SNOWTAM? Give me a break. Sounds like the tired, illinformed rhetoric of IALPA stepping forward to advertised their ignorance of all things factual, as if any further proof were needed.
You'd think that an organisation still smarting from an accumulated loss of over €30,000,000.00 from both personal funds of pilots and their beloved and, they think, sacrosanct pension fund in trying to thwart the first bid to rescue Aer Lingus from itself, would be a bit more circumspect.
But no, they insist on radiating their stupidity. Caps off, they've clearly taken to wearing flashing neon tiaras these days, as Aer Lingus fades slowly into the sunset. Do you really think doing deals with moribund American carriers currently losing $5 milliion dollars every day is the mark of confident airline leadership? UAL have bet the farm on snatching some of President Obama's trillion dollar handout because they, too, are from Chicago. Personally, I don't think he's dumb enough to shovel money down the throat of America's Alitalia. Meanwhile, in a fiesta of frothy perversity, the American pilots unions are having kittens at the mooted marriage. We shall see.
So the deal is sunk. They say timing is everything, and so it is. Ireland's deficit is currently a whopping 6% of GDP and galloping toward 12% by year's end with unemployment to soar to 10%. According to the
AIB's economic outlook, they expect no significant gain in economic momentum until 2011 at the earliest. In other words, the perfect time to scupper Aer Lingus' last chance at survival.
Ladies and Gentlemen, never underestimate a pilot's union's ability to machine gun itself in the foot. Let's hope Aer Lingus's
lasts them until then.