Originally Posted by Rightseat Ballast

I don't care for it either, but that is what happens when management lacks foresight. MEH management put itself into a position where it was unable to continue paying the leases on the 717's, and was unable obtain replacement aircraft on its own. 190's are available on the open market. MEH could have bought/leased 190's or any other aircraft to keep the airline running. Unfortunately, the top brass at MEH did not figure out that they could not retain and/or obtain aircraft until their financial position locked them into decline. TH did not get some great golden parachute out of letting MEH wither on the vine. He and his staff just messed up, and hurt a lot of people along the way. Had RAH not stepped in, those 717's would have gone away anyway, along with the jobs of MEH pilots. Thank Boeing for that. They have been financially strapped over the course of the RAH/MEH deal, and did what they thought would generate the maximum revenue. It is sad to see a great company and a great product leave our industry, but the truth is MEH managers rode their business model too far.

Remember, please: Labor is the largest CONTROLLABLE expense in the airline industry today. That does not mean that labor costs decide whether or not a company is successful. The problem has been (relatively) poor revenue generation, and it has been that way for decades. The spike in fuel last year, and the loss of a week's flying after 9/11 showed how small a margin the airlines were running on. Had steps been taken to keep revenues up years ago, the airlines could have taken it all in stride. You can put regional pilots on every route, on every piece of equipment, and still lose money.