I was pretty encouraged by the earnings call. It seems for the first time in a very long time, I am working at an airline with an actual strategy, and the leadership is executing on it. When I worked at that Fort Worth based AAirline, every call felt like they were just trying to justify their performance of a cheap copy/paste of a DL strategy.

 

From my short stint as a FE on the DC-10 freighter operation, I would have to agree. The planes were full and the revenue was there. They mismanaged the program to its ultimate demise. Simply stated, they tried to do too much with a limited number of aircraft and screwed the pooch.

What they are doing now is exploiting their capability to carry belly cargo in a high demand environment. UPS can’t keep up currently based on my neighbor who is an international shipping manager for them. Fed Ex is the same according to him.

On this topic, my hat is off to that part of management for seeing/exploiting the revenue opportunities that exist. AA and DAL do some but we are killing it compared to what he has showed me.

Will a dedicated freight operation be the end game of this, who knows? I would love it as well. The CAPEX for the dedicated fleet will be the true issue and feel we will roll back to pax revenue first and take the freight we can.

Lee

 

couldnt agree more with this. I do feel like the airline is in good hands with SK. He’s got skin in the game and the ego and drive to succeed. From a straight business standpoint I feel comfortable that United Airlines will survive and possibly be a world leader on the other side.

 

MoP, I totally agree!!! SK is not a Tilton or Smisek.

 

He's management. He's not going to be your friend when push comes to shove. He might not give you the finger the way that Tilton did. But you can bet your a$$ that he will give you the shaft when the time comes for your a$$ and your paycheck.

P.T. Barnum was right. You don't have to be a sucker to get hired at United, but it sure helps.

 

That's a given. At the end of the day the only ones looking out for us, is us.

However I'm in agreement with MOP. SK has proven that what he does works, he can lead this place through this and when he says he wants to dominate on the other side, I believe him. He's a lot like Elon Musk... you don't have to like the guy, or believe what he says, but he's never failed to deliver on what he's said he'll do. SK also isn't another money grubber looking to just parachute out with a bag of money, I think he genuinely wants to be the CEO of the largest most successful airline in the world, and that's good for us. We just need to make sure we're compensated appropriately for executing his vision.

 

"theres no money in freight....."

 

couldn't agree more.......but from a straight business standpoint I have confidence in SK vision.

 

Why? Specifically, why?

The AA pilots have nothing good to say about him and they had a long run with him in the front office. It humors me how so many are here are washing his feet based on his Q and As and smiling face on FT. I don't get it.

 

Whatever Old Mako. You are going out the door. Not going to miss your cynicism, especially now when those staying will need to be positive and all pulling on the same rope. Good riddance!