Will Mr. Bethune Step In?
- Thread starter javaboy
- Start date
No matter who the replacement CEO, the company will never overcome their image problem, not to mention the confidence of Wall Street, as long as that idiot Bronner keeps up his speculation of the impending gloom and doom of the company to the press. Or anyone else who will listen.
BorC,
I've said it before , Until Dr. Big Mouth is silenced and sidelined , WE will always be hamstrung.
You cannot in a rightminded world expect to build consumer or employee confidence when the majority stakeholder and COB makes public statements about an impending liquidation....all the while the CEO is asking for consumer and employee support for a ramshackle transformation plan at only the employees expense.
U needs to be courting the likes of Gordon Bethune...Cuz rumor has it that Boeing is courting him. I'm convinced that Boeing aspires to remain a going concern in Commericial air transport business regardless of Airbus Industries gains over the past few years.
The question is this , Does U itself under the control of continued negative leadership have a chance to continue as a viable concern in the mix? Certainly we will not be with Dr.Bronner controlling the purse strings...and Lakefield heeding the advice and tactics of a MONSTER like Gerry Glass. The growing fuel costs cannot be offset entirely by only taking from the people of the working class. This in my humble opinion is NO actual business or so-called transformation plan at all.
I've said it before , Until Dr. Big Mouth is silenced and sidelined , WE will always be hamstrung.
You cannot in a rightminded world expect to build consumer or employee confidence when the majority stakeholder and COB makes public statements about an impending liquidation....all the while the CEO is asking for consumer and employee support for a ramshackle transformation plan at only the employees expense.
U needs to be courting the likes of Gordon Bethune...Cuz rumor has it that Boeing is courting him. I'm convinced that Boeing aspires to remain a going concern in Commericial air transport business regardless of Airbus Industries gains over the past few years.
The question is this , Does U itself under the control of continued negative leadership have a chance to continue as a viable concern in the mix? Certainly we will not be with Dr.Bronner controlling the purse strings...and Lakefield heeding the advice and tactics of a MONSTER like Gerry Glass. The growing fuel costs cannot be offset entirely by only taking from the people of the working class. This in my humble opinion is NO actual business or so-called transformation plan at all.
This report is from a Continental pilot who had Gordo on his jump seat recently.
US10
Had Gordon on the Jumpseat Today, Sept 24th...
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had gordon on the hotseat today for about 1 1/2 hours from EWR-IAH... some interesting things were said. i will not editorialize, just report:
- he was VERY upbeat about CAL even as bad as fuel prices are. said we are better positioned than almost any other carrier.
- he said DL will definitely file chap 11 but said that NOBODY filing will have any affect on us or our business plan to any great extent. he said we do not have to file almost no matter what happens.
- he has had talks with UA about a merger but, so far, they aren't interested. he said they are still in deep denial about their situation and that they would have to face reality and do what needs to be done before we would be interested. he said their staffing is bad and that they have 3 pilots when they only need 2 or 2.5. he said if things! worked out (about 20% chance) a combined CO/UA would crush everyone else. his drift was that we would come in at the very last moment as a "white knight" and put it together.
- he said it is to both the companies and the unions advantage that we don't do a contract now. he said if we sign a concessionary deal that we'll be pissed when things get better and if the company signs one that costs too much, they'd have to come back for give-backs. he doesn't want either.
- he said our retirement is secure and that the 248 million they didn't pay into retirement is "insurance" to ensure the long-term survival of the company in the event of a major terrorist attack, etc. he said that changes would have to be made in the long-run. he wants a "b" plan to essentially replace the "a" plan altogether but that it would require govt intervention. some way would have to be worked out so that nobody got screwed in the changeover to make this kind of thing fly.
- he th! inks we will be awarded EWR-shanghai in 2006.
- usair is toast. we will get our gates back and fly the shuttle. i asked where we would get the airplanes and he said they would probably draw from "CLE or albuquerque" meaning the smaller cities where we don't make money. he didn't have much good to say about staying in CLE. he did say that taking LGA back would give jblue fits.
- there isn't much danger in LCC's going international for now. said it would require a lot of start up for new airplanes and a bunch of other things that would drive their costs more in line with ours.
- said we can put winglets on all of our 757-200's and we will do as many as the market demands. his drift was that we'd use more 757's internationally and that they would be replaced domestically with 737's. said we get another 400 nm out of the winglets.
