MYT Myths & Legends
MYT is in mortal peril. There seem to be a selection of defence mechanisms being employed on PPrune that I believe are questionable.
1. This has been caused (or at least fuelled) by the Media, and the Daily Mail in particular - The Media only report on what is actually happening. They may slant the reporting according to some inbuilt bias, but that is hardly a surprise! Politicians experience this every day. Newspaper Readers are familiar with the bias of their chosen publication, and tend to buy it because they feel that they can manage the bias on an informed basis, or because they agree with it. If MYT hadn't put themselves in such dire straits in the first place, then Media bias would not be an issue.
2. A failure at MYT would be bad for the industry in general - No, it wouldn't, it would be good for the industry, which presently suffers from overcapacity. Granted there would be many subsidiary problems, some significant, for other airline staff, and some other companies, but when set against the overcapacity issue, they are minor. Of course, overcapacity will return at some point in the future, since it is a recurrent industry problem.
3. A large percentage of the posted losses are exceptional one-off costs, and the company will soon be viable once more - And a large percentage are not. This company has lost a fortune, and managed to make a loss during the only period of the year when it is difficult to do so. Banks, shareholders and Bond holders are supporting it because they stand to lose much more money if they don't. They have, in a manner of speaking, nothing to lose, having lost much of it already: Of course the future prospects will be talked up, as the alternative would be suicidal (as demostrated by Gordon Brown yesterday). MYT debt is enormous, and profits are already swallowed up for several years to come, so do we really expect many investors to come knocking on the door waving a cheque?
4. Bookings and loyal customers will return - Really? The point is that none of us know. A percentage of future customers will not be aware of media coverage, but how big is that percentage? Let's face it, if you were Joe Public, and you had read or were familiar with the situation, would you knowingly put £1K - £2K of your hard-earned cash into a holiday with MYT?
5. MYT may be in a bad way, but its' competitors are in just as bad a shape - No they're not. Even if they were, the Media, for whatever reason isn't reporting it as such, and the City isn't either, and that, for MYT, like it or not, is the problem at the moment.
6. MYT's troubles have been exacerbated by plotting from competitors - Of course they have? MYT would do precisely the same where the circumstances reversed. That's what happens in business.
7. MYT going out of business will put a lot of people out of work, so we should all support the company - Why? This is capitalism and the markets in action, red in tooth and claw: It's not pretty, but it is the nature of the beast. On that basis, we should all swing behind Pan-Am, Enron and Railtrack because of the impact of collapse. (Well, actually, as UK taxpayers, we did all swing behind Railtrack, although involuntarily and without being asked!).
I know that by posting this I'm running a risk of being heavily flamed, but please think first. I also work for a private company, a competitor to MYT: If/when our owners cock things up on an epic scale, (as they could well do one day) and we are in the same position, then I shall be angry too, but I'll just have to get on and deal with it. I don't wish redundancy on loyal employees of MYT, but I don't feel that some of the myths shown above should be used to protect them.
The real villains of the piece (and the only winners) are the past directors of MYT, who have mis-managed the company into its' present situation, and then awarded themselves generous leaving settlements as a reward, and not the Media, nor competitors nor the city (nor me). If I worked for MYT, I would direct my anger at them.
(Now edited to amend incorrect numbering)
Last edited by TightSlot; 11th Dec 2003 at 19:03.