Fac6,
Genuine concern is fine. There is no doubt all airlines should be concerned at the moment, but to say they cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel is not very open minded. Do they think this downturn is going to last forever? Either way, they should not be so two faced about it....telling us one thing then telling magazine interviewers another. Definitely not the way to get staff on side. if you have been here a while you will have seen crisis after crisis where huge cutbacks are made and when the economy rebounds (fast) we are not in position to take advantage.
Why stop building the freight terminal? It was supposed to open in 2011. That is 3 years from now. Do they think things will keep going down for three years? The freight terminal is designed to cut costs by allowing freight to be handled ourselves. Surely cutting costs is a good thing? It is not like they are not going to build it eventually anyway.
I hear we have deferred two to three 777-300ER deliveries which were due next year. These aircraft are the most fuel efficient longhaul aircraft in the fleet. Surely what we should be doing is trying to see what other airlines are deferring their slots and take theirs as well. We can accelerate the retirement of the 744s and emerge from all this with one of the most fuel efficient and modern fleets in the world. Sure the credit crunch must be hurting our ability to get loans, but if a bank won't lend to Cathay Pacific then sure as hell no other airline in the world is getting loans...apart from Lufthansa perhaps who appear to be on a mega spending spree at the moment.