Would like to get a feel of what pilots think is the cause for the demise of the industry. It's obviously nothing that it used to be 20 years ago.

Was it the giving up of scope and the introduction of career regional carriers?

Was it Lorenzo's introduction to the industry?

Was it deregulation?

Was it the pilots, who now accepted subpar wages?

 

Orville and Wilbur. It's all their fault!

 

Osama bin Laden and regionals fighting over themselves to be the lowest paid with biggest growth, aka, the race to the bottom.

 

Not a poplular answer, but any time government intervenes (or controls from the beginning ala post contracts) an industry it will never be a healthy industry.

The Free Market (not the current crony capitalism) has never been allowed to operate in the airline industry. It has always been subsadized/legislated.

The question is not "who ruined it", it was never good to begin with.

"clink, clink"-That was me closing the blast door for the gauranteed assault.....

 

Not to get all deep and stuff, but it is all perspective. Ask the family of 4 who flies to Disney for $200 round trip if the industry is ruined.

There isnt any clear public policy about the goal of the transportation industry in general. Is it to create lots of decent paying jobs? Or is it just to make air travel affordable to the masses?

 

The inflation of fuel prices without the corresponding raise in fare prices is the number one cause. Last year Delta spent $12 billion on fuel, regional and mainline combined. They would have only spent $4 billion if they had 1990's prices, resulting in $9 billion in profits, which could triple every pilots salary and still have billions in profits left over.

 

Always blame the regionals, lol

Who have away scope again?


Don't blame "Regional pilots"

 

The internet (Orbitz, Travelocity, etc).

 

Thats a great point... the goal of any buisness is to make a profit. If the "transportatin industry" is given a "public policy" to follow (blend of decent paying jobs/low airfare) then it is by defenition being controlled (regulated) and does not follow a free market path. In short it becomes politicized (sp?) and will not make money as an industry.

The pendullum has swung in both directions in this controlled industry... an industry that set the prices so that airlines made money on the backs of taxpayers, to the current where the passengers fly for very little on the taxes of other tax payers and the employees of the regulated industry.

It's a mess all right... but it always has been. Just depends on yuor perspective (employee or passenger) if it is going in the right direction.

 

Ruined is in the eye of the beholder.... as someone else said you can fly cross country for a fraction of what it would have cost in the 70's....and much more safely than the 70's thanks largely to technology. The pilot profession may not pay like it did, but there is also 10 times as many pilots as there was back then, so in terms of net jobs, it's better.
No doubt scope giveaways put downward pressure on pilot wages (all airline wages) but then again, would the airlines have service to all of the RJ cities today without cheap RJ labor. Were already seeing the effects of a mature RJ industry workforce (ie not as cheap) on the business model and it's not good (for RJ pilots).
I think it's interesting that Lorenzo's style of break the union with strong arm tactics has been shown to be a long term failure by and large and some of the more successful companies of late have had a very good working relationship with their unions, not giveaways, but mutual give and take.
Someone posted an old 60 mins story about EAL and it's battles with the mechanics union. Their work rules were so inefficient for the company. Today's workrules industry wide are much more efficient, especially with PBS for the pilots.
LUV