Commanche, never met an orange indian before
You may be correct about all the management 101 stuff, but can they translate that knowledge into a tangible gain? Most of the crew don't seem to get what they are on about, and that is a communication problem. COLF, what was that really all about, it had no impact on the day to day part of the operation, which is the bit that makes the cash. What is the point of something like that if it doesn't impact at the sharp end of the business? Statistical taxi times to reduce taxi fuel? It has gone up for all of the places we fly to, why don't they just leave it at a reasonable standard figure and let the people who know (ie the crews) adjust it as required to a sensible figure. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
Doesn't matter anyway, as Superfly pointed out all this stuff will become academic anyway. Once fuel costs increase to a sufficient level the low cost model is going to break down. Aviation will start shrinking dramatically as the cost of flying increases with the cost of fuel. Can't see people flying at the same frequency as now if they are paying £500 a trip. And that is going to leave a lot of companies with too many aircraft in a diminishing market with increasing costs. RW and the like have it about right, grab the cash while you can and run, this industry is going to change dramatically in the not too distant future, it is just a question of when not if.