Originally Posted by
APC225
This is a short term view and an incorrect correlating of events. Munoz did not move us forward. Smisek was holding us back like a gorilla sitting on a puppy. Once he was gone a huge five-year weight was lifted, the employees could breath again, and they started moving back to their natural state of enthusiasm for working at a possibly great airline. That Munoz was out of commission the entire time that the numbers were improving shows that even an empty block at the top of the org chart was better than one with Smisek's name in it.
Bethune is a pilot if nothing else--he wants to make the most money with the least work. With Smisek gone, CEO success over the next couple of years will be like taking candy from a baby. Bethune can sidle in, watch us rise while he yuks it up, take credit and leave with another $50m. In fact, someone has told me he's already written his new book, "From Flailing to Flying."
I heard it described by someone else as "pent up positive energy." Lets hope it lasts. I do remember another short period of time a little over 10 years ago. For a few months, UAL did well, and employee morale spiked (up). We had a new CEO, and a new hope. Our new hero's name? Glenn Tilton.
The other thing that scares me is all the unions' overwhelming support for OM. That has also happened in the past, and they just turned out to be empty suits as well, and pushovers for the union leadership. An empty suit of a different flavor, is still an empty suit.
Many of us have seen variations of this same movie before. It hasn't turned out well. All that being said, I too hope it is different this time. I guess I have 20 years worth of "pent up positive energy" waiting to be spent.
I believe out biggest financial hold back right now is thousands of us, FA's, and Mechanics being utilized extremely inefficiently. I don't know that 6 new board members, or Gordo, will make a difference. They should have launched money at the FA's and mechanics 5 years ago. Instead, they have spent 2B a year on deadheading, furloughing, etc. The pilots should have been sorted by now but there are still fleets and seats that are both massively overstaffed and massively understaffed.