sonofaeagle said:
How do the airlines determine ticket prices? It seems to me prices are pretty darn low. I imagine that accounts for the lower revenue. Right?
Is the plan to hook people back into flying, and then slowly raise prices back up again?
That, my friend, is the Six
TRILLION Dollar question. Since deregulation the airline industry as a whole (not including SWA or some other LCC's) has posted a net loss,
NOT a profit. That means, in a nutshell, that deregulation
FAILED. Oh it gave flyers lower prices alright, and it stimulated competition; unfortunately, it stimulated it
DOWNWARD as we've watched the quality of service decline steadily to match the declination of fares and thereby, revenue.
The big issue: How do we raise fares? The big answer: We don't. The more we raise them, the more people flock to LCC's. Why? Because the disparity of service that
USED to exist is nearly nonexistent except to first class passengers and the airline can't run on that revenue alone. The Legacy carriers are therefore good for only one thing these days: International Routes, and who knows what's going to happen with Branson's new venture - maybe he'll start the International LCC wave of the future.
Bottom line, the downward spiral of the airline industry has
NOT reached the bottom yet, we're still far from it. How's that for a depressing start to your career? Welcome to aviation - good thing I'm in it because I love to fly, otherwise I'd have to call "Truckmasters".
Incidentally, the bottom of this spiral ends where
ALL the Legacy carriers have bankrupted their way into weaseling out of their pensions, reducing salaries of
ALL labor by 50-70%, getting new cheap terms on the assets, then bankrupt anyway because the hub-and-spoke model doesn't support a LCC environment they're trying to create. At some point, the government is going to have to step back in again, I don't see much of a way around it if things continue at their present pace...
Speaking of the government, the idea that the taxpayers aren't paying for failed carriers with ATSB loans is rediculous. Where do you think that money came from? Answer: the Federal Budget which had the ATSB ammendment added to it after 9/11. The deficit we create will
EVENTUALLY have to be restored which either means less governmental spending (not likely) or increased taxes. How long do you think we as a country can keep digging a hole for ourselves in terms of the Federal Deficit?
Bronner with the PBGC is another story. If U liquidates completely, I'm sure the Federal Government and the PBGC will get the lion's share of their money back - funny how the Government protects itself first, other businesses second, taxpayers last.
