ongoing airline pain (1984)
Tuesday July 14, 2009
From the NY Times:
In fact, when the latest round of capacity cuts takes effect in September, the number of seats on domestic flights will drop to 66.5 million — the lowest September figure since 1984, according to OAG Aviation, which tracks flight schedules.
September 1984. 1st term Reagan. 25 years ago.
The same article mentions that United is being watched very closely, with continued big declines in international passenger numbers in 1st and business (the pointy end of the plane where they make their money). Trans-Pacific routes are some of the hardest hit.
I’m particularly interested in how United are doing on the suddenly-very-competitive Australia-West Coast routes. The airlines have been slashing fares to try to keep the planes full (and not doing too badly on that score, afaik), but it does make me wonder if anyone is making any money on the route at the moment, and how long they (UA, QF, V-Australia, Delta) can keep it up.
Maybe it takes a recession to make some managers realise that flying staff across the country for a 1 hour meeting is not very productive, and flying them to another country is stupid.
Though I don’t think United’s decline in passenger numbers is due to their breaking guitars, when spending lots of money on a flight, I pay a little bit more not to fly them when I can.
FLYING = BAD is not exactly a nuanced approach to business meetings, particularly with clients. Most employees (flight nerds excepted) aren’t crazy about regular travel, and premium cabin tickets are expensive for the business. So why spend this kind of money on something your employees hate? I’d wager it’s client expectations; those who bother to show up get the deal/account/contract/whatever. Clients like being courted; reps just might find themselves at the back of the bus.