Originally Posted by
SOBE ER DOC
NW does not offer any IFE in domestic and AA only offers it on select aircraft (none of their MD-80s have IFE and this is the bread & butter of their operations).
I'm not sure of the relevance of AA's non-IFE equipped MD-80s. Sure, half of AA's mainline fleet (the MD-80s) doesn't feature IFE. Never have.
OTOH, the other half of AA's mainline fleet is slowly but surely getting IFE upgrades - AA isn't about to turn it off and rip it out.
Even better, AA has at least 70 new 738s coming online in 2009-10, all with IFE. At the same time, over 100 of the MD-80s will be grounded.
I certainly agree, however, that it's impossible for US to save its way to profitablility, especially when this cheapskate move is expected to save a whopping $10 million a year. $10 million won't make a difference to a $12 billion company facing a 50% fuel cost increase in 2008 over 2007.