Originally Posted by
FliFast
Triple "P" (hope that's ok ?!?)
One of the nails in the coffins of TWA and Pan Am was the sale of their London-Heathrow routes to American and United respectively. This is more my point when referring to the crown jewels of United. United can generate cash through fire sales of routes and assets. Unfortunately, at TWA, our uncle, Carl Icahn did this quite masterfully. i.e Heathrow routes & Philly/Baltimore-Gatwick etc. etc.
"Happiness is Positive Cash flow" Carl Icahn circa 1988.
I'm not sure selling the most profitable routes, as I think you are inferring, would be smart at all. The task seems to be for UAL (and other legacies) to reduce unprofitable routes in the domestic markets to free up cash to invest in profitable markets; or to seek mergers or codes shares with those who can feed cash into the system. I personally think UAL's biggest problem is their incompetent management who hate their own pilots, and have been rewarded for taking a once thriving airline and putting it into Chp. 11 twice.