Originally Posted by
entropy
Well, quite frankly, CO is having their lunch eaten by foreign carriers out of IAH: EK, AF, LH...
A direct result of their over-reliance on an extremely risky aircraft procurement strategy.
While I also agree that CO should have more int'l flights out of IAH by now, I think some of the posts here are exaggerating a bit.
First, CO will have 777 + 764 + 762 to London starting late March. That's a capacity increase over 777x2. So, that's expanding to Europe.
Second, CI has pulled out of IAH. So, has PK. BA is removing a 763. KL had used 744 + 763 before, now 744 + 73G (Privatair). While there have been lots of rumors about KE coming, there's still no word at all.
EK seems to be successful, but it remains to be seen if SQ's flight will be.
Finally, what CO sees itself in is not due to an "extremely risky" strategy. Instead, they're being too cautious. It's a failure, but I don't think that's extremely risky. Buying too many planes will be.