Originally Posted by
FrankCobretti
I've been thinking about our stagnation and outsourcing quite a bit, and I think I have a reason:
$10B.
$10B appears to be the magic number over on the 4th floor. DAL's desperate to get below $10B in debt and is focused on saving every dime it can to make that happen. Once we hit $10B, our bond rating goes up, *everything* gets cheaper, and the airline is in position to make some serious money.
I hope that translates into organic growth and jobs. For now, I'm just going to wait and see. I'll be interested to learn whether or not I'm right.
Richard has said the consolidation phase is not over yet. I think we will see more mergers before we see any organic growth. Organic growth is expensive and then you have to compete, putting new seats into a market, driving down yields.
He would much rather buy the competitor and dominate the market with less competition, and higher yields. Just look at the slot swap and NWA merger and Alaska code share and all the J/V's, rather than buying new airplanes for organic growth. That ship has sailed and rightfully so. There is no money in competition.