ampclamp,
If indeed international has failed to turn a profit for most of the last 15 years it speaks volumes for their management ability.
I think the comment was that International had only made an adequate return on capital 3 times in 15 years, not profit. If International has $5bn of capital employed it needs to earn, conservatively, $500m to justify the investment.
rodchucker,
So how did they justify all the capital investment with A380s?
Maybe because the LAX and LHR routes have been fairly profitable over the long term but dragged down by numerous loss making routes.