sailingfun

Bar, You have your timelines and people screwed up. Hollis Harris was passed over as CEO of Delta in 1989. Ron Allen was picked instead of Hollis. He went on to start the turnaround at CAL shortly after followed by becoming CEO of Air Canada. He was long gone from Delta in 97 when Mullins was hired.
Delta did everything it could to stay out of Chapter 11. The experts if you want to quote them said Delta waited way to long to file. In fact the airline almost had to go chapter 7 because they let their cash position dwindle down to the point where there was a real chance of not being able to make payroll or purchase fuel. The last thing the management team wanted was to file. They all held incredible numbers of stock options that were rendered worthless and in the end most were fired. Why would the board fire them if they were doing what they hired them to do. Leo was hired in the 97 when Delta was enjoying record profits and the future looked bright. To say he was hired in 97 expressly to lead Delta into Chapter 11 8 years later is a big stretch.
As far as SW airlines when they were hedged they were able to set and control domestic pricing in the US. They were losing money on a operational basis almost every quarter and making it back in the hedges. They could have raised fares and made a lot more money but they went all in so to speak to try and drive UAL out of business. It only failed when fuel prices collapsed. The current profits in the airline industry are because SW is no longer hedged and has had to raise prices like the rest of us to stay in the black. Any airline with more then a 15 percent market share in the domestic market can set and control the yield of all the other airlines for the domestic US. That is simply how a commodity works.
SW with the collapse of the wage structure at the legacy airlines no longer enjoys the cost advantage it once had. It can't take market share at will from other airlines. They have had to make a radical change in their business plan from internal growth only to a merger strategy to continue to expand. The hedges that were once so important to them in the end ran their cost structure way up as they were unable to demand any wage cuts from employees while still making a profit.
SWAPA is very aware of all this and that is one the reasons they have not pushed management for any substantial wage increases after the 01 time frame when they piggybacked of DAL and UAL to bump their rate to 192 and hour. 10 years later its at 212 an hour or a less then 1 percent a year increase. SWAPA does not want to be where they are in wages. They want the historical cost advantage back so they can resume their 10 percent year over year growth that produced 7 year Captains for 2 decades. Sadly with the latest from American they are not likely to see it for a long time.