Originally Posted by
bocastephen
All Kirby has done is strip costs to the bone - slashing catering, cutting staffing, etc. You don't need to be a genius to figure out that cutting costs and raising prices will increase revenue, but this is not sustainable, even a high school class running a business simulation could do that same. So he made good numbers for a few quarters, that party is coming to an abrupt end very soon. With the product stripped to the bare necessities, what is Kirby going to do when demand dries up? Strip it down even more? What's next, prepack meal boxes in Polaris delivered by a skeleton crew just meeting FAA requirements?
Ordering more aircraft when times are good based on demand that management has completely mis-projected is not something to be proud of - I can see some of those orders getting trimmed or resold as the next 24 months evolve.
I'm just not so sure any of this matters given the industry consolidation we've seen over the past 20 years, during which time something like 10 major airlines consolidated into 4-5 (depending on how you want to measure). Less competition means less need to bother competing. In any case, it seems to me that the advent of the Polaris hard product combined with a decent network is enough to keep enough business. OPM flyers who can surely already direct their spend to SQ, NH, etc. For those who are left, are they really going to switch over bad chow or the demise of the 1K Desk? I think not.
I'm not saying this state of affairs is good just that its inevitable given the economics of consolidation.