Originally Posted by
newyorkgeorge
You have a point but AA looks less down the road and sees PHL. I do have to wonder how is it that DL seems to make JFK work but AA can’t or DL’s ability to compete against B6. My hunch is Parker never has and never will slug it out in NYC. Look at what he did pre merger with US. He’s more than satisfied with his fortress hubs.
Wasn't the pre-Parker US heavily banked into PHL and CLT as transit hubs for US's international service, with NYC on its backburner but for the exception of the US Shuttle and some domestic service to NYC/LGA? And yet US seemed to go from being financially on the path of the dodo to being on the path of the dodo to being on the path of the dodo using a strategy that Parker's AA seems to have bought into hook, line and sinker. The difference this time is that the AA has the benefit of being one of the US3 cartel industry kingpins in what is a much more oligopolistic market than before. But for how much longer can that work to the advantage of AA management?
Perhaps Parker read too much about how it's not worth being in a market if you can't be number 1 or 2 (or perhaps not even 3)? Given what he's done to ORD too, it seems he doesn't want to even suffer being number 2. And yet his airline is probably not deserving of more than a 3rd place finish when placed against DL and UA.