Originally Posted by
Yak02
Yup, are we all not trying to hold on to our seats? Some of us have been around for a lot longer than others, and have seen have fast the money losing airplanes can disappear in a heartbeat.
Oscar made an interesting comment in the Pacific a few weaks ago. "We have way more International Widebody airplanes than we have profitable wide body routes, and not enough domestic airplanes for all the profitable domestic flying." He doesn't see that changing in the very near future. Way too much competition from foreign carriers.
We need to follow the money, not the airplane.
The competition from the foreign carriers will only increase. Therefore access to those high yield PRASM's will be in high demand. If we chose not to compete with the ME3, or NAI, etc, then it's the same as choosing not to compete with SWA domestically. You can't run and hide from the competition. You need to take it on - head on. My suggestion to Oscar is "compete where the big money is, not always where the easy money is."
Easy money is great. But remember, domestically we still have a huge RJ problem boogering up our brand, our brand loyalty, and the quality and reliability of our product. SWA and Jet Blue don't appear to be waiving the surrender flag domestically, so put your big boy pull ups on and get to work Oscar.
And, oh yeah, Kirby; you need to figure out how to get some B-757's back. Huge mistake to park em. The aircraft flies a great mission for us and the 737 nor the airbus seem to be matching their lift capability, especially on longer routes and heavier routes.