I have never seen an airline merger go smoothly.
Washington is one of the few places they make money. They would be silly to give up an asset like that.
They're going to have to reduce costs by 10 percent to 15 percent.
I wouldn't put my retirement money on the line for something like this, ... It is a very difficult environment for startups right now, with jet fuel so high. That scares investors away.
I don't know if one airline right now feels comfortable with having a contract system. I have predicted in the next year we will see massive changes. The changes were coming, and change is always slow, and now change will come at warp speed.
There's still a lot of pressure for fares to go higher. We've got a robust enough economy that we can raise fares, and ... that will bring a lot of relief to the industry.
They made a calculated risk and they lost. That happens in a very difficult business like this.
These are not kinder, gentler times. One way or another, Northwest is going to drive its costs down, and some people are going to get run over in the process.
This system is not a good one. It's like a Swiss cheese -- we all know this. I don't think any of us would congratulate ourselves or anyone else who is involved in airport security with the job we have done over the last 10 years.
There's nothing wrong with the airport, other than Charlotte's just right down the road.
