Ray Webster was running the company in the good old days when it was a fun place to work and morale was high. The thing that changed was the market positioning of the company.
It long ago ceased to be the new snotty nosed kid on the block. And although its outward image is still cheap and tacky, the company has an infrastructure and operational integrity which would embarrass most airlines. Unfortunately, and this is the root of many of the problems in the company, there are too many inexperienced people in key positions; people who are unable to operate at the level that the company has found itself, or who have been unable to develop at the same rate as the company.
However, given the rate of expansion, the number of new entrants each month over the last 10 years, the frequent - and successfull - additions to the network, the base expansions, the rapid conversion of various bases to a completely different aircraft type with minimal commercial disruption, and the sustained delivery rate of new aircraft over these last ten years, the company has still managed to maintain the highest of training and operational standards. It also continues to rake in money, is one of the most secure airlines in the World, and there are few dark clouds forecast to spoil the parade. This is an extremely commendable achievement. Now, if you feel this would have happened under someone else's leadership, then you are entitled to believe so. But it didn't happen under someone else, it happened under RW.
I would be interested to hear a sound argument from anyone detailing how they feel the company would have been even more successful under someone else; his successor would do well to hear it too.
I refer you back to my opening premis: RW has run the company from the beginning. The early days - glory days for some - represented the spirit of a hughly different company, a company that may never have survived the fight back had it tried to cling to, and rely on, the fresh face charm of its youth.
FQ