New Expectations Needed for Airlines

Let the market decide who will survive. Very little the government does is productive. We don't need political solutions. We need practical, problem-solving entrepreneurs who understand their industry and its operational requirements coupled with a feel for the value considerations of the flying public. Is Virgin Airways in trouble?

This is first report that we need to go back to a regulated airline industry. It's just a shame that it will come too late to save Aloha, which was one of the finest airlines in the world. I was in the business before and after deregulation. De-reg has never worked-it just keeps creating bankruptcies.

Even if Go! used predatory tactics, please tell me which other airline hasn't?

Aloha would have gone out of business no matter what, and this has been in the making for years. Their prior owner drained the money and didn't both to invest and modernize. It was too little too late for the new management.

As an American who now lives in India I wonder... how is it that all these Indian carriers (Jet Airways, Kingfisher, etc...) can do so well while in the USA it's so hopeless? Private carriers in India do NOT have frumpy, grumpy employees. The planes are clean and well-maintained, and they still serve meals on domestic flights.

Likewise, last summer we went to Mozambique and air travel both inside the country and between Jo-Burg was great. And in Europe I fly KLM, Air Berlin, etc., with no problems--either on-board or in the airports.

So... why can all these various countries' airlines do it right, when those in the USA cannot?

I'm afraid that this is just one more of many symptoms of America's decline. Our once-great nation is being run into the ground. The failure of certain business ventures in Texas a few decades ago is now an illustrative microcosm of what's happening to the whole nation.

It's a darn shame that all the airlines are showing us their true weaknesses. You would think after 9-11 that the USA would be a strong, and unified nation. The FAA is one of many unfortunate things that make this wonderful country we live in so vulnerable. I hope and pray that we resolve these issues in America so we don't have to give up that strong armor that the USA stands for.... Peace, Liberty, and Happiness!!!!!

We have no place for dishonesty, unloyal, and haphazard security issues on the ground or in the sky.

Sincerely,
A Concerned US Citizen in CA.
God Bless America!

The fact is that big business is treating workers like slaves. Lawyers, medical insurance, and the oil industry CEOs-- all teamed up with big corporate lobbyists have whittled away at the world's economy until they now have destroyed the world market. It started with Nixon when we got rid of the gold standard and sold all the US gold to European investors. If we were to look in Fort Knox, there would not be anything there to amount to a hill of beans. So then not 30 years later we put the icing on the cake when the Bush White House deflated the world GNP by spending trillions and trillions on a War based on fear when millions of struggling Americans were already living with anxiety and depression. Then Bush spent all the money that could have fixed this nation on a war with no positive financial outcome. The war left capital gains and everyday workers miles in debt, and people sick from stress; many Americans unable to get medical coverage to even help them cope from the stress. Today the outcome is that the world is headed into financial armageddon. Many people just cannot be productive workers because of all the everyday stress anymore. Set your zulu watch pilots, our time is a a ticking and soon we will be paid worse than a truck driver.

You pose the question ... >

In reality, U.S. air travel is in a state of transition. The "legacy carriers" are operating on the premise of seat production; a by-product of a passing century frequently called the mass production era. The business processes ... seat-production, hub-centric services, marketing, sales, customer service, etc. ... are all tied to the business tenants of the 1960's! This is largely because the technology platforms of the legacy airline industry were created in that period -- and have never been significantly upgraded. Contemporary airlines, often referred to as "start-up" or "low cost carriers" are presented with a business choice -- adapt the "legacy" business model or create a business model tied to the changing information technology and rapidly evolving knowledge-based society. Ubiquitous access to information give buyers more buying power -- and those start-up or low-cost carriers that have adapted new technology tools to respond to buyer demands are clearly performing better than even new carriers that have opted to the "legacy" business models. Aloha is but one example. It had the opportunity ... even considered it as it came out of bankruptcy; but reverted to the legacy model. Frontier and ATA both launched their businesses successfully with new-technology models; but reverted. The issue is NOT whether free enterprise or government intervention is best for the future of the airline industry -- but rather, what kinds of low-cost services will evolve using new technology business practises.

That is what a society in transition does -- evaluate among competitive solutions that meet BUYER needs. A free-market system tends to work faster and at less cost to the whole of the society it serves than can happen with government regulation or mandated oversight. But in the end, in a democracy representing the majority of all people, the result of either mode will eventually meet the needs of an informed and knowledgeable buyer. The important part is ensuring that the buyer be allowed to choose; that the government is not allowed to mandate what the buyer must use or can have. Giving government that kind of power is folly; as has been clearly demonstrated throughout recent history.

There should be an acknowledgment that escalating energy prices based on fossil fuels is not a fluke. Many business models based on cheap energy are going to have to be retooled.