Flight Attendants Cause Bankruptcy
anonymous said...
i find this attitude among fellow employees quite discouraging. we're all at this company to not only earn a living, but to make the company profitable for the long term and thus ensuring out jobs and livelyhood. it reminds me very much of people who blindly take on faith what our government leaders tell us, no matter what the falsehood can be.
the flight attendants refusing to take pay cuts is not going to push this company into bankruptcy. poor planning and mismanagement is what is going to push this company into bankruptcy. right now the entire aviation industry is facing a weak fare enviroment, high fuel prices, large pension obligations (except for those airlines who in bankruptcy dumped their pensions on the taxpayer), excess ASM's throughout the entire industry, high lease costs associated with company fleets, flying unprofitable routes.
what it comes down to is that upper management expected oil to be below 35$ a barrel. that disount airlines such as jetBlue and AirTran Airways would be able to be priced out of business. in the normal course of a strong economy they would be able too, but with the price of Jet A being as high as it, the majors haven't been able to effectively compete with the discounters.
the question in my mind is why didn't my company hedge our fuel supplies 3 years ago when we had the money too, so that we would could compete fare-wise with the likes of the discount airlines. according to most of the company gossip i've heard, from those in upper management in downtown to those front line employees at the airport, that decision rested with Larry Kellner while he was CFO and Gordon was CEO. apparently Larry was under the belief that the price of oil would never reach current levels and that it would soon be back under 30$ a barrel, and that the approximately 150 million it would take to hedge our costs would be better spent.
unfortunately that is not what has happened. instead oil had climbed as high as 70$ a bbl, with trading right now around the 65-66 dollar range. our company also sold off one of our few profitable assets, i.e. Express Jet with a guarentee we would buy 110% of Express Jet's available seats regardless of whether we fill them & paying Express Jet's fuel cost above 68 cents a gallon of Jet A fuel.
combine that with the company's defined-benefit obligations, and the inability to push through fare increases that stick, the company has decided to turn a profit at the expense of labor.
in any other industry in this country it's completely opposite. if the cost of providing a service or product rises, it's passed on to the consumer. in the airline industry it's not. the prevailing mantra seems to be "match any fair by any discount airline, even if we turn a loss and loose market share."
as a shareholder i find it offensive, i want my company to be profitable so that i can attain a return on my investment. i would much rather have a smaller, more agile company that turns a profit, than to continue to buy aircraft that we can't really afford and operates new/more routes that don't turn a profit.
Sounds like you are bitter and need to quit. There are plenty of people that would love your job. Failure to join all other employees that have already taken pay cuts will help push the company into bankruptcy. Sounds like you are bitter and need to quit.
i find this attitude among fellow employees quite discouraging. we're all at this company to not only earn a living, but to make the company profitable for the long term and thus ensuring out jobs and livelyhood. it reminds me very much of people who blindly take on faith what our government leaders tell us, no matter what the falsehood can be.
the flight attendants refusing to take pay cuts is not going to push this company into bankruptcy. poor planning and mismanagement is what is going to push this company into bankruptcy. right now the entire aviation industry is facing a weak fare enviroment, high fuel prices, large pension obligations (except for those airlines who in bankruptcy dumped their pensions on the taxpayer), excess ASM's throughout the entire industry, high lease costs associated with company fleets, flying unprofitable routes.
what it comes down to is that upper management expected oil to be below 35$ a barrel. that disount airlines such as jetBlue and AirTran Airways would be able to be priced out of business. in the normal course of a strong economy they would be able too, but with the price of Jet A being as high as it, the majors haven't been able to effectively compete with the discounters.
the question in my mind is why didn't my company hedge our fuel supplies 3 years ago when we had the money too, so that we would could compete fare-wise with the likes of the discount airlines. according to most of the company gossip i've heard, from those in upper management in downtown to those front line employees at the airport, that decision rested with Larry Kellner while he was CFO and Gordon was CEO. apparently Larry was under the belief that the price of oil would never reach current levels and that it would soon be back under 30$ a barrel, and that the approximately 150 million it would take to hedge our costs would be better spent.
unfortunately that is not what has happened. instead oil had climbed as high as 70$ a bbl, with trading right now around the 65-66 dollar range. our company also sold off one of our few profitable assets, i.e. Express Jet with a guarentee we would buy 110% of Express Jet's available seats regardless of whether we fill them & paying Express Jet's fuel cost above 68 cents a gallon of Jet A fuel.
combine that with the company's defined-benefit obligations, and the inability to push through fare increases that stick, the company has decided to turn a profit at the expense of labor.
in any other industry in this country it's completely opposite. if the cost of providing a service or product rises, it's passed on to the consumer. in the airline industry it's not. the prevailing mantra seems to be "match any fair by any discount airline, even if we turn a loss and loose market share."
as a shareholder i find it offensive, i want my company to be profitable so that i can attain a return on my investment. i would much rather have a smaller, more agile company that turns a profit, than to continue to buy aircraft that we can't really afford and operates new/more routes that don't turn a profit.
posted by CoLite at 14:43
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