UConnQB14

from a pilot perspective, what do you think constitutes a great airline? secondly, what would you do to get an airline going well? does it rest in a great leader, efficient A/C, market niches, passenger benefits and fares, etc?

everyone try to leave an opinion about what you would do to try to build the perfect airline. for those of you who think i am about to start a Kiwi type airline, I'm not, I'm just interested in what the line guys think

LAfrequentflyer

leadership....leadership...leadership...

take a look at any winning team / organization / company / enterprise - it comes down to leadership...

-LA

ERJ135

Leadership that can understand both ends of the spectrum. Both operational and business end. Oh, fuel efficient airplanes, good CASM, fuel hedging program, Spare parts maintenance program, being diversified, treating your employees as good as your customers, and finally paying them a good salary with performence bonus's.

Rama

Sadly, leadership is what is lacking most in the airline industry. The idea of management bonuses while a company loses millions and employees take huge cuts really proves this point.

ERJ135

Exactly, I don't think an airline CEO should make more than 100K a year. However I think capts should make 200K. That maybe the pilot in me and it may be backwards but, that is my opinion right or wrong.

captjns

Corporate management runs the corporation... and respects the 119 personnel.

Airline management runs the airline and respects corporate management.

You can discuss the usual rhetoric about the quality of pilots, flight attendants, ground handlers, maintenance, dispatchers, etc.

Start at the beginning… the desired culture of the company. The culture should be that an employee looks forward to coming to work every day… take pride in what he or she does, and at the end of the day go home believing they made a difference and accomplished their daily tasks and goals… and look forward to coming to work the next day. Corporate management should realize these accomplishments and reward their employees appropriately to contiune to instill motivation which will increase productivety.

Pride… pride in knowing that each employees’ involvement was responsible for pulling together as a team in getting a plane with passengers, and hopefully baggage successfully from A to B with happy passengers at their destination.

UConnQB14

am i wrong to believe that there is some niche remaining in this market? understanding that management and the corporate side really helps make a great airline, is there anything left for entry into the market.. i did my economic thesis on the deregulation of the industry back when Braniff and TWA were MONSTERS in the industry and one thing i noticed is that there are actually routes that no one has touched.... im not about to say i will go into business and try to have an airline service these routes, but it would be interesting to see if it would be work...

like the thread says, what tools would help build an airline to service these routes.. what airplanes, what pilots (regional minimums or major?), and who runs it... everyone says management, but where do you get that kind of experience, and the investors too?

there needs to be someone on the inside (pilots) that can understand how to run an efficient airline out of small airports with connections to larger places... old airports like Tweed New Haven in CT used to have commercial service but no longer and those customers need to drive 2 hours to the airport, kind of strange.

ERJ135

I believe there still is a niche in the market for new airlines. I am doing the same thing. My senior thesis for college is a business plan. I chose mine to figure out what it takes to start an airline. I have about 100pages so far. Theres A lot to it. Lot of different issues but I definitly believe it is something that can work. It is terribly difficult to get other people motivated to invest when when you have airlines in bankruptcy, high fuel prices, etc. I have been working on my project for about a year now. Until a few months ago it was between myself in the computer. I bounced the ideas around to a few people I know including my professor who is a business consultant and I have gathered a team of people some experienced in airline operations and some that have not dealt with airline ops. I cannot reveal any info until I have a copyright on the business plan. When we become in a position to hire some people and post some info, I will post here. Until then not much I can say. The only advice I can give is do surveys gather some Stats. I spent many months doing that. Do your homework well, study the rise and fall of airlines. See who is profiting now and why? Read the airlines annual reports, SEC filings, quartlerly performence, and talk to as many people as you can. Good luck...

EmergingAirline

100k? Well, you get you pay for. That's true for pilots and for management.

EmergingAirline

If you think there is an opportunity at HVN, then that shows that your instincts are strong. There are other opportunities like it, though we think HVN is among the top 5 in the country (lots of data to back that up btw). Of course, the strip is short and they are having trouble getting the DEP to go with the FAA backed safety area extension...but we think that will eventually be approved sometime this year. With that done (and even without it) 73Gs and 319s can go just about anywhere. The terminal is too small, but there are innovative solutions for that problem. NIMBYs are more quiet than they used to be, but are still a concern.