Originally Posted by
full of luv
I don't see it flourishing though because if I read the ME's playbook, I see them waiting in the wings, continually building their ME hub, but ready to pounce on a struggling EU carrier (Al Italia is nearly the first chance) to provide them with EU market access which they can then take on the EU/US markets head to head with again, their shiny taxpayer subsidized airplanes and rented labor. Maybe even doing the same if an asia carrier presents itself. Without being a public company, nobody needs to see their books. They don't have to prove anything to anybody but themselves.
Cabotage in the US market will be the last to go, if ever, but it's not an insurmountable barrier if foreign carriers are just patient enough. You need a good crisis.
Like Rahm Emanuel is famous for saying: "Never let a good crisis go to waste!"
Good observations, that's Etihads MO - snapping up 'distressed assets', if you will. Emirates are now reaching their negotiated slot limits with a lot of countries in the EU though, so hopefully that mitigates it somewhat.
Absolutely spot-on re. cabotage in the US. That's something that must be held sacred. It's where the money is in the future, because for various reasons, international competition isn't a level playing field, and your domestic market is so large.
In the EU, treating the whole continent as one country essentially enabled cabotage, and it's destroyed the short haul industry.
On the flip side, it's also enabled idiots like Kjos to set up NAI.