- i asked about the 737 winglet story. he said that the original 800's had no provisions for winglets but when boeing deci! ded to do them, they modified all subsequent new 800's to accept them whether the customer ordered them or not. he said it was no problem to put winglets on the older 800's but it requires more extensive mods than the newer ones.
- we don't need any new planes right now but we would look at anything on the market. said the 7E7 looked very good for the future.
- ATA (i.e. the lessors) have offered ALL of their airplanes to us but he told them to come back when they were serious, in other words, when they had been parked a couple of months. same with usair, essentially.
-737-500's are adding seats to make more money. he wasn't very happy with them for a number of reasons and said he'd love to get rid of them but can't (leases with high rates and we aren't going BK, so...)
overall, i was impressed with his straightforwardness and his optimism for the future of CAL. he DEFINITELY thinks we are in the catbird seat and will stay there for some time to come. was ! very complementary towards larry kellner and thinks he will do a great job. credited him with positioning the airline to weather the storm...
i'll post more if i think of it but i took pretty good notes. i'll answer questions if they come...
US10
Had Gordon on the Jumpseat Today, Sept 24th...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
had gordon on the hotseat today for about 1 1/2 hours from EWR-IAH... some interesting things were said. i will not editorialize, just report:
- he was VERY upbeat about CAL even as bad as fuel prices are. said we are better positioned than almost any other carrier.
- he said DL will definitely file chap 11 but said that NOBODY filing will have any affect on us or our business plan to any great extent. he said we do not have to file almost no matter what happens.
- he has had talks with UA about a merger but, so far, they aren't interested. he said they are still in deep denial about their situation and that they would have to face reality and do what needs to be done before we would be interested. he said their staffing is bad and that they have 3 pilots when they only need 2 or 2.5. he said if things! worked out (about 20% chance) a combined CO/UA would crush everyone else. his drift was that we would come in at the very last moment as a "white knight" and put it together.
- he said it is to both the companies and the unions advantage that we don't do a contract now. he said if we sign a concessionary deal that we'll be pissed when things get better and if the company signs one that costs too much, they'd have to come back for give-backs. he doesn't want either.
- he said our retirement is secure and that the 248 million they didn't pay into retirement is "insurance" to ensure the long-term survival of the company in the event of a major terrorist attack, etc. he said that changes would have to be made in the long-run. he wants a "b" plan to essentially replace the "a" plan altogether but that it would require govt intervention. some way would have to be worked out so that nobody got screwed in the changeover to make this kind of thing fly.
- he th! inks we will be awarded EWR-shanghai in 2006.
- usair is toast. we will get our gates back and fly the shuttle. i asked where we would get the airplanes and he said they would probably draw from "CLE or albuquerque" meaning the smaller cities where we don't make money. he didn't have much good to say about staying in CLE. he did say that taking LGA back would give jblue fits.
- there isn't much danger in LCC's going international for now. said it would require a lot of start up for new airplanes and a bunch of other things that would drive their costs more in line with ours.
- said we can put winglets on all of our 757-200's and we will do as many as the market demands. his drift was that we'd use more 757's internationally and that they would be replaced domestically with 737's. said we get another 400 nm out of the winglets.
- i asked about the 737 winglet story. he said that the original 800's had no provisions for winglets but when boeing deci! ded to do them, they modified all subsequent new 800's to accept them whether the customer ordered them or not. he said it was no problem to put winglets on the older 800's but it requires more extensive mods than the newer ones.
- we don't need any new planes right now but we would look at anything on the market. said the 7E7 looked very good for the future.
- ATA (i.e. the lessors) have offered ALL of their airplanes to us but he told them to come back when they were serious, in other words, when they had been parked a couple of months. same with usair, essentially.
-737-500's are adding seats to make more money. he wasn't very happy with them for a number of reasons and said he'd love to get rid of them but can't (leases with high rates and we aren't going BK, so...)
overall, i was impressed with his straightforwardness and his optimism for the future of CAL. he DEFINITELY thinks we are in the catbird seat and will stay there for some time to come. was ! very complementary towards larry kellner and thinks he will do a great job. credited him with positioning the airline to weather the storm...
i'll post more if i think of it but i took pretty good notes. i'll answer questions if they come...
Don't know how many seat CO puts in the 800's, but winglets add weight to the BOW and you loose available wieght on to the ZFW on the aircraft....trust me, dealt with it at another airline.....so the savings on fuel may be conteracted on the lost of revenue....depending on how many available seats on the 800...just a thought!!!!
