Airline Management 101: I Was a Little Late to Class

All this time I thought it was my problem for not understanding the ins and outs of the airline world that have wreaked such havoc on aviation. I never seemed to stop shaking my head every time I read the next chapter from the Northwest or Delta or United bankruptcy.

Now I understand, it actually is my problem.

Having been through an airline bankruptcy myself – and yes, they really are ugly – you’d think I’d be a little smarter by now. I should be better able to line up employee expectations with those of the employer.

Now that the WSJ quoted the Northwest Airlines court appointed examiner on Saturday, it has all become clear why the airline treated and continues to treats its employees as if they had little to do with the company’s emergence from Chapter 11.

Said Richard Nevins … Northwest Airlines “appropriately took a number of steps to investigate and pursue strategic options in order to maximize the value of assets available for distribution to stakeholders.”

See … It’s the worker’s own fault.

Those dumb airline employees at United and Northwest and American just need to give a little more so they can become important stakeholders … like, well … airline passengers. Now there’s a bunch of folks the airlines really know how to treat. 

Too bad those stupid employees didn’t know how the game was going to be played before they gave in to those company demands though.

Of course, if they’d known then what they know now and acted upon it, some of these airlines wouldn’t have made it out of Chapter 11.

When are you dumb employees ever going to learn that it’s the people who have a stake in the success of a company that are most important?

Hang on.

Employees do have a stake don’t they?

My guess is that one of these days … maybe sooner than anyone thinks, airline management is going to really learn that lesson the hard way … the same way they insist on learning it over and over again. 

Will air traffic controllers be far behind?

Technorati tags: Northwest+Airlines, pilots, airline+unions, airline+management, United+Airlines, NATCA