I have never said that the BKs of the legacy airlines aren't a big part of why they are succeeding.... but BK is legal, it has been used by all of the legacy airlines which have twice as much history as WN, and were subjected to decades of being knocked around by the low fare carriers, including WN, although WN largely found its niches and stayed out of direct competition with WN until WN became such a nationwide airline and even with 30% connections started significantly impacting connecting markets that the legacies competed in.
I have consistently argued that the WA has been a tremendously protective law for AA and its DFW hub and that the fall of the WA is going to have a much bigger impact on AA and the N. Texas market than the AA fanclub wants to believe. Even if every other market from DAL is an example, WN at the minimum will reduce fares long enough based on the long-term strategic value of serving DAL longhaul and will do so long enough to gain a solid half of the market share that AA and other other carriers have from DFW.
I have no doubts that WN will succeed at DAL and have consistently said so.
My beef has long been that WN thinks they should be entitled to completely dominate DAL and its facilities to the exclusion of every other airline including the legacies when it was WN itself that made the decision to stay at DAL from the beginning and not compete at DFW. The argument that the legacy carriers can compete from DFW is a red herring since WN could as well but they have consistently gone down the road of not wanting to do so. N. Texas airline consumers should not be subjected to higher fares and less service because WN and AA have continued to pursue the same type of separate by equal mindset that was the market of the segregated era in the US.
Every US carrier should be free to compete at DAL and WN should also be free to add flights from DFW. The whole WA and its multiple revisions is completely anti-consumer and the fact that doj.obama.gov failed to recognize and push to dismantle it is the travesty of the whole AA/US merger agreements.
I have no doubts that WN will adapt and win in the marketplace... but the legacy carriers have gained enormous competitive advantages that WN doesn't have and it is WN that is trying to play catch up.
The fact that multiple publications are now saying what I have been saying about WN for years on here is proof that I am a whole lot more aware of the trends that are shaping this industry than a lot of people here want to admit.
Again, I respect WN, believe they will succeed, but WN is not the airline that it once was, including by having the competitive advantages that allowed WN to grow unchecked for years.
The competitive environment in any industry is continually changing.... for now, the legacy carriers have an advantage and DL is by far the most aggressive at pushing its advantages, again, partly because DL pulled off the first megamerger, did it before the ink had even dried on most of the other airlines' merger documents, and DL is now reaping the benefits that include regaining market share that other legacy carriers gave up.
Add in that DL has long had a much more competitive mindset than other legacy carriers and it is no surprise that DL and WN will be sparring in the marketplace for years to come.
This IS the airline industry which is supposed to be competitive and previous US government officials said that is exactly what they want. The fact that the current administration is getting wishy washy about competition now that DL and other legacy carriers are positioned to compete with whatever comes along will not change the rebalancing of the industry that will come in the next few years.
IF WN is really as good as it has been in the past, they will have no problem adapting and winning in the marketplace and two more gates at DAL will not significantly affect the outcome one way or another.
