overstress - I think you'll find that Laker Airways was in fact solvent when the liquidators were brought in by the Midland Bank - prompted by one John King. Although not admitting guilt at Laker Airways' murder, BA did pay the lion's share of a multi-hundred million dollar lawsuit that also named BCal, Pan Am and TWA.
As
WWW rightly said, Southwest Airlines has made profits
every year of its existence except for the first two - rain or shine. That's certainly not the case with the 'full service' carriers who are incurring huge additional overheads with their latest round of pay awards - Delta, for example, added some
US$500 million to its costs which is more than its
cumulative profits for the whole of the last boom period. How long do you think they'll last with
that sort of anchor holding them back?
And as for Mr & Mrs Shellsuit travelling - as long as it's cheaper to go by air than by other means (which it is on FR) then they will. And more importantly, so will the business traveller who will drop the full service carriers like a hot brick - as
ramsrc rightly said, you're not getting a lot for the extra £103 on full service airlines.
What's this going to mean for pilots? Well, like investors in lastminute.com you'll find that when it comes to payrises for the next few years you've missed the boat, I'm afraid - and that mythical shortage of pilots is going to translate itself into a glut as carriers start to cut back sharply on staff.
This from fltops.com:
As expected, major airline pilot hiring slumped in August, with 15 major airlines hiring 214 pilots, a 33-percent decline from July. The 214 new hires represents the fewest pilots hired in 2001, and is roughly half of the average 439 new-hire pilots hired by major carriers during the first quarter of this year.
It was the second consecutive month that pilot hiring decreased (see "Pilot Hiring
declines 15% in July," Flightline News, Aug. 5, 2001).
Impacting August figures was the cessation of hiring at Delta Air Lines, plus declines in hiring at five other major carriers. Four carriers increased hiring when compared to July, but only by an average of 6.75 new hires each.
American Airlines paced hiring for the month, with 51 new-hire pilots. The average number of pilots starting training was 14.3, while the average number of new hires among carriers hiring was 26.8. Seven of the 15 largest U.S.-based carriers did not hire any pilots in August, and one--Airborne Express--continues to have pilots on furlough.