Originally Posted by DHAST
WN never offered elite status
Yes, they do. It's called Companion Pass.
What they're getting is the result of selling their product for less than the cost of producing it. Nothing more, nothing less.
Which is a function of the market, they couldn't draw fares high enough given their cost structure. A short-haul high-frequency RJ carrier is simply not a low-cost carrier. Then they compounded the problem with the capacity that they you isn't crazy on its face (volume of flights at the get-go unsupported by either existing market or marketing outside of DC). And they didn't list flights in GDS' either, a cost-saving move but one which killed their traffic too.
Their original business plan called for operating at a loss for at least a year.
And the original business plan was a silly one, so...
Excessive fuel prices in the last few quarters just about killed any chance they had to wait it out until the airbii arrived.
Blaming fuel costs is disingenuous. Their break-even load factor in 2Q was 107%. They would have lost $$$ if fuel was free.
If their 'plan' was to lose $$$ until Airbus aircraft arrived, then management deployed their assets poorly. They'd have been better off grounding the company until they could acquire different aircraft, or starting a separate new company to sell the RJs to and operate as a feeder carrier with them. And they should have gone out into the market and acquired different aircraft on a faster timeline, even if they weren't new from the factory.
Saying they didn't have enough cash to burn through in order to put their new plan into effect is silly.