Framer – sorry, I don’t think I would ever be able to convince you, or anyone else, that any single person’s “mature and measured attitude” (and, by the way, thanks for the compliment…) would do anything short of generating a severe headache for that “someone.” I believe it is going to take multiple persons – several in each of the major participant groups – and very likely at least that same number from each of the participant groups immediately adjacent to the “major” groups – that, all together, make up the aviation industry – to come together with a single goal in mind. THAT goal has to be the professional, competent, and safe operation of each separate airline.
If it were true that running an airline professionally, competently, and safely cannot be accomplished profitably … then, it must be true that eventually each venture into that business field will eventually falter … due to one of the following:
1) their spending profits on industry-leading salaries and esoteric (and costly) airplanes, airplane systems, marketing, and state-of-the-art training and terminal facilities, and similar focus on an old but outdated attitude of “buying the best to be the best;”
2) their “catering” to the “rich-n-famous” persons, and letting the average airline passenger fend for him/her-self;
3) their operating a schedule to and from destinations that appeal to the “frequent” business traveler and avoiding those destinations frequented by families and every-day citizens; and, perhaps most negative of all …
4) their developing a reputation for compromising the safety of their passengers … resulting in no one wanting to buy a ticket to take their chances on getting to their destination in one piece;
But THAT is not the story here. No – as it has been demonstrated far too many times in far too many different businesses, providing needed and wanted goods and/or services, provided in return for a fair and equitable price, treating customers like extended families or at least valued friends, and done so in an honest, proper, and professional manner … does not lead to anything but a successful business. And I would hasten to point out that a “successful” business is not one that necessarily garners all the publicity, generates interest by skyrocketing to the top of the stock market price-per-share listing, or one that allocates a sizeable portion of their operating expense to “advertising.” Most successful business provide their goods or services quietly and dependably, generating return customers on the basis of each customer’s own perceptions of value for cost – where that assessed value includes all kinds of individually important characteristics.
The best way – usually the only way – to assure that the service or product supplied will be received in that manner by customers is to do the job – build the product or offer the service – using the very best of every employee’s professional ability, using professional courtesy, professional competencies, following of all rules and regulations, being honest in the development of the character of every employee, ensuring that each employee knows his/her job, is trained to know what to do, when and how to do it, and provide honest and complete performance of those learned and practiced skills, from the first to the last effort, on every job.
However, in a business that is so subject to the times and the resulting developmental capabilities of systems and equipment, as is an airline operation, a major portion of the efforts describe here, are necessarily going to involve the use of modern equipment, modern capabilities, newer learned facts and capabilities, staying abreast of new and advanced equipment. Equally true is the vast expanse of fields of expertise that are all involved (deeply involved) in day-to-day operations. Regulatory authorities, management officials, prized professional employees – from several vastly different backgrounds and skill sets, valued providers of mundane and routine functions, and a critical dependence on other companies providing an equally professional and competent service or product.
This is the reason that I’ve recommended a regularly held review meeting of representatives of ALL of the aspects of an aviation operation – as I said in an earlier post in this thread … the international effort recently mounted by the UK’s Royal Aeronautical Society to develop training and evaluation standards for pilots, instructors, and evaluators … to match the recently developed uniform standards developed for the involvement of flight training simulation devices … is an effort that may well be able to initiate and hopefully maintain an awareness by all participants of the efforts, the challenges, the failures, and the successes of each of those other participants.
As I’ve said, this effort should not be looked upon as a “once done – it’s done forever” kind of effort. It should be a “living” and “breathing” effort, that is continually and regularly reviewed and examined – using the most recent memories and concerns, and being sure to specifically include all of the newest systems and equipment whose original design was to enhance or make easier the eventual operation of an airplane, into those deliberations and training/evaluation development efforts.
Cutting salaries of some employees … reducing training costs or service costs or reducing some other supposedly costly function … extending flight duty times … and other such outwardly recognizable efforts are NOT going to achieve the lasting kinds of results that any industry needs to be successful. I am almost – well not almost – I AM pleading for the world’s airlines (including managers, supervisors, vice presidents, managers, trainers and evaluators; training systems purchasers and users) … local, national, and international pilot/flight attendant/dispatcher organizations … and the world’s regulators … to join in this international effort – to expand it where required – improve it where necessary – and revisit the process on a regular basis … each time reflecting on history and what “new” industry innovations have made it (or will make it) to the front page. Rational and equally respectful understandings of everyone else’s positions, problems, and potential solutions – should be the regularly scheduled subjects for such discussions and reviews.