Originally Posted by
Romulus
Everyone with any experience understands you are right. The problem is you are wrong in assuming mainline will win. They won't. Money controls airline operations and management holds the purse. We can mitigate, but we can't fully control. Even if pilots could have ESOP with members on the board, they'd still have to face up to the low costs carriers like Alligiant and JetBlue plus the growing ones like Republic and Skywest.
If mainline doesn't win, eventually there won't be any airline left. Republic went from being an airline no one ever heard of, couldn't pronounce, or even spell (Chautauqua), to a lift subcontractor for every single legacy carrier, and next its going to turn into an actual mainline competitor. With the money it was given by mainline managers. If Republic actually makes money as a stand alone carrier (and it certainly won't lose money based on labor costs) SkyWest will be next to go that route, buying whichever National brand is cheapest. Lift subcontracting won't be the cash cow it has been for the last decade - mainline managers probably wont agree to pay pay gas plus profit again. So being an independent is probably the way to go anyway.
Does it make sense for AMR to hire Delta to do flying for them? Obviously not. Ditto with Republic. You don't contract your jobs out to a competitor. And today's lift subcontractor is tomorrow's head-to-head competition.
Management may realize this too, and not care. Their lives and livelihoods are not dependent upon the long term success of the airline. Only the short term results matter to them. Honestly, management and speculators are on one side: trying to maximize this quarter's profits even at the expense of long term viability, with employees and long term investors on the the other, trying to ensure the enduring health of their company.