NAA Pilot
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2004
- Posts
- 103
Continued:
pilots who have been furloughed, recalled and furloughed yet
again. They are good people. Why not provide them a good
place now, instead of 10 years from now?
When economic blows occur in an industry, it is important to
quickly reduce capacity, constrain spending and preserve capital.
We did that after Sept. 11, albeit somewhat late. But since that
time, the stock market and the economy has fallen, risen, fallen,
and is rising rapidly again and despite solid advance bookings,
American Airlines seems to just keep getting smaller.
We have all heard that you cannot shrink an airline to
profitability. If you step back and look at American Airlines, that
is exactly what management is trying to do. They continue to
pare the weaker segments from our route map, but like whacka-
mole, each time we do that, more appear. Every time they pull
back, or outsource more of our f lying, they always have a good
story for the media, complete with rationalizations that, on the
surface, seem to make sense each time. But taken collectively,
they point to an enterprise that’s slowly failing. Contrast that
with Delta managements decision to continue to expand their
global reach, much of it at our expense, while carriers like
Southwest, Air Tran and Spirit do the same domestically. What
we need are new markets, new ways of serving our customers,
and new ideas on how to grow and strengthen American
Airlines and its employees.
Another classic mistake that AA management continues to
make is that they try to make their customers fit into the service
they provide, rather than provide the service their customers
want. No one wants to f ly on an RJ if they did, Southwest
would be operating them in massive numbers.
Why doesnt management try to match our service with the
needs of the customers living in our non-hub markets? Instead,
we try to route everyone through our hubs. Mid-size city after
mid-size city has become relegated to RJ-only service as we
attempt to mold our customers expectations to the system we
have designed. Southwest just comes into each one and picks up
where we fail, thus causing another round of whack-a-mole
realignments and more pain for our airlines employees and
customers.
Managements latest response after having neglected the
JFK/LGA/BOS market was to engage in a domestic interline
agreement with JetBlue. Adding insult to injury, the agreement
was immediately followed by a significant reduction in AA flying
at BOS and subsequent pilot displacements.
We can only hope that someday, a leader with a vision will
again come along to run American and turn it back into the
great airline it once was.
pilots who have been furloughed, recalled and furloughed yet
again. They are good people. Why not provide them a good
place now, instead of 10 years from now?
When economic blows occur in an industry, it is important to
quickly reduce capacity, constrain spending and preserve capital.
We did that after Sept. 11, albeit somewhat late. But since that
time, the stock market and the economy has fallen, risen, fallen,
and is rising rapidly again and despite solid advance bookings,
American Airlines seems to just keep getting smaller.
We have all heard that you cannot shrink an airline to
profitability. If you step back and look at American Airlines, that
is exactly what management is trying to do. They continue to
pare the weaker segments from our route map, but like whacka-
mole, each time we do that, more appear. Every time they pull
back, or outsource more of our f lying, they always have a good
story for the media, complete with rationalizations that, on the
surface, seem to make sense each time. But taken collectively,
they point to an enterprise that’s slowly failing. Contrast that
with Delta managements decision to continue to expand their
global reach, much of it at our expense, while carriers like
Southwest, Air Tran and Spirit do the same domestically. What
we need are new markets, new ways of serving our customers,
and new ideas on how to grow and strengthen American
Airlines and its employees.
Another classic mistake that AA management continues to
make is that they try to make their customers fit into the service
they provide, rather than provide the service their customers
want. No one wants to f ly on an RJ if they did, Southwest
would be operating them in massive numbers.
Why doesnt management try to match our service with the
needs of the customers living in our non-hub markets? Instead,
we try to route everyone through our hubs. Mid-size city after
mid-size city has become relegated to RJ-only service as we
attempt to mold our customers expectations to the system we
have designed. Southwest just comes into each one and picks up
where we fail, thus causing another round of whack-a-mole
realignments and more pain for our airlines employees and
customers.
Managements latest response after having neglected the
JFK/LGA/BOS market was to engage in a domestic interline
agreement with JetBlue. Adding insult to injury, the agreement
was immediately followed by a significant reduction in AA flying
at BOS and subsequent pilot displacements.
We can only hope that someday, a leader with a vision will
again come along to run American and turn it back into the
great airline it once was.
:laugh: Good luck with your pending failure. :beer:
