Originally Posted by
MW_2000
I am amazed at all the posts disagreeing with the choice of Chicago as HQ; feeling it was "political" or something. Some seem to think Houston should have been made the HQ city just because it is less expensive.
Should the new airline also serve the cheapest wine it can find? Use the cheapest paper for letterhead and marketing materials? Install the cheapest seats in the aircraft? Of course not - all of these things reflect on the company's image - going with the cheapest solution isn't the right business decision unless you are dealing with something which is completely fungible like fuel. This is going to be a world-class, international airline - the world's biggest. As such it needs to be headquartered in a world-class, international city. Chicago is such a city. Houston is not. Anyone who has spent substantial time in both places knows this. There are unfortunately not many other true world-class cities in the US - NYC,SF,LA are about it.
If CO had been the surviving entity here, if anything it would have made sense to move HQ to NYC.
Inexpensive and cheap are not interchangeable...and costs can be a relative factor.
As to Chicago being a world class city...totally agree...food, culture, theater, museums, etc. Houston does not come close...that being said, for business, I would think that Houston and Chicago are on par...most of America's oil companies have substantial operations in Houston. In my industry, we have had our major national trade show in McCormick Place in Chicago for 30 years, well it's moving to Orlando (cost and union rules) caused the show to leave.
We can also disagree about it being political...you really believe that the MAJORITY of senior management of the new airline will be CO and they are making the HQ in Chicago?!?!? Why would you want to uproot yourself and your family unless there was a compelling business reason...the reason of Chicago being "world class" is not enough...making sure the President's pals in Chicago still keep the business in Chicago, wouldn't you think that will influence the DOJ's decision? Slightly naive, IMHO, if you didn't think that it wasn't a strong component.
BTW Brasilia, what are you 12? De Nile, really? I bet your first name is Stanley, if it isn't it should be.
- HF