If pilots ran airlines.
 

If you were given the opportunity to have your own airline what would you do in order to make it a viable enterprise?:D
Have,nt seen anything posted on here like this ? so give it a whirl as to what you would do and how you would go about doing so.

Very simple...Go back to hiring hot "stews"

If I were in charge, I'd lower fares, cut employee salaries/pensions, charge customers ridiculous surcharges & fees, schedule too many flights into hub airports that had too few gates and runways, and then declare bankruptcy and walk away with a 100 million dollar golden parachute.

Screw the viable enterprise. In today's market, there is only bankrupt, bankrupter, and liquidation.

Yes that would be one thing on the list of things to do lol:D

Thats why pax carriers are in the fix they are in so one would have to do the opposite of this .:D

I would de-emphasize the "bean counters" running the airline and put them more in a support role.

Operations personnel to have a greater say in planning the airline.

I would eliminate the "human resources" department and bring back the personnel department. Emphasize to all employees that airlines are a service orientated business and make everyone read "Nuts! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success".

I would MERGE MERGE MERGE!. Try to gain the majority of the market. Except, I would keep seniority lists separate but, everyone under one CBA. Hopefully that would aviod a labor conflict. Also, I would hire some folks to find an alternative jet fuel. Then patten the new fuel and engine technology. Then I would charge the other airlines for fuel and technology for the engines. I would be just as bad the oil companies. Also, expand operations as other pull out. I would try to get rid of the Rj's. Instead of 4 daily flights to XYZ in an RJ I would offer 2 in a 737. I would try to have at least 4 fleet types 737, 757/767, 777, 787. I would use the 737-700 for most domestic operations. If Southwest doesn't need RJ's neither do legacies. Keep the regionals around to fly the t-props. Also, like SWA, i understand happy employees equal better efficiency. I would set up pensions, etc......

I would pay pilots $1 million per year.:D

Two words: Customers & Employees

To operate any business those two sets of individuals must become your number one priority (stop this ridiculous mantra of only doing what is in the best interest of your "stockholders"). If a company in any field of business takes care of it's customers and it's employees it will never have to worry about profits and stockholders b/c in the end it will have more customers than it can handle and a happier, better trained staff, to carry out the mission of serving them.

Oh, and those "stockholders" will be beating down the door to buy in, and in the end still trying to change things back to the bean counting days.

***Courtesy of BUS101, somehow all executive seem to not remember this simply but profound philosophy.:(

If I had to run the airline in the U.S., with all its regulations, I would focus on long term shareholder value, because those are the folks who lent me their money with the expectation that they would get a return on it. That's Capitalism! It is also the fiduciary duty of the BOD.

I would only finance infrastrucutre with equity. Operating costs I would only finance with debt.

I assume you mean a legacy carrier. If so, I would structure the airline to offer dependable service to the business community. I would pay fair market salaries to employees in the hope that they would not unionize. I would ask business men who have good connections in D.C. to join the BOD. I would headquarter the company in a state with a diverse economy, a large business community, an airport authority that keeps the airport modernized, with multiple connections, and a satellite airport near by for emergencies, and has a reasonable tax structure.

Since I cannot discriminate against old hags in the U.S., I would hire only modest women with some education. No guys as FA's. NO Homos!

I would structure the company to have a pilot and a maintenance rep. at quarterly meetings for their input. Bonuses would be structured to reflect profitability.