Originally Posted by
pilotpayne
if you go back 10 years and want to tell me that the legacy's were well run and its all the LCC's fault, well you need to do a little more research.
Its not a matter of being well run. Its ironic that someone at JB would play that card in the first place when JB is one of the worst run, fair weather airlines in the country, only able to compete with super cheap labor and ultra low across the board longevity compared to their peers. Although prior to the pre 9-11 cliff drop off recession (and then 9-11) legacies were raking in record profits. We all know what happened next.
Just as the legacies were trying to get a leg under them, the LCC's went supernova and flooded the market with cheap seats, high volume and ultra low costs that couldn't be matched. So the legacies contracted and purged many tens of thousands of jobs while the LCC's barfed capacity on any and every route in a blatant attempt to put a legacy down.
So it wasn't "all" the LCC's faults. A massive terror attack coinciding with a hard collapse of one foundational asset bubble (only to be replaced with another, even bigger one) was to blame for laying the foundation that the LCC's used to quickly grow to where they are.
And again, I'm fine with that because its just business. And now its our turn. You can't grow forever and honestly there is no place for the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of growth narrow bodies the LCC's have on order, unless more capacity is transferred from legacies to LCC's. You will benefit if that happens. I hope it doesn't.
Hey look, if there is some fantasy way every single pilot, including current and future start ups, can enjoy endless growth and unchallenged prosperity despite the market realities of us being in the middle of a critical capacity war then hey, fine. Bring it. I guess. But that's just not realistic. But in the real world there will be winners and losers. The legacies have lost mightily, to the direct benefit of the LCC's. I hope the legacies can merely take back what was lost. If everyone can magically grow into an evergreen market of endless growth, great. But thats not likely or even realistic.