Originally Posted by
All Bizniz
Bingo! You are correct!!! AS has survived for 80+ years by doing whatever was necessary to ensure its viability.
They were a big fish in a small pond for a long time....... until a few big whales decided to seriously make that pond their pond too.
AS's pond started drying up, and you do know what happens to a fish when the pond becomes dry, don't you?
The VX acquisition gives them a fighting chance of ensuring that the pond will always be deep enough to swim in.
That is what VX boys and girls bring to the table my friend.....The very survival of your....... our... airline!
So yeah, we can thump our chest as much as anyone from the AS side because this "lottery" that some of y'all talk about goes both ways..
I got some time to kill so I'll entertain you, my little friend.
For the life of me, I can't really follow your logic since you too seem to speak out of your sphincter. If the big fish you are speaking of is Delta, then your comment above is a complete waste of key strokes. I won't waste my time explaining why because it should be trivial knowledge for you as well. If the big fish you are referring to is B6, then you lack complete logic. You see, AS didn't need VX to survive. The ideal scenario would have been for VX to just go away and die. VX was like that pest gopher in the movie, Caddyshack. The only reason why AS acquired VX at such an outrageous price was to out bid B6 to keep them out of the west coast. VX didn't bring anything to the table. It was rather put on the table to be rid of, like a sore thumb or a pest. Bringing something to the table means that you have something valuable to offer. What value is a unprofitable airline with very little to show in the way of assets? What AS needed was a midwest hub and not another failing west coast airline. Instead, AS was forced to put out this fire and paid dearly for it. To Branson and his board's credit, they out smarted AS and the rest of the industry. In conclusion, VX was a liability to AS and had to be dealt with at all cost. Bring to the table? Give me a break!