Originally Posted by
gloopy
This has been pursued before and is almost always a short term bump. Longer term, others will add the capacity that we don’t if we don’t go after them in the short term. JB dumping hundreds of thousands of half prices premium lay flat seats a year across the Atlantic while we whistle past the capacity discipline gate while UAL rapidly catches up to us domestically will make tomorrows negative pressure even more pronounced compared to the nominal gains of today.
Crazy how someone will always find a way to complain. Management has said it wants only WB’s on TATL, it wants a 5+ year Asia , ME, Africa expansion, it wants to take TPAC volume from United, we have 20 very large 35K to go + 20 more options, and the likely event of a 60 + option 787 order SJS galore, new international destinations launched left and right - all with a very healthy NB order book plagued by supply chain issues.
Capacity isn’t an issue. We are increasing capacity while starting at a far higher level than United is. A ton of their domestic flying is regional or non-existent - they need the capacity dump that will take some years to develop to be where we are today. Mainly, because they have no fortress hub like ATL, DFW, SLC, DTW, or MSP.
The XLR is not proven to be a winner - it’s likely to be a loser. It’ll likely go PO most of the time in the cabin or down below. Most niche European markets can support a 330 or 787 they’re going nowhere. The XLR is extremely inflexible. If it can’t do its job for that one niche Euro market it’s a money burner. Management committing to WB’s is either luck or forced direction by GS due to our partners + new partners growing WB’s aggressively: we must match. Everyone should be happy that the WB-PAYING fleet will likely break 210+ after the deliveries are all said and done with a new type. Likely needing a ton of hiring to staff so many WB’s and incoming NB’s.