Aviation Daily: United CEO Creates Task Force To Focus On Non-Labor Costs By Steve Lott/Aviation Daily 24-Sep-2002 10:51 AM U.S. EDT United, desperately looking for any new ideas to