of course it is.

The two corporate combatants testified before Council on Tuesday in what is likely to be the only time they directly meet on the battlefield before Council makes what one member called “a legacy decision” on whether to grant Southwest’s request to build a $100 million expansion of Hobby with five new gates and a Customs facility. Southwest plans to fly from Hobby to Mexico and the Caribbean starting in 2015.

The two airlines presented competing claims that Hobby expansion will help or hurt the Houston economy, mostly an in-person rehash of what they had already propagated through consultants’ studies.

But Southwest CEO Gary Kelly went further than he had in previous remarks on just how much of a commitment his company is willing to make.

“If we can reach an agreement with you, I’ll pay for the $100 million project,” Kelly said.

“We have built, we wrote the checks to build facilities in at least one other city,” Kelly said later in the hearing. “We are putting capital, $100***** million, on the table.” But later, when asked by a reporter if he meant that Southwest was willing to take the money from its profits or instead intended to use money from a $1.50-per-ticket increase in the Hobby passenger charge that’s passed to the Federal Aviation Administration, he said, “It’s all the same.”

Kelly alone testified for Southwest. He refused a bathroom break through the four and a half hours of testimony, then took questions from the media and posed for pictures with whooping, cheering employees in the lobby outside Council chambers.

United hired a crack team of consultants*****– a former high-ranking FAA official, Houston’s best-known economist and a nationally renowned aviation consultant from MIT– *****to tell*****Council not to be taken in by promises of lower fares, thousands of new jobs and an alleged obligation to make Hobby international facilities available to Southwest. They said Houston stands to lose 3,700 jobs if the deal goes through.

The testimony repeated the pattern of the two companies’ campaigns so far. Kelly made the simple assertion that competition is good and did not see the need for a company study to document the benefits to Houston of Hobby expansion. United’s experts picked apart a city-commissioned study that projects 10,000 new jobs. Barton Smith, professor emeritus of economics for the University of Houston and a United consultant, called the study “an embarrassment.”

Kirk Shaffer, former associate director for airports at the FAA during the Bush administration and an attorney, told Council not to take any stock in a legal opinion delivered by City Attorney David Feldman that Houston was obligated to consider Southwest’s pitch.

 

[PCL_128]

Here is a link to Gary's testimony before the Council yesterday: http://c3438396.r96.cf0.rackcdn.com...lly,_testimony_at_Joint_Committee_Meeting.pdf

Good stuff.

 

[Saluki Dawg]

If you google Houston City Council TV, you can watch the entire presentation by both SWA and UAL online. This is a Flash file so it will have to be viewed on either a Windows or Android platform but definitely worth seeing. Gary Kelly did all Southwest Employees proud that day. Very informative presentation by both sides. I learned a lot that I didn't know.

 

[waveflyer]

Good read, PCL

 

[Flopgut]

Just to clarify, you mean SWA was able to sway a lot of opinions to their way of thinking?

Yeah, I think so.

But Southwest CEO Gary Kelly went further than he had in previous remarks on just how much of a commitment his company is willing to make.

“If we can reach an agreement with you, I’ll pay for the $100 million project,” Kelly said.

“We have built, we wrote the checks to build facilities in at least one other city,” Kelly said later in the hearing. “We are putting capital, $100***** million, on the table.” But later, when asked by a reporter if he meant that Southwest was willing to take the money from its profits or instead intended to use money from a $1.50-per-ticket increase in the Hobby passenger charge that’s passed to the Federal Aviation Administration, he said, “It’s all the same.”

This would have been something I would have keyed on as a false statement on GK's part. But I listened to a full explanation and it is correct. I can't re-explain it here, but no airline would actually get into their profits for $100 million. So I can't fault that.

UAL had to do an over the top job to accomplish what they wanted, and they didn't do it IMHO. (The employees tried, but mgt withheld a full effort*) UAL lacked a growth plan, a healthy integration to point to, a legitimate leadership team. We had that at one time with CAL. I have not gotten use to being a UAL pilot where they haven't had that for pbly two decades.

*Frankly, I think Jeff secretly wants the city to do this. He wants to downsize Houston, displace employees and further ruin careers.

 

[humveedriver]

One of my favorite shows is Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsey. Sure he yells and screams at people, but his message is always the same. A successful restaraunt relies on passion to stay in business. There has to be passion and interest in the food you are serving. I think this principe can be applied in any business, but is especially important in the service industry (airlines, hotels, restaurants). You can see the difference a good leader makes who truly cares. Bethune did it with CAL. I give credit to Joe Leonard too. He was on the hook for the AA accident years ago. But at AirTran I saw a CEO who was at as many recurrent ground schools as he could attend. He took AT from the brink of bankruptcy and grew it into a coast to coast airline. Obviously Gary Kelly is passionate about the success of SWA and service his company provides its paying passengers. United has been plagued with crappy CEO's since I started in the airlines in 1998. I hope someday the board of directors recognizes that UAL needs someone with aviation in their blood to become truly successful.