Originally Posted by
fullflank
It's true that eagle is a large airlne that would be difficult to replace quickly. I will point out however that just a few years ago, AA tried to sell AE but could not find a buyer. AE is a money pit; like it or not. During this bankruptcy process, long before Doug will even think about swooping in, aircraft leases will be shed. Aircraft like 50 seats and smaller.
On another note, we can't repeat in public what is said in crew news, but I'll say that I get the impression from Dougs' PHX meeting that the MD-80s are going to be around for a awhile, in the event that there's a merger. Hence furlough protection for AA pilots.
AMR is also very hardheaded, and is an all or nothing mentality. They try to sell AE and name a high price, and wont talk about anything else. Same with bidding out flying, it is why they never have much luck.
Eagle operates at an industry average rate, and pulls a 4-6% profit. This is fact. We are the same price to AA via fee for departure and we still bring in a 4% profit on average. PNCL, Republic, Mesa, Expressjet (skywest) CAN NOT seem to do this. So something is being done correctly. You add in some huge pay cuts coming, and hard slashes to the top 20%.