Delta Air Lines. Northwest Airlines Corp. United Airlines. US Airways — it’s tempting to shrug off the multiplying airline bankruptcies as inevitable and evolutionary. Isn’t it a case of the survival of the fittest, with Southwest Airlines as the fittest of the fit? Trouble is, you have to be flying awfully high to see it that way. You also have to not be needing to fly out of smaller markets such as Wichita, which only has one of the successful low-fare carriers, AirTran Airways, because of City Hall subsidies. Maybe the legacy carriers will restructure and reinvent themselves and make it. Let’s hope so, because if they go away, so may air service to many American cities. With Congress having acted after Sept. 11 with a $10 billion airline bailout, it’s fair to wonder whether lawmakers will see a role for themselves when the wannabe fliers are the ones crying for help.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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8 Comments
This might sound really bad…But I say, let them fail.
We just might get a whole new airline industry out of this. The “Legacy” carriers are operating on a bad business model. The can’t seem to shake the union or the CEO’s can’t seem to stop pileaging millions of dollars for themselves.
I agree, let them fail. That may be what it will take for airlines to develop a business model that is successful in today’s market.
That’s not a 10,000′ viewpoint, that’s business 101.
After flying close to 1 million miles during my last job, I watch with sadness as the legacy carriers drown in red ink. In my own (biased and personalized) opinion, Southwest is the worst thing to hit air travel in history. Cattle call flying, crammed in, no services…but they do get you there safely–more than I can say for Airtran (remember their previous name, ValueJet?) or Alaska.Sad to see that the lowest cost is always the winner. Flying used to be safe and pleasant..now it is crammed, uncomfortable, tiring and an ordeal. Thankfully, whenever I leave town anymore, it is usually on two wheels instead of in a plane.True, the business world is unforgiving, and if Southwest is what the public wants, that is all we will have left. Sad…but irrefutable truth.
Wichita came close to being the first corporate headquarters for the great TWA (Trans World Airlines} but that prize went to Kansas City instead, in about 1932, several years before Howard Hughes came along. Other great world airlines were Continental, American and Braniff Airlines and others I can’t think of right now. It looks like the near future major airlines will be China Airlines, USSR Airlines and Argentina Airlines if Argentina has one … countries that can control their oil acquisition. Too bad U.S. politicians let our railroad industry self destruct several years ago.
Wichita came close to being the first corporate headquarters for the great TWA (Trans World Airlines} but that prize went to Kansas City instead, in about 1932, several years before Howard Hughes came along. Other great world airlines were Continental, American and Braniff Airlines and others I can’t think of right now. It looks like the near future major airlines will be China Airlines, USSR Airlines and Argentina Airlines if Argentina has one … countries that can control their oil acquisition. Too bad U.S. politicians let our railroad industry self destruct several years ago.
Amen to that, JWink. A quality railroad could go a long way, literally. I would love nothing better than to tour this great country by rail. Sadly, it has digressed to a high priced, go where we send you, when we want to, boondoggle.I remember the great days of the great airlines. Braniff, with their colorful planes, United with the best looking stews (Ya, I know…sexist), TWA with the triple tail. Man, it was fun to fly then. Now it’s almost a chore.But I gotta draw the line at bailing them out at taxpayers expense. Half the problem is the airplane manufacturers, and the other half is the airlines themselves. I don’t think that 9/11 had a lot to do with the downfall of some airlines. Mis-management would be my choice as the leading culprit, and I really don’t want my dollors bailing out that.
JM, we already bailed out the airlines with taxpayers money right after 9/11. Although 9/11 may have cut into airline revenues, they already had one foot in the grave anyway. The post 9/11 bailout only postponed the inevitable. As you say, mismanagement has put a stake through their heart. They’re too big and unresponsive to the needs of the flying public. Let them die off. Let’s see what springs up to fill the vacuum. It’s gotta be better than what we have now. If flyers want cheap, somebody will step in to fill the need. The airline industry is like the rest of our nation’s infrastructure…falling apart under it’s own weight.
With the ticket costs, early check in times(thanks to the “speedy attendants” for homeland security,and long plane changes, I do not fly anymore. It has become less expensive and more expediant to drive even with $3.00 gasoline.