Cumulonimbus From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (7 years 3 weeks 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 2820 times:
I keep seeing more and more good things at US and from Mr. Parker himself. I was wondering if this man will ever be looked at as one of the greatest Aviation CEOs ever and stand side by side with Juan Trippe, Howard Hughes and Gordon Bethune. I mean the Man has taken a Bankrupt airline in terrible condition Merged it and the next Quarter turned a profit and is now even Rehireing Res agents. I expect to see more good things from him. Tell me what you think.
DesertJets From United States of America, joined Feb 2000, 7680 posts, RR: 18 Reply 1, posted (7 years 3 weeks 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 2815 times:
I was wondering if Doug Parker would ever surpass Gordon Bethune as the a.net posterboy.
While Mr. Parker lacks the bravado of Mr. Bethune, I think he is a good manager. What seems to set him aside is his ability to communicate w/ both his employees and the shareholders. And get both groups to like him. Seems to be a very rare trait in the business world.
Stop drop and roll will not save you in hell. --- seen on a church marque in rural Virginia
DesertJets From United States of America, joined Feb 2000, 7680 posts, RR: 18 Reply 3, posted (7 years 3 weeks 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 2795 times:
CXB744 From United States of America, joined Apr 2006, 202 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (7 years 3 weeks 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 2777 times:
Quoting Cumulonimbus (Thread starter): I mean the Man has taken a Bankrupt airline in terrible condition Merged it and the next Quarter turned a profit and is now even Rehireing Res agents. I expect to see more good things from him.
Whoaaaaaaaaaaaa! US/HP merger no COMPLETE! The hardest part is still ahead, union merging. As stated in other threads, now that US is making money, the unions want in. But US pilot's make less than HP pilot's but have a lot more seniroity.
If Parker comes out of this smelling like a rose, then he will have surpassed Gordon Bethune.
What is it? It's A 747-400, but that's not important right now.
Goingboeing From United States of America, joined Dec 1999, 4875 posts, RR: 19 Reply 6, posted (7 years 3 weeks 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 2754 times:
Quoting CXB744 (Reply 5): now that US is making money,
You know, buried not so far down in the press release about the "profit", it was disclosed that a very large part of that profit were forgiveness of debts related to the bankruptcy filing. Let's see how the second quarter ends up, shall we?
Atrude777 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 5623 posts, RR: 54 Reply 7, posted (7 years 3 weeks 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 2754 times:
If he can make it scuccesful then props to him.
Herb kelleher and Colleen Barrett also would be matched with him and Bethune and Tripp and Hughes.
Alex
Good things come to those who wait, better things come to those who go AFTER it!
ANCFlyer From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 8, posted (7 years 3 weeks 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 2689 times:
I think we'll know about Mr. Parker in about a year . . . once the Unions Merge, once the Fleet is redistributed, once the damn web site works worth a hoot . . .
Way too early to make any call at this point.
Do I think he could be aother Bethune. chance in hell.
JetBlueAUS From United States of America, joined Apr 2006, 1145 posts, RR: 8 Reply 9, posted (7 years 3 weeks 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 2664 times:
I don't know, there is still a long road ahead of him. Only time will tell.
MD88Captain From United States of America, joined Nov 2001, 1292 posts, RR: 22 Reply 10, posted (7 years 3 weeks 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 2602 times:
Ah, well, if that's the case, he clearly forgot his [sarcasm] tags. We're just innocent good samaritans trying to help. Can't be faulted for that, now can we?
Airwave
When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
Stirling From Italy, joined Jun 2004, 3943 posts, RR: 27 Reply 14, posted (7 years 3 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 2473 times:
Howard Hughes?
Great?
He was only famous....being famous, and running with movie stars does not make one great. The only thing that kept him in the Airline business as long as he was, was the giant pool of money at ToolCo he could access whenever he needed to bail himself out.
As for Parker,
Lets not take a headcount before the doors close.
There's a lot of the airline game yet left to play.
Alitalia744 From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 4670 posts, RR: 45 Reply 15, posted (7 years 3 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 2452 times:
Well having experienced the "new" USAirways, I continue to see why I fly other airlines. he's got a lotta work to do if he wants a title like CE Woolman
DL Widget Head From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 2041 posts, RR: 5 Reply 16, posted (7 years 3 weeks 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 2380 times:
I think time will tell but he's certainly shaping up to be in league with some of the great dynamic CEO's in US aviation
like Bethune and Crandall and Milton from Canada.
