Originally Posted by
tdracer
Pratt arrogance ...
This is a more general thing you find in established market-leading companies with what appear to be cash cow products, particularly if they get into the hands of influential shareholders who are only interested in the short term, and whose spreadsheets don't go beyond month 60 in 5 years' time, rather than the visionaries who built the company up. Exactly the same at Boeing, who have progressively re-lifed the 737 and now the 777. McDonnell Douglas was worse. Pratts actually thought a cheap fiddled-with JT8D-200 would be competitive with the CFM56.
Reduce service standards, and increase what you charge for it. It works for a few years, and if you have both short-term investors and short-term managers this is what they go for. Politicians are regularly chided for doing the same.