One of the big problems with his strategy is the way it was implemented.
“We need a330’s and we need them now”. There is a term used in virgin called JWIN. John wants it now...
he hated the old paint scheme, so he demanded that the aircraft be painted quickly, well before they were due,
he hated the uniforms so they they had to go quickly (can’t say I blame him on that one)
He hated the embraer so that fleet had to go
he wanted to take QF on in the regional market so they had to get a kazillion ATR’s at over inflated prices, and then buy Skywest at an over inflated price, then buy a couple of F100’s off Alliance at an over inflated price.
he hated the res system so it had to go
see a theme appearing? A more managed implementation of the plan would have achieved the gains he wanted without wasting hundreds of millions of dollars