Originally Posted by
757upspilot
Other questions are. How profitable is an RJ on point to point? Is it primarily a hub feed aircraft ? There was a regional that broke away from UAL and tried to go it on its own while getting larger aircraft (Airbus?) and couldn't transition fast enough and went under in a very short period.
Given the cost of aircraft, the price of fuel, and the cost of employees are we headed back to a period of time that not everyone and his brother flew anytime they wanted to go somewhere? In the old days flying was not for the everyday guy.
Exactly, as a kid we almost always drove on vacation. People today want a round trip across the country airfair that gets them there in 4 hours and costs less than they would pay in gas, much less the savings on motels and food and lower than what it would cost them on one way. It amazes me that people
expect that they should be able to fly from JFK to MCO for 100 bucks round trip. That is why everything started spiraling down, companys cost cut themselves in a fare war to increase custmers to where they cant stay in business and meet the demands on pricing, so that money has to come from elsewhere, and boom the vicious cycle of farming jobs to the lowest bidder, ie codeshare began. Most all of the regional pilots out here today were not even around when all this began, so until we stop trying to blame the "Regional Pilot" for all the ills in the industry, we need to start by getting fares back to where companys can compete and spend $ on training and pay a decent wage. I DO NOT like government oversight, but even I have to admit that when the gov set a fare regardless of carrier back in the day, aviation was a more classy way to travel. Im dating myself but my mother would have never let me on an airplane as a kid without being in sunday go to meeting clothes. There was much more respect from both ends to the middle in those days