Flyboy7974 From United States of America, joined Jan 2003, 1540 posts, RR: 2 Reply 17, posted (7 years 3 weeks 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 2311 times:
Oh my, oh my, how close minded and so forgetful so many are. If I would have read this topic and it said only in the year 2006, than I would agree with everything written so far, but, has everybody on this site forgotten the hits and blows that the airline industry, the very industry we all talk about daily, have we all forgotten what has happened to our industry in the past 5-6 years.
Don't forget Doug Parker and the past 5-6 years he has had with America West. Without Doug, I as an HP elite doubt that the airline could have forged forward and struggled and eventually survived the downturn that the aviation industry took before, during, and after the events of 9/11. I don't see how HP could have survived if they still were under the leadership of past dictators such as Franke. My thoughts, and my thoughts only, Parker surged a rebirth of young lively energy into an airline that was ranked "america's worst" and couldn't pull a profit nor an on-time flight out of its butt.
To begin, HP was one of the first, if not the first, to apply for and receive the govt funding pumped into airlines after the events of 9/11. Systemwide, HP made drastic cuts in areas to decrease overall expenses and to cut their bottom line in a time needed to simply survive. If you thought as a first class pax I was happy to be flying first class from PHX-PHL and have no meal or inflight service, hell no, but you know what, now I am because HP made cuts necessary to get through the times, and the airline stuck it through.
Looking at HP, leases were renegotiated on numerous a/c, and with 737 being returned and new leases signed, HP signed for more Airbus a/c, and to the surprise of many, even resigned renegotiated leases on the B757 a/c. Surprising to so many, the B757 to all were maintenance hogs and simply nightmares, avoided by those elite who knew the airline well, but HP signed lease rates on those a/c that were unbelievable. Kept in the fleet, HP returned only 1 B757 and kept 13 and I would say in the past 2-3 years the dispatch reliability and dependability has improved. (before the ETOPS and HI flights). When I would book HP, I use to avoid the B757 flights like a plague, but now, don't mind seeing one on a res. Also, to improve reliability, I think about 3 years ago Parker realized that shady ops through the HP system and I think 4 a/c were removed from scheduled operations and used simply as spares, flights were reduced and flight times realigned to get HP back on their feet and increase overall operations. HP was one of the airlines that offered employees incentives to get the airline back to acceptable levels of on-time performance, and 2 or 3 quarters the employees did receive their bonuses for being ranked #1, #2, or #3. Thinking about the fleet, Parker was part of the renegotiation also with the Mesa contract, and with it, it allowed HP to reduce part of their fleet while Mesa signed for larger rj a/c, the CRJ-700 and -900, which would take over portions of the HP routes and flights with thinner loads. Since then, the CRJ-700 has been removed from the HP Express fleet, but the -900 was reconfigured and while seating 86 pax, it accomodated just below what the 737-200 use to seat.
Through the system, HP realigned and focused on their strengths, those being their hubs of PHX and LAS. The east coast focus city of CMH was eliminated, ending the codeshare agreement with Chatauqua and the 12 ERJ a/c that were based in CMH. After the CMH elimination, HP added flights from their west coast hubs to northeastern destinations and more important business destinations up and down the east coast. The hub in LAS was strengthened and streamlined to where it is now, not only offering a bank of "nite flight" hub service, but an additional two banks of flights were added, one where eastbound a/c would fly early am into LAS and then depart westbound around 12pm ish give or take, and then those a/c would return to LAS mid afternoon and offer LAS the additional east coast bank with departures in the dinner hour at 5pm ish, give or take. As other airlines did, HP opened up and proved that LAS could survive as much more than just a nightmare operation, and HP to back this further developed their AmeriWest Vacation department to supplement not only the LAS flights, but destinations throughout the west, Florida, Mexico, and Canada.
Other areas to look at, in-flight, America West was the first U.S airline to announce and experiment with "in-flight" buy-on-board service. I was in Germany actually when it was announced, and even overseas it made headlines that an american airline would offer such a product. HP experimented with the in-flight meals for at least 9-12 months before discontinuing the service, and the only reason behind that was that HP wanted to renegotiate their costs on the product to cover waste and unused portions that couldnt be sold. First class catering was readjusted to cost levels that while lower in savvy to most experienced first class travelers, HP was still able to offer an enjoyable product that didn't have to include steak n' lobster or a 3 course meal on a simple 3-4 flight across the country. Didn't 2 years in a row HP even win "best in-flight F winery" or some sort of name like that for having the best wine products on board? I didnt even know there was such an award.
