Originally Posted by
Tailhookah
Pilots are the best CEO’s.... riiiight. One thing I’ve learned is to not take any business advice from pilots. And I’ll not ever expect to get any flying skill advice from Ed.
Ed did inherit a well oiled machine from Richard. We all agree about that. But Ed has shown great skill in running the Big D and I only shudder to think where we’d be with Parker or Munoz. Delta is kicking ass because Delta is run by a great team... not because they’re running on cruise control.
I agree and that's not what I said. I didn't say that anyone could produce the exact same numbers. Only that this is, by far, and I mean to an extent the likes of which we've never seen in this industry or even credibly anticipated until it happened, the best time to be in this industry including running airlines at this current time.
I agree that other management teams would be making less money than ours in almost every case. But they'd still be making a ton of money, including a random CEO lottery where anyone sitting at CE's desk with an unplugged phone and the door locked would still be "running" a profitable company (just not as profitable).
We're making hay while the sun shines and that's great; the sun has never shined as bright on this industry ever, and odds are overwhelming that it won't last forever. When it changes, and it will, airlines will rue the day they burnt back billions instead of saving for the next rainy decade. But as Jerry Seinfeld says, "that's tomorrow guy's problem".