Pilot SS:
Pan Am was sold to American, United and Delta. When Delta pulled the plug, much of Pan Am's remaining South American routes were flown by American out of Miami. The Pacific was bought by United and Delta bought the north Atlantic.
Out of these transactions the best deal was American's which "took" by market competition in the south what Delta paid dearly to acquire across the North Atlantic. Some writers link Delta's bankruptcy to pressures that begain due to the expense of the Pan Am deal. The way they see it Delta's expense forced Ron Allen's destruction of the traditional Delta way of doing business, which lead to an inexperienced outsider with a banking background flying the airline into the dirt with some less than ethical henchmen. The story might be accurate, or only partly true. I don't know.
United is a good operation with good people. It has suffered from some of the worst management I've ever seen in operation and is typical of a business which has ceeded their job functions to McKinsey's consultants. There is some value in United's Pacific operations, but nothing that could not be duplicated on the cheap by buying 787's, or used 777's and just overflying hubs. The 5th freedom rights from NRT are worth something, but the value of 5th freedom rights will decline with the 787 doing to 747's and A340's what RJ's did to DC-9's and 727's. Smaller, point to point, abilities will allow the economic overflight of hubs.
There is also the question of Pan Asian competition with outfits like Cebu Pacific which pay less than SkyBus rates to Fillipinos who are eager to take a 1 in 2,500 chance at an ab initio pilot program.
Last edited by Bucking Bar; 11-08-2007 at 06:13 AM.