Our broken airline system

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008

It’s becoming increasingly apparent to me that our airline system is broken.  Today it has been revealed that airline pilots are raising concerns about the minimum amount of fuel carried on board aircraft, with several incidents being filed with the NASA ASRS reporting system of arriving at a destination or an alternate airport with minimum fuel.

It seems that the cost cutting measures management is employing at their airlines is starting to spread into the margins of safety mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration.

This is serious business, folks!

There is a fine line between efficient operating practices and infringing on the safety of customers.  I’m all for airlines having the ability …

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Airline consolidation

Saturday, April 5th, 2008

We’re starting to see the consolidation in the airline industry that we’ve need so badly for the last 5 years or more. ATA Airlines, Aloha Airlines and Skybus (which I wrote about almost a year ago) all quit flying this past week.

I gave Skybus a 3 in 10 chance of surviving, and it looks as if I was right. Rising jet fuel costs and a slowing economic environment got the best of them after only one year. Of course, when you offer tickets for $10 per seat, it doesn’t take a financial analyst to figure out that you might not be in business for long….

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