Originally Posted by
orbitmic
In fairness, 'FFP members' is a pretty loose concept. I would imagine that the highest flying 5% fly represent as much income - if not more - than the remaining 95%! Maybe someone will come up with an FFP Gini index!
I agree with much of the rest of what you write, except for the weather/strike. As mentioned above, BA's results for the same quarter are significantly less appalling than AF-KL's and yet they are bound to have lost a tremendous amount of income by reimbursing people for the feared strike over xmas and the new year not to mention lost reservations, so I really don't think AF-KL was hit worse than BA there!
I was merely quoting what I read in a press release by AF.
Do I believe that this is the singular reason explaining why they made losses? No. Does it make losses worse? Yes, in their case it apparently did.
Probably they mention strikes and weather as reasons outside their influence, and they hope that therefore people think less negatively of their management skills. But I am not sure how recurring strikes and the incapacity to deal with "bad" (sic) weather at its hub makes a company more attractive. Thus, in terms of negative publicity, it is just as bad.