"However with oil prices at $90 a barrel and fear of recession in the UK and many other European economies, the current outlook for the coming fiscal year is poor." Ryan Air 3 Qtr results 07/08
The economics of an airline are extremely sensitive to external forces such as oil prices and consumer spending. There is a slow down in world markets and Australia will not be immune to the onflow effects and the inevitable slow down to consumer spending.
All booms bust (or at least take a breather). I am sure that there are plenty of pprune readers who recall the lean times of the late '70s early '80s when aviation last took a breather.
An operator in HK is retrenching B738 pilots because of a slow down, and I don't think that this will be the last.
Management need a strategy to maintain sound fundamentals through the good times, as the bad (read "when is airline X recruiting?") is never far away.
Time for clever thinking by Pilots and Board of Directors alike.
Not trying to be a doomsayer, just trying to keep some balance. Now lets get back to some good debate...
