Originally Posted by
Typhoonpilot
To answer your question, I have read the full report. Happy now?
.........................
Union thuggery and antiquated protectionist mindsets are not going to do the U.S. carriers, or their employees, any good over the long run. The U.S. carriers, and their employees, would be better off finding ways to emulate what Etihad, Emirates, Qatar, Turkish, et. al. are doing.
Typhoonpilot
Union thuggery? Are you serious? You're defending a group of Sheiks WHO LITERALLY PERSONIFY WHAT A THUG IS, and you think my union is displaying acts of "thuggery?" You're can't be serious?
Yes, glad you actually read the paper. I am not familiar with the cash grants you mention. The ATSB loans had
terms, and were repaid, unlike the loans mentioned in the paper.
There is little doubt that every company on the planet received some sort of "indirect" subsidy from their governments. You could say D R Horton (a large US homebuilder) gets a "subsidy" from the US government because we're all allowed to deduct mortgage interest on our tax returns, reducing the cost of home ownership. British Airways gets a "subsidy" because their employees get their healthcare paid for through the government while Delta has to pay for health insurance for their employees through increased compensation packages. This raises Delta's costs.
We're not talking about stuff like that. We're talking about HUGE, multi-billion dollar subsidies that are propping up these ME airlines. The 3 airlines in question, in a few years, are going to have more widebodies than the ENTIRE US widebody fleet, yet they only have 4% of the population of the US. How in the world is that possible? Are ME airline managers
that good, or is there something else going on? Nope, they're not that good. They're getting sweetheart deals and using those bennies to dump capacity into Europe and the US.
If the government owns a portion of the airline and the airline is paying the thugs a dividend, that's OK. That's not a loan repayment. I own lots of companies through stock ownership just like most guys/gals on this forum. The stocks sometimes pay a dividend. They're not repaying me for a loan. The companies are returning to the owners of the company (the shareholders, me) accumulated profits. Two ENTIRELY different things.
Yeah, you're right! We should try to emulate those companies. Who can we call in Washington DC that's going to give us discounted aircraft loans, reduced landing fees, shiny new airports that don't have to cover the cost of capital, recovery for fuel hedging losses, and the likes? I want some of that! If we got those kinds of subsidies like the Big ME 3 get, we'd have Dom flowing out of our A380's first class showerheads!