then put your money in UAL. It sounds like an airline that will fit you much better.
oh and have fun getting burned on that, but they are letting jackasses like Baker scare them into things. Its working over oh so well too.
the reason why UA and AA are in the same boat as bad investments is because neither one has demonstrated that they are willing to change the fundamental structure that has left the legacy segment of the airline industry in financial shambles.
No one seems to ask WN or AS why they are destroying stockholder value thru their incursions into other carrier markets.
and the reason may very well be because they have demonstrated that they can grow their networks into other carriers' key markets and make money in the process.
The fundamental problem with Jamie Baker's question is that he assumes that airlines should stay out of each other's predetermined markets because if they venture out of them, they will lose money.
IN the past, that has been true. When airlines like AA decide that DL's growth in LHR which is coming as a result of a 49% investment in Virgin Atlantic threatens AA and is worthy of AA's decision to throw a few airplanes at ATL, they are repeating the same stupid strategies that have resulted in billions of dollars of losses year after year in the airline industry.
AA not only has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars trying to grow its own network in Asia while consistently underperforming its peers but has made one stupid strategic decision after another in NYC and elsewhere that has provided exactly the opening that AA's competitors have needed in order to grow their own presence.
And AA and UA have continued to buy into the mindset of spending tens of billions of dollars in new aircraft which only further leverage their balance sheet.
WN and AS along with DL have decided that the American consumer mindset of using every dollar of credit you are offered is hardly financially viable, esp. since DL's efforts in reducing its debt has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in reduced interest just on debt payments per year.
Further, Doug Parker is still intoxicated with the glee of operating what he touted as the world's largest airline which he can now use to seek revenge against DL for all of the failed market strategies that US could not pull off because DL outsmarted him.
so, no, airlines like AA and UA aren't and won't be decent investments because they won't make the fundamental changes in the way they run their businesses that will make them good investments.
People like Jamie Baker clearly don't understand what makes the airline industry work because if he did he wouldn't be asking questions about competition but instead asking where the proof is that ANY investment - whether a new route or new jets or new employees - is providing an acceptable return to stockholders.
DL can show that its investments are positive for stockholders.
AA and UA cannot.
