If the economy takes off and business travel rises to previous levels and fuel prices do not rise substantially United will be okay. If this does not happen as described they won’t be okay.
Isn't this true of several carriers? Truly brilliant analysis by the reporter.
The drastic changes that are required for United Airlines to move beyond their current woes is to bring in new leadership that is capable of orchestrating a merger and relieving the company from its excessive debt burden.
A new CEO does not reduce the debt burden. Not sure what business school this reporter attended but I suspect he has been getting his knowledge from
Lenny Dykstra
Being a former oil man, Tilton should have better handled the commodity issues of 2007. He should have had a strategy to hedge oil futures to protect the company from the dynamic shifts in the market. This was Tilton’s initial strategic failure and it is still hindering the company today.
Fuel Hedging? So every major carrier and pretty much minor carrier got the fuel hedging wrong. Including the governments around the globe. However, Tilton was supposed to be able to know this was going to happen? I don't carer for Tilton as much as the next person but there were no carriers that hit the nail on the head with hedging. Even the SWA crowd got it wrong.
With the drop in air traffic and strong competitors like Southwest Airlines expanding into the traditional business route and offering lower-priced options,
Southwest?
Southwest and lower fares?
There is very little insight or research devoted to this writing. If I didn't know better I would suspect that this was created by the MEC Chairman at UAL. He has never included facts or research into his diatribes and has little or no credibility remaining. The IF's in this article are huge and you can IF things to oblivion. UAL faces some serious challenges but it is industry wide and not alone.