Rupert 369-y'all made excellent observations. And airlines with extended time under Chapter 11 (as with United, USAirways twice: often better than poking your head to quickly out of the trenches...)seem to always attract financing, although I have no idea what collateral or equity can still be available to back up financing-is it often shares of stock?. For the foreigners who are still in the dark, US bankruptcy laws undergo dramatic changes October 17, no matter what type of industry is involved, and this has given airlines and many others incentive, to file Chapter 11 now, if in doubt. Executive pay is also worse after the date. Filings after Oct 17 will be, as of now, much more difficult to escape from, to avoid liquidation, though I know nothing about how the financial, banking and credit card lobbyists so successfully persuaded the US Congress to change this.
Do European or the British governments allow these lobbyists so much influence on laws and industry regulations?
AirRabbit (or whoever mentioned such an example): there have been stories, over the years, of pilots who have two homes, and maybe a boat or a small airplane. People tend to over-generalize. And some of those lucky pilots were hired in the huge hiring boom of the mid-60s. One guy made 727 Captain at age 25. Another supposedly had flown with the RAAF and bluffed his way into the interview. And got hired! Luck of the draw. On the other hand, VERY MANY of the same type of guys were flying for Uncle Sam and never made it home, many killed in training or normal operations. Very many shipped home in a plastic bag, or disappeared as military or (technically) civilian over SE Asia, possibly the wicked, very deadly Plain of Jars in Laos...only about 5% of those guys in uniform who were shot down were rescued. Capture in a civilian uniform was very bad luck.
As for opportunities and risks in the civilian world: unless they were very lucky selling houses during the right economic upturns, or had a second income (lots of days flying with the Air Force Reserve limit one's free time quite a bit; nowadays, you might be activated to full-time, lose big chunk of income and dodge stinger missiles), or a wife with a chunk of cash etc, those stories might be too easy to use in a stereotype. There have been more than at least a few periods since the first Arab Oil Embargo of 1973, when hundreds of pilots were laid off at each major airline. At TWA, some pilots were on the street two or even three times. This must have happened at not just TWA and American, but several others as well. Find out what has happened now to retirements. Can this widespread disaster easily erase any lucky gains in real estate etc?
Somebody mentioned Alfred Kahn, the so-called brains of deregulation. I doubt that this former academic type ever knew what he was talking about. I've read some of his convoluted, bizarre arguements, and what was HIS a i r l i ne background ? As he advised the former US Civil Aeronautics Board under the Carter admin., Kahn was already being courted by the original airline Cash Carnivore/airline destroyer (if someone does not believe so, then show us, on Pprune, his record), Frank Lorenzo: they called it "upstreaming" cash out of the airline's vital revenue. Lorenzo was reportedly quoted as saying "...some of my best friends are airline pilots-everybody should OWN one..." Kahn was given many shares of stock in New York Air, one of the first 'darlings' of deregulation, as he was advising the government about the huge advantages of dereg. Based just on what I've read, Senator Ted Kennedy was willing to turn the industry upside down, partly to help his local constituents in the tiny state of Massachusetts. Find out what rulings were made in Frank's favor by more than one Dept. of Transportation Admin. judges, right before they went to work at Frank's holding company TAC: you can find some of this in "Aviation Week & ST" in the late 80s or early 90s, and about the "alleged" cover-up in the FAA's Western region regarding the strike operations at Lorenzo's Continenta.As for the safety implications, I suggest just a glance at one of the excellent books by John Nance, "Blind Trust", about the myths of deregulation's effects upon safety, from the operational (pilot) side. He also wrote an intriguing book called "Splash of Colors", about Braniff Airlines. Find out why Nance's ENTIRE first edition NEVER made it to the bookstores. They made a backroom deal...Something to do with former American CEO Robert Crandall's approval of "allegedly"
booking phantom passengers into Braniff's reservations computer software, "allegedly" done by American's Sabre computer personnel, in order to reduce Braniff's ticket revenue and market share. Woops! Might hear a knock on the door at 0400! Hello, County Sheriff here. I have a legal complaint from the nice folks at AMR.
Airline managements are still learning lessons and pointers from earlier years (decades) under US deregulation. Many of today's airline executives were nurtured under Lorenzo's "leadership". One of the tops guys at Airtran was one. He was "allegedly" forced out of another US major, not long ago, in a quiet deal with their MEC, unknown to the press, possibly as a contract side-letter
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Please pardon the boring length, I never plan on being a page hog. Next
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