Here's only a few points that I can recall from the past 5-6 years that HP dealt with under the Parker leadership, but as I wrote, "leadership" compared to the years of struggle under the tyrants of previous years that led HP. Interesting enough, wasn't Parker the only airline CEO that last year declined his yearly CEO bonus/incentive, stated that while the airline and employees suffered, he didnt feel justified to take an approx $500,000 bonus? That's funny, CEO's of the other big boy airlines all took huge incentives and bonuses while their airlines struggled financially and every other employee that worked the frontlines and did the dirty work each and every day took pay cuts, health care cuts, and pension loss. When was the last time that the "old US" posted a profit, but CEOs have been taking incentives and bonuses each and every year, maybe that's why morale was so poor. Because remember, and remember one thing, what starts up top only flows downward, and if the b/s starts with the CEO, what do you think will happen to the everyday employee by the time the b/s hits them? Morale doesn't flow upstream, it has to start at the top and flow down and work its way to each and every employee to make them feel involved, included, and empowered to be a part of the very airline they work for. Let's hope Parker can shed and share some of that through all of the "new US" system, because its already worked out west.
HPAEAA From United States of America, joined May 2006, 1020 posts, RR: 2 Reply 18, posted (7 years 3 weeks 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 2098 times:
Quoting Leelaw (Reply 12): Howard Hughes was a visionary
Let's not forget that Parker was the first to publicly aknowledge the need for consolidation in the industry...
I do have to say, he isn't as outspoken as Gordon, but he is a good leader... while I was at HP I had the pleasure of meeting him several times and was impressed by his honesty, and gratitude... Unlike a lot of managers he answered my questions as best he could and wasn't afraid to listen which is more than I can say for other carriers that I have been at... I honestly can say man never said one thing and did another, he was as up front and as open as he could be about his intentions. Lastly I remeber him taking the time to thank us (Myself and coworkers) for what we do everday...
I will conceed though that the true test is the next couple of years as the "New" US continues to unfold.
7E72004 From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 3586 posts, RR: 1 Reply 19, posted (7 years 3 weeks 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 2087 times:
I was not sure where to put this post and i did not think a new thread needed to be started but why not go back to the name "USAir?" I have read several news stories in the past few days in which they call USAirways "USAir."
The next generation of aircraft is just around the corner!
Nwab787techops From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 219 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (7 years 3 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 2073 times:
Doug Parker is NO Gordon.
HP had money, and he used that to buy US. A good move, But US was doing bad, not hours away for CH7. CO had NO money and they where hours away form CH7. Everone knows the story of how Gordon got money back form boeing to pay the bills. That wasn't not the end, it was YEARS of fixing up old DC10 and B737-100s, before they became what you see today.
Also, US is the NEW Usairways. That airline is a LCC! Like Southwest and airtran not a CO.
7E72004 From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 3586 posts, RR: 1 Reply 21, posted (7 years 3 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 2060 times:
Some people still complain that USAirways is still a "regular" carrier because of the high fares in a lot of places. What they don't understand is that US is not going to become an LCC overnight...it takes time to get the system in place and merger complete.
The next generation of aircraft is just around the corner!
F9Animal From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 4745 posts, RR: 29 Reply 22, posted (7 years 3 weeks 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 1972 times:
Quoting 7E72004 (Reply 21): Some people still complain that USAirways is still a "regular" carrier because of the high fares in a lot of places. What they don't understand is that US is not going to become an LCC overnight...it takes time to get the system in place and merger complete.
I don't care what airline it is. If they are the king of the market, and can charge higher fares, then they will charge higher fares.
Just like oil. No need to go any further on that subject. I think the oil execs need to be beaten.
As for Parker, he is a leader. Not only is he making the merger successful, he has the tools and team to continue making it successful. No matter how you slice it, it still has a sharp blade, and it is a company being positioned to cut away. I think Parker has the ability to trim the fat, and lower the cholesterol. Once he does this, US will be no airline to play chicken with.
Dang, I must be hungry! I will eat, and then see if my thoughts change any! LOL!
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