Re: Dumb moves/airline bailout
Thanks doc. I will try to answer your question(s) as best I can. I am no expert in airline economics, but as you can imagine I know the situation well enough to shed some light on it. Before I do though, I want to comment on something you bring up that is quite true. You say that 99% of what you've heard is against the airlines and I share that view. For some reason, airline execs, pilots, whomever, are rarely afforded the opportunity to speak before the national media. I don't understand why they allow such poundings to take place without response, but I do know that my airline mgt. has worked nonstop-and I mean to the point of exhaustion since this attack ocurred. My chief pilot sends out daily messages to us to keep us informed. He specifially addressed the severance issue but said they didn't have the time yet to put it out publicly, because they were all so involved in trying to rescue the system. As to why there isn't a plan for others, I can't comment, since I'm not a FEMA authority. I do think that a designation as a disaster area aids this process, and that was dont the very night of the attacks. I do want to inform the readers of this thread what happened on the 11th vis a vis my industry.
First of all, the govt. through the FAA diverted all flights airborn at the time to prevent further attacks. Every route system was immediately trashed.Then they grounded all normally scheduled flights until further notice. After that, new security measures were put in place that made it impossible to run any airline's system. As you probably know, airlines run hub and spoke systems which, though extremely complex, allow the US domestic air transport system to cost the least and offer trravelers the most options. Foreign carriers charge much more, are almost all are government subsidized, yet still lose money. These hub and spoke systems cannot be run using the newly mandated procedures. The impact on reservations was immediate and catastrophic, and while I heard some specifics, I know that the facts pointed to no carrier being able to survive for more than two months. Given those realities, it was impossible to access the capital markets for funds to "hold them over" until things returned to surviveable. They haven't yet. It was impossible to insure the operations, and noone can operate without insurance. The airlines were in a position of filing for bancruptcy to protect remaining assets, a circumstance they have a fiduciary responsibility to do in order protect the real owner's (stockholders) assets. To do otherwise would have been negligent. Those same remaining assets would have to be devalued by an incredibly high percent, since there would essentially be no market for them. Now, imagine this, every airline files ch.11 within two weeks of eachother. No interest payments on outstanding loans, most of the principle reduced to pennies on the dollar, over one million immediate layoffs. Cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Washington, Dallas, LA, San Francisco and Seattle bear the brunt of this. An industry said to be app. 10% of the GDP taken out in two weeks, because of an act of terrorism unknown in human history. There's been the argument made here that if a business can't make money it should go out. There's some validity to that, and airlines go out regularly. You make the point that airlines are no longer regulated, but that is largely false. That's not your fault, it's a common misconception. It is an industry which is literally contolled by the US govt. and has many fewer options than a normal publicly traded company. Airlines can't move a wheel without govt. approval. Gates, airport accesss, routes, and almost everything else are controlled by the govt. The only things that are deregulated are fares and domestic routes. Routes with no gates, routes without airports. Airlines pay massive user fees and other taxes that the govt needs. I have just covered the surface. Some will not make it, others will change dramatically. But I can tell you that, if they don't make it, it won't be because of accusations made here by some. Thanks for affording me the opportunity to respond.