dw57

Are Airlines Going Bankrupt Again?

sorry trains won't work for most of the US. Geography is your enemy there. in EU its easy. locations are far apart.
not so in the US.
Just going from one end of Texas to another can be 1000 miles by itself.
never mind going from NY to LA.

but that electronic meetings is truly a threat.
most business travel of that type is gone, never to return


On Jul 05 07:13 PM rabesch wrote:

> I see the problem lying much deeper than all the very valid discussions
> above: Going back to Peter Drucker's question as to "What business
> are you in?", I believe that the airlines, all of them, simply still
> believe they are in the airline business. Well, they are not; they
> actually are in the business of transporting people and freight and
> if we want to go a little bit farther, communicating people with
> people. Two major factors are infringing on to the "airline business",
> if they choose to stay in there. One: Electronics and Communications
> are replacing many business people's flights by video communications
> that can be done instantly on a conference type basis, not just on
> an individual basis. This will not change but increase. This means
> that many business trips have become unnecessary, since people can
> not only hear themselves but see each other. The other factor is
> that the oil price is just a symptom of a fundamental change from
> today's propulsion, based on combustion engines to electricity, whether
> we like it or not. High speed trains in Europe and Asia are replacing
> airplanes on an ever growing scale both for distances up to 1000
> miles and speeds, now quite a bit over 200 mph, not counting Maglevs
> that run over 300mph. Airlines should therefore adopt the model of
> "We are in the business of communcating people with each other and
> the people and freight transportation business" and venture boldly
> into these ever growing fields. If they don't, still adhering to
> the absolutely obsolete business model of today and the past, will
> only result in their demise. The automobile industry is going through
> a similar adjustment already at a much faster pace; the tax payer
> can't afford to bail out any other industries.
> [e-mail]