Originally Posted by JDiver

I don't think there's a "good" reason , just a huge silo and ivory tower bound leadership and vision vacuum, airlines headed by quarterly results bound functionaries.

Airline top managers and CEOs seem to be technicians and sang froid accountants, whereas in the past some have been visionaries - some successful, a la C. R. Smith et al, some less so because their visions were more about wrong-headed ego (and one could say even mental health issues in at least the Howard Hughes instance).

The most recent may have been Herb Kelleher at WN, who inspired the front line folks by making work fun, cross training, etc. (even though is as unionized as AA) and even showed up at a ticket counter or gate to shlep some bags or process boarding passes, celebrate a valued employee's birthday, etc.