Originally Posted by
robthree
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.
While you make many great points, we shouldn't forget the humble beginnings of all the "Legacy" carriers like Delta* and USAirways**. We're not seeing anything really new here. Simply the evolution of a business such as happened with "The Phone Company" and other industries over the past two centuries. It's what capitalism is all about. You're not anti-capitalist, are you?
*Delta Airlines: Formed as Huff Daland Dusters, Incorporated, an aerial crop dusting operation, on May 30, 1924 in Macon, Georgia, the company moved to Monroe, Louisiana, in 1925 and began acting as a passenger airline in late 1929.
**US Airways traces its history to All American Aviation Company, a company founded by du Pont family brothers Richard C. du Pont, Alexis Felix du Pont, Jr. and CEO Steven Gardner. Hubbed in Pittsburgh, the airline served the Ohio River valley in 1939. In 1949, the company was renamed All American Airways as it switched from airmail to passenger service. The company was again renamed to Allegheny Airlines in 1953. USAIR = USair, Allegheny In Reality.