“I don't think American would have extended unless they got assurances from union leadership they had the votes. It was a flawed process to begin with.”
“The cover-up is usually worse than the sin. The union leaders were embarrassed and understandably so. Don was a sacrificial lamb. He made a mistake and he's paying the price. It's unfortunate because American is losing a really seasoned executive.”
“This summer is going to be crucial. If this summer is worse than expected, we could have new talk of bankruptcy in the fall. Even if it's good, I don't see them returning to profitability until the third quarter of next year at [the] earliest.”
“The [big] carriers are unfairly being hit with some of the increased security costs, but even absent that, the losses would be pretty close to where they are now with or without 9/11. This was something going to happen to [them] no matter what happened.”
“I'd say third quarter of next year will be the first time we'll see industry-wide profits. It depends on how strongly the economy comes back, and in the case of Delta and Northwest, if they can get additional concessions from their unions.”
“There's a lot of capacity is coming on. It's a little scary. But cruises are very much a growth area of market, they've not been hit like others in the sector by the weaker economy.”
“There's a powerful franchise there. If they can get the right cost structure, the model does not have to be tweaked too much. Hopefully they won't have to sell assets. If you start having to sell strategic assets, you have a slow liquidation the way Pan Am did.”
