Unforgettable Quotes from Airlines' CEO's and Their Friends
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Once you get hooked on the airline business, it's worse than dope.
- Ed Acker, while Chairman of Air Florida
----------------------------
These days no one can make money on the goddamn airline business. The
economics represent sheer hell.
- C. R. Smith, President of American Airlines.
---------------------------
A recession is when you have to tighten your belt; depression is when
you have no belt to tighten. When you've lost your trousers - you're
in the airline business.
- Sir Adam Thomson
----------------------------
If the Wright brother were alive today Wilbur would have to fire
Orville to reduce costs.
- Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines, ' USA Today,' 8 June 1994
----------------------------
This is a nasty, rotten business.
- Robert L. Crandall, CEO & President of American Airlines.
---------------------------
The thing I miss about Air Force One is they don't lose my luggage.
- President George Bush Sr.
----------------------------
You f*cking academic eggheads! You don't know sh*t. You can't
deregulate this industry. You're going to wreck it. You don't know a
goddamn thing!
- Robert L. Crandall, CEO American Airlines, addressing a Senate
lawyer prior to airline deregulation, 1977.
-----------------------------
No one expects Braniff to go broke. No major U.S. carrier ever has.
- The Wall Street Journal, 30 July 1980.
-----------------------------
If we went into the funeral business, people would stop dying.
- Martin R. Shugrue, Vice-chairman Pan Am.
------------------------------
Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking. We have a small
problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to
get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress.
- Captain Eric Moody, British Airways, passenger PA after flying
through volcanic ash in a B-747.
-------------------------------
The greatest sin of airline management of the last 22 years is to
say, "It's all labor's fault."
- Donald Carty, Chairman and CEO American Airlines, 12 August 2002.
--------------------------------
If the pilots were in charge, Columbus would still be in port. They
believe the assertion that the world is flat.
- Robert L. Crandall, 1993.
-------------------------------
Think and act big and grow smaller, or think and act small and grow
bigger.
- Herb Kelleher
--------------------------------
That place runs on Herb Kelleher's bullsh*t.
- Robert W. Baker, VP American Airlines, regards Southwest Airlines.
--------------------------------
There are only two reasons to sit in the back row of an airplane:
Either you have diarrhea, or you're anxious to meet people who do.
- Henry Kissinger
--------------------------------
There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror.
- Orson Welles, interview to celebrate his 70th birthday, 'The
Times,' 6 May 1985.
-----------------------------------
To me, an airplane is a great place to diet.
- Wolfgang Puck
------------------------------------
Airplane travel is nature's way of making you look like your passport
photo.
- Vice President Albert Gore.
-------------------------------------
I mean, they get paid an awful lot of money. The only good thing
about them is they can't work after they're 60.
- Judge Prudence Carter Beatty, New York Southern District Bankruptcy
Court, regards Delta Air Lines pilots. Reported in The Wall Street
Journal, 18 November 2005
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Once you get hooked on the airline business, it's worse than dope.
- Ed Acker, while Chairman of Air Florida
----------------------------
These days no one can make money on the goddamn airline business. The
economics represent sheer hell.
- C. R. Smith, President of American Airlines.
---------------------------
A recession is when you have to tighten your belt; depression is when
you have no belt to tighten. When you've lost your trousers - you're
in the airline business.
- Sir Adam Thomson
----------------------------
If the Wright brother were alive today Wilbur would have to fire
Orville to reduce costs.
- Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines, ' USA Today,' 8 June 1994
----------------------------
This is a nasty, rotten business.
- Robert L. Crandall, CEO & President of American Airlines.
---------------------------
The thing I miss about Air Force One is they don't lose my luggage.
- President George Bush Sr.
----------------------------
You f*cking academic eggheads! You don't know sh*t. You can't
deregulate this industry. You're going to wreck it. You don't know a
goddamn thing!
- Robert L. Crandall, CEO American Airlines, addressing a Senate
lawyer prior to airline deregulation, 1977.
-----------------------------
No one expects Braniff to go broke. No major U.S. carrier ever has.
- The Wall Street Journal, 30 July 1980.
-----------------------------
If we went into the funeral business, people would stop dying.
- Martin R. Shugrue, Vice-chairman Pan Am.
------------------------------
Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking. We have a small
problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to
get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress.
- Captain Eric Moody, British Airways, passenger PA after flying
through volcanic ash in a B-747.
-------------------------------
The greatest sin of airline management of the last 22 years is to
say, "It's all labor's fault."
- Donald Carty, Chairman and CEO American Airlines, 12 August 2002.
--------------------------------
If the pilots were in charge, Columbus would still be in port. They
believe the assertion that the world is flat.
- Robert L. Crandall, 1993.
-------------------------------
Think and act big and grow smaller, or think and act small and grow
bigger.
- Herb Kelleher
--------------------------------
That place runs on Herb Kelleher's bullsh*t.
- Robert W. Baker, VP American Airlines, regards Southwest Airlines.
--------------------------------
There are only two reasons to sit in the back row of an airplane:
Either you have diarrhea, or you're anxious to meet people who do.
- Henry Kissinger
--------------------------------
There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror.
- Orson Welles, interview to celebrate his 70th birthday, 'The
Times,' 6 May 1985.
-----------------------------------
To me, an airplane is a great place to diet.
- Wolfgang Puck
------------------------------------
Airplane travel is nature's way of making you look like your passport
photo.
- Vice President Albert Gore.
-------------------------------------
I mean, they get paid an awful lot of money. The only good thing
about them is they can't work after they're 60.
- Judge Prudence Carter Beatty, New York Southern District Bankruptcy
Court, regards Delta Air Lines pilots. Reported in The Wall Street
Journal, 18 November 2005