I think RA is great! Of course I compare all of our Leaders to Leo Mullin, and with this criteria they are all great.

Actually, like some others I will take the "wait and see" approach before making an assessment on RA. So far so good, but I want to see what he has in store for DAL long term. Eventually we are going to have to go head to head with the competition - the only other option is what we have mostly been doing (with a few notable exceptions) which is retreating.

I am tired of hearing that we can not compete with Alaska. Alaska is slowly spreading all across the country - where do we draw the line? I distinctly remember a lot of talk about how a combined DAL and NW would reach a "critical mass" and grow in contested markets. I specifically remember LAX and BOS given as examples of this, but so far I have not seen it. I have seen MEM shrink, as anyone with a brain saw coming, even though the mouthpieces said it would grow. How shocking!

Internationally we will have to compete with not only a resurgent UAL and AMR in a few years, but also with Emirates and all the other international carriers that seem to have many advantages over us. Either we figure out how to compete or the US aviation industry goes the way of the US shipping industry.

I am curious as to how RA plans on dealing with all of this. Time will tell and with the passing of time it will be easier to accurately weigh in on RA's performance.

Scoop