Originally Posted by
NickB
With due respect, this looks to me as if your vision is skewed by looking through a pair of "AF can do no good" glasses.
What exactly is that "solution that would turn AZ into a healthier and leaner airline whilst being acceptable by the Italians"? Should AF have done what EY is doing? Should AF have offered to poor gazillions of Euros into AZ and hope for the best?
If there was an easy solution to the AZ problem, how come that BA or LH did not come rushing to the door and snap it from AF's or EY's hands? Some problems have no good solution and the least bad is sometimes to let go and turn away. AF may have many flaws but it is not a sufficient reason to hold them accountable for not being able to do miracles.
But AF did not act in the same way as LH and BA. I am merely repeating what I have said before, that AF's attitude towards AZ has been incoherent over time in my view. They spent a lot of money into it to not change anything and let the situation worsen, and then a few years later they put together a proposed plan which was perfectly ridiculous before disengaging themselves.
BA decided that they were not interested. That was coherent. LH did exactly the same. AF's attitude was entirely different and to me, seemed to defy rhyme or reason. They could have perfectly stayed out, or they should have only stepped in if they had a plan or if they wanted to integrate AZ into their group and take the losses and hope to sort it out from the "inside" (which of course would have also been an option).
They did none of that. They did not walk out, but they did not walk in either, they had no strategy to start with, and then claimed to have one years too late.
In other words, I'm perfectly happy for you to tell me that my judgement against AF is bias if you can explain to me in what sense AF's actions made sense and how it was mere bad luck that their clever plan did not work, but apparently saying that "there is no good solution" for AZ and "the least bad is to let go" precisely suggests to me that AF's actions made no sense in the first place and that time and money have been wasted in yet another failure indeed.