Originally Posted by
CALFO
That's true. the industry was not doing well in summer of 2001. A big part of that reason was the overexpansion by all the majors. So, my generalization of United being "on a tear" is not accurate. My point is that United expanded through June, 2001 and continued to hire pilots. I read a Q2 2001 report that states that United was shifting away from 4% growth for 2001 to basically flat.
Well that was also the year of the Arthur Anderson/Enron scandal something to consider when looking back at anyone’s reports from that time. As you said the industry was in trouble already largely. I believe a couple of companies like US and AmWest had already announced or were hinting at l furloughs prior to 9/11.
Imo, that 4% to flat was Goodwin and Dutta trying to save face after a tough run and unlikely to happen. The DC-10 and older 747’s were gone. The 737-200’s were toast as well to be replaced by an A319 order that never materialized. The 727’s were up next, but there never was a replacement order there. Both fleets left faster than expected that fall, but they were going anyway-that’s nearly 100 NB’s with only 1/4 of the smaller ones replaced. Most of it would have been 50 seat RJ’s. The Shuttle was about to be merged with mainline and rationalized, they were already doing so on the low prior to 9/11. WB in places like MIA, JFK, SEA and HNL were drying up, shuffling or both.
Also remember that a lot of UA’s growth predictions in that timeframe included anticipated UsAirways flying. They had stopped pretty much all internal initiatives there once that deal was announced.
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