Originally Posted by
gloopy
RA is very smart, no doubt. And is playing a great short and medium game. I'm concerned with some of the trends and its fair to say the jury is very much still out on how good he truly is/will be for the company and its employees. He's keeping the house nice and warm, but we're running out of places to sit. Meanwhile there is a sickening amount of growth lift headed straight for us for both international and domestic from our competitors and so far our *only* stratedgy is to cull capacity to preserve yields. Something's got to give.
I agree - we sit here and watch everyone around us ordering new airplanes: Airfrance (350s), Korean (747-8), United (787-10). That's just this week!
Now I'm not for the company ordering 30 new airplanes and kill the yields to put them somewhere. But - if the GDP grows at an average of 3% a year (yeah, yeah, 2009 wasn't too good for GDP growth), with the fleet we have by NOT adding widebodies we are effectively shrinking at 3% a year when we compare it to other airlines.
Yes, domestically we are "growing" in aircraft # but (a) most of the planes we have come are scheduled to be replacements. In fact, the company ordered the 100 737-900s as replacements for 320, 757 and 767-300 Domestic planes. No growth there. (b) the 717s are DC-9 replacements and RJ replacements. Richard and Ed bang the "capacity restraint" drum every chance they get. The company is not increasing seats in a meanful way, and certainly not internationally (on Delta airplanes).
Yes, we're making money - but I think at the detriment of Delta shareholders and employees. Are we going to see magic stars and rainbows when we reach $10B in debt and listed on the S&P 500? Perhaps. Maybe they are playing the long game by paying $$$ now to reduce debt, then the lower cost of debt down the road will reap big $$$ in a year or two.
We can't expand our Codeshares and JV enough - We have an AF/KLM/Alitalia JV, a V Australia JV, and all the Skyteam stuff too. How about some Delta metal growth in the international markets?