Chip,
I do not have the time you do to research these items , however it seems to me that Dave is taking us down a one-way road. Yes we are cutting costs....but we are also cutting revenue at the same lightning pace, so at least what I see in my corner of the furloughed world is no change in our basic problem. We cut 300 mil.in costs....while we also cut 300 mil. in revenue.
It did not start on 9-11....I remember sitting in line at Boston Logan in a 73 going to FLA looking at the line ahead of us. U had twice the number of planes going than the rest of the airlines.....only problem was the rest of them were doing that run in 75's and 76's. Half the cost twice the Pax.(Not exact. generalizing my #'s)
I am just a dumb Pilot, but it doesn't take too many brains to see the problem with that picture. On the plus side...We always went full. and left people at the gate.
Along comes Dave, Huge cuts, cost savings..Yes. But we pull out of BWI almost completly?! Drop lots of routes etc. etc. The excuse was that FLA is a low revenue route......B#LLS**t. It was a low rev route simply because our managment did not have enough sense to run 10 large A/C rather than 20 small ones!! However we must have one up on AirTran and Southwest since we sabotaged their revenue model by giving them all those unprofitable routes. Have you seen Southwests schedule out of BWI? Looks like our old one....Nope no money there, nary a bit.
I though I saw some silly money losing things before 9-11 but after sitting back and watching the fiasco over the last year....Holy Cow!!
As for RJ's being the savior....I used to be in that world also....Trust me on this, passengers would much rather be on a 20 yr old 73 rather than on a new RJ. Just go down to the express gates in plain clothes and sit and listen!! Something that airline managment hasn't done in a long time. If the passenger has a choice (and they do) they will choose the 73 EVERY time.
U is a basket case....and getting worse. If you are not looking for another job Chip you are being foolish and unrealistic. I am 99% sure you will be joining me on the street in the near future.
As for U's unique corporate transaction..... I will bet 50 bucks that it doesn't involve the employees going with it! EVERY other airline now has enough people on the street to run U without needing a single person currently here!!
I do hope I am wrong!
P.S. Don't go thrashing my #'s...as I said I do not have the time to research all of it (Gotta feed my family) But it is easy to see, barring any massive buyout(Unlikly) we are already dead. Managements current stragety of cutting costs by cutting revenue is doomed..... I learned that one even before College, High School business 101.