I've said it before here- the value of your business is set in the transaction (what the customer is willing to pay)- not what you think your product is worth.
The main problem is 20 odd years of deregulation has led to too many airlines being run by too many beancounters and fierce competition has led to a race to the bottom...passengers are getting exactly what they pay for...SFA.
And that is a problem for pilots (not just...it's endemic in all employment) they have a work contract that is exactly meaningless...not worth the paper it's written on...might as well not have it, when it can be so successfully negated by management who will retire millionaires no matter what short sighted decisions they make.
The average pax wants a cheap ticket...even if it's only perceived to be cheap that's ok....nothing else enters their head...certainly not aeroplane crashes caused by cut to the bone operations crewed by tired pilots, maintained by short staffed maintenance, turned around by short staffed agents, catered by short staffed catering companies...probably all outsourced because the airline wants to concentrate on their 'core business'...'what it is they do well' and other similar management speak.
Truth is these days that airlines, in general, do very little 'well'.
Perhaps 30%, and I'm being REALLY generous here- I personally put the number closer to 10%, of CEOs are truly worth their money. The rest just talk the talk but their only answer to 'increased shareholder value' is slashing costs with little vision of where that ultimately leads...doesn't matter anyway they'll either be long gone or if not get a fat payout to leave and keep quiet.
And what is the true value of shareholders?
What else drives the short sighted management practices that have become so much a part of corporate life in the last 20-30 yrs? Shareholders.
Not your average Ma and Pa shareholders...they buy shares of 'good' companies and hold on to them hoping to fund some sort of retirement...no institutional shareholders...the ones that move vast amount of money away from your business, and therefore the CEOs/Directors etc pockets, when you suddenly don't have double digit growth anymore...or the dividends dry up when the company wants to reinvest.
What happens when the beancounters have outsourced, rightsized, downsized, pared to the bone, made the company 'lean and mean' and there's nothing left besides the paypackets of the employees? Well they rightsize that too.
And when said airline is on the bones of it's arse along comes a beancounter sub species called Receiver ...assets only of course...oh and looky here...the retirement pension funds just become an asset...bit tough for the (ex)employee who may have dedicated 30 yrs to the company...an average of 6 times longer than any manager/CEO the place ever had...tough luck...that's market forces...still they got 10 cents on the dollar...should be thankfull really....ungreatfull old people...shoulda died by now.