Yeah bro. But close to 25%? Who else did 25%? Nobody unless they went out of business completely. Adjusting capacity is part of business as usual to ride the fluctuations created by the economy. But ride it by more than 5-10% of adjustments is just PLAIN **** POOR PLANNING. Or rather the complete lack of planning. 25% is a huge, last minute, desperate move. It indicates a major error in judgement. So yes! I do hold whoever is running the place responsible for that. It did F up my life quite neatly whereas a 5-10% furlough, what I have expected, would have not done that. 25%, to me, suggests that someone made some decisions, or delayed making some decisions, until NK almost got out of business. It may not be BBB and/or the business model necessarily, but still there was a major snafu somewhere.

 

'Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of our Lives........at Spirit"

 

Yes 25% was a lot. I believe that it was a knee jerk reaction to try and protect themselves because they do not have the ability to lose money for a long period of time. While others furloughed between 9% and 17%, they are still loosing money hands over fist unlike Spirit. Furloughs mess up a lot of peoples lives, like mine. But this is the piece of crap industry that we choose to work in.

So as I understand by your statement had they furloughed 5-10% you would have still been employed and that is acceptable. I believe that someone who is at the top of that 9-10% would say that 8% would have been better and wouldn't have "Fed up" their lives either.

 

Do you really think sprit will be around in 2 years?

 

Like most companies that make money, I believe SPIRIT will be around in 2 years.

 

I agree. NK is making money. All this supports my theory even further. Lack of planning followed by panic and overreaction. By the time the cuts took effect, fuel actually was below $100. We could have been making nice profits with the returned planes. The "business plan" is supposed to work up to $110. Right?

Indeed it is a pos industry but I never listen. Too late now.

Not sure how you've concluded that above. You have combined two separate statements into one. My point was about someone not planning properly and as a result putting the company into a cash position where, in their mind, a 25% cut was needed to survive. If I would be a majority owner I would be looking for heads to roll. This was point #1. My relative seniority has nothing to do with the fact that the planning was acceptable or not.

My other point was that I could see a 10% cut coming because it did not take a rocket scientist to see that we are heading into a recession. We were in a record growth phase. The longer it lasts the higher the chance it is about to end. But I have not seen a 25% emergency cut coming to a sooooooooo profitable company. I would have still signed up, but I would be more understanding for our management had I seen a 10% adjustment.

Aside of all that. I don't think Indigo itself is the problem. If you look at the rest of their investment, as far as I know, there were no capacity cuts and by now everyone is taking deliveries. I am starting to believe that the problem is that Indigo doe snot have the same amount of control over NK as it has, i.e. over Wizzair. I am starting to believe that it was not Indigo who did not have more cash to raise to get NK through. I think it is likely that the rest of the owners would have not been able to match an equal cash injection. Pure speculation of course but it is an idea.

 

If Spirit is making money, I would like to believe that they would be around in 2 years. I caution folks (and take a lot of heat in the process) that it doesn't necessarily mean that we will enjoy the "fruits" of that success as pilots. They are committed to this ULCC model and as a result, will do anything necessary to keep costs as low as possible.

If you find yourself getting down about NK, or pessismistic like I've been recently, try to stay positive. I think a lot of it has to do with our own expectations about what we WANT Spirit to be, and not what it ACTUALLY IS. Simply, it is a no-frills airline for people to travel from point A to point B with bare-bones service at the cheapest price period. No crew meals, no first class, no industry leading pilot rates. Just a seat and a way to get from here to there safely.

The problem I think a lot of us find ourselves struggling with is that we just have PERCEPTIONS about what an airline should look like, and have a hard time accepting that Spirit has chosen a model that confilcts with those perceptions. Some folks like the path NK has chosen, some folks don't.

The sooner you can individually accept this fact, the sooner you may find happiness. I know each one of us wants to feel respected and valued. That's why we've work so hard to get to this point in our careers.

Cheers

 

nice post mate!

 

Very good post ALPO, great way to look at things.

 

I agree with you about accepting the LLC model but, getting these people from Point A to Point B safely comes at a cost, a cost that we don't have to have a 2nd and 3rd job. I see you just accept the status quo, thus lowering the bar.