Michael Boyd Quotations

The perception is it's environmentalist versus environmentalist, ... But it's environmentalists versus the power cartel.

We're going to have a nasty showdown among low-fare carriers.

United filed for Chapter 11 and they're selling all their product. Chapter 11 is just a change in legal proceedings.

United comes out of Chapter 11 with no significant advantages over its major competitors.

If the situation runs smoothly for the next three or four days, there may be no incentive for the company to end the strike. If it doesn't run smoothly, they might be back at the table at some point.

I don't know who's going to live or who's going to die. But we do know this: it's going to be a very nasty competitive mess.

but there ain't a lot of folks who'll drop what they're doing to take advantage of a cheap fare in such a market.

But either way, it's going to be ugly.

Frontier Airlines is already losing money. JetBlue and AirTran are on the edge, and Southwest, had it not hedged fuel, would be losing money. Anything with a wing has problems with today's fuel prices. But if oil had stayed where it was a year ago, like we thought it would, we'd be talking today about how profitable the airlines are today.

Fundamentally, the airline is obscenely strong. The future belongs to legacy carriers like United.

If the flight is tomorrow, and this afternoon you make the change, you can make that argument ... But if the flight is three weeks from now, that's a pretty weak argument.

If the airline has no viable business or cash flow, it can't stay together. That's why they are in this mess.

He gave him the money and it kept him out of jail. Now that guy's got a job, thanks to him.

It certainly sends a message that they're financially solvent.

It is kind of scary. It could be abused.

Lansing is part of the solution to carriers like Northwest, ... Lansing can feed a lot of traffic through their system.

Our fleet forecast projects that these manufacturers may not be able to build enough of these things fast enough. If they're anywhere near as advertised in terms of performance, it's going to be a stampede to buy them.

Right now people who are flying are flying because they absolutely have to, ... This may dilute revenue more than add to it.

The alternative for Denver is Frontier. I put the grant in because I thought I had a pretty decent plan to get additional service to the West. In the past, United has been pretty nonchalant about wanting to add another flight to that market.

The $17 billion (loss) is meaningless because it involves all sorts of accounting issues.

With Allegiant, if it doesn't make it, they leave.

To say that the '75 team would have probably given most major college teams a run would be selling them short.

To rush into something wouldn't be prudent, ... It's going to take time to put maintenance programs together, labor contracts together.

Today you have Southwest Airlines in a reactive mode opening up cities they probably would not have opened up.

We are certainly aware of the news and we are checking the information.

Bottom line? Unless you're a bankruptcy attorney, this isn't going to mean a thing to you.

At this point, the real issues are: Number one, making sure it comes out on time, and number two, there can't be any glitches in production.

Except for the financial barnacle stuck to their side, they're doing great. They had an actual profit.

Except for the financial barnacle stuck to their side, they're doing great, ... They had an actual profit.

It was a business plan that didn't work 60 days after they started,

Our ambition is to stage one of the most significant cultural festivals of the year.

People say it will be like FedEx for people,

Northwest can survive if they have to go into bankruptcy, ... These labor unions have to take it upside the head. Their next job will be at the Wal-Mart.

Northwest came into its bankruptcy and knew what not to do. They walked in with a plan that said here's what we're going to do with our labor, here's what we're doing with our airplanes. There was no dancing around.

Southwest has to expand aggressively over the next two to three years because they've got to spread out their costs in order to keep their fares down. They have high labor costs and in order to protect their costs they have to put out more product.

Delta's problem is not labour, it's debt. Until they can restructure their debt, they are in big trouble.

Delta's problem is not labor, it's debt. They have achieved labor cuts, and can achieve more because they have only two unions. But until they can restructure their debt, they are in big trouble.

As an operating airline, Independence is as good as dead.

That's just so many financial barnacles to stick onto a bankrupt company. They're going to get scraped off.

You're dealing with tough but rational people on both sides of the table there. Both sides know what happens with a strike. I think that's high on everybody's minds.

This is not a surprise to anyone. We've had tests like this before that have failed.

This company needs to get an agreement in place very quickly. This is not a normal negotiation, this is not a drill. It's either get the costs down or hit the road.

They were just too strong over the ball and made the most of every opportunity, whereas we struggled to get going all day, ... We're really proud of the boys but Terang just kicked the goals when they counted.

They have a track record of putting out happy numbers.

They're moving in a measured way to move more flying within Northwest. It gets their system costs down. It allows the them to be far more efficient, and it gives a seamless Northwest product.

It was already fourth-and-long when Mr. Grinstein took over. The three reasons he wasn't able to avoid bankruptcy are fuel, fuel and fuel.

It's very clear the employees got shafted on this deal.

It's not that big a deal, ... They're re-branding it as Delta rather than as a separate sub-brand. . . . Other than that, there's not much of a change. There's no reduction in competition, and fares will probably stay the same.

For Cincinnati, it would be like Dayton. Dayton was a hub at one time; it won't be a hub again.

It's the Shreveport-Shanghai advantage, ... It shows that at $2 a gallon for fuel, carriers like American and United have the ability to make money.

The airline is showing signs of showing a pulse. What they're doing is going back to where their historic strength is.

It's what you would expect -- a lot of big, bad, red numbers.

It's very good to have a variety of airlines like Indianapolis does,

I want the whole world to know we all need to be accountable for the beasts in our society - so we may protect our loved ones from harm.

They were trying to be a low-fare airline with high costs.

They have to recast what they're doing on the East Coast because it doesn't work any more, ... They have to shove more of their flights to feed their East to West traffic and less flights between North to South traffic.

They will reach a deal with management. These are not wild-eyed, crazy people on either side. These are rational people.

Small and midsize communities can certainly be hurt.

Their plan didn't work after the first 30 days, but they refused to change it,

If you're looking to break into the industry, it's one I wouldn't recommend at any level. Overall, this is not going to be a bonanza in hiring in the airline industry.

In 12 months we'll be talking about the problems with the low-cost carriers, not the (old line) carriers.

In 20 minutes, the airline would be dead, ... This is an airline that's hanging by a string. It's incumbent on both sides to keep the airline flying. Even going forward, it's got challenges.

If fuel hadn't gone up, we'd be talking about how profitable these legacy carriers are,

I don't think anything's going to snag it now.

This is more hostile collaboration than it is antagonistic negotiations. Both sides know they have to come to some agreement that makes the company work. When the dust settles, I'd put my money on an agreement being reached.

This is a coincidence, but what a coincidence,

Airlines live on cash, and the minute you stop flying the bills keep coming in but the money doesn't,

Airlines have already cut the services they can cut, now cuts will have to come from somewhere else. The food is already nonexistent.