JO getting paid to ruin another airline would be bad for the industry...but Mesa going under would be good for the industry (with the exception of their pilot group and employees)

If Mesa loses the UAL flying and the Hawaii lawsuit, I would hope that would a) make it pretty tough for JO to convince any investors or exec board to ever hire him to run anything involving "planes" and "flying" and b) send a message to management at other regionals and majors that there is MORE to be considered when awarding routes than raw costs...and that cost-cutting measures DO have a lower limit below which quality gets so bad it would've been better to go with the slightly more expensive company on that RFP.

JO with any luck will be going to jail. I highly doubt that JO will ever run another airline other than Mesa.

We can only hope that Mesa tanks. :)

There's an article in today's (Jan. 7, 2008) USA Today regarding the pork barrel spending of Congress on EAS service to places that really shouldn't qualify. It mentions Air Midwest as being the recipient of such money.

It would be interesting to see how much JO and his extended tentacles reach in the lobbying business in Washington WRT to the EAS contracts and even which airports qualify for EAS.

I know that Oshkosh, WI used to get EAS service to ORD even though Milwaukee is only about 90 minutes to the south and Appleton is literally only 20-25 minutes north and GRB is about 45 minutes north. What a joke.

And JO is the recipient of much of this EAS cash. The sooner he is banished from the business the better off everyone will be.

I don't think JO has much chance of getting employed at a real airline...his antics are pretty well known in the industry. Especially if leaves mesa in the midst of catastrophe.

Rumor has it he and his cronies are going to Spirit next... he is supposedly on the BOD over there.

Good thing I didn't hit 'submit' on that Spirit application.

While we're on rumor avenue, I heard that the reason for the delay is "missing" money... millions of it. And it's not the HAL money either. My bet? It's PM's golden parachute for taking the fall.
:eek:

Do you have a link to that article? I'd be interested to read it.

No link. Its' on the Op/Ed page of section A or Section 1. I am sitting on the hotel all frickin' day in SDF and read the newspaper at the great "Continental Breakfast" of dried out muffins and Country Crock fake butter at the Best Western.

I don't know if USA Today publishes the whole thing online or not.

Anyway, it's no secret that Air Midwest is a big beneficiary of EAS dollars. And I am just wondering how those contracts are divied up.

It is what it is. Some places probably need/deserve EAS and for others it is pure pork barrel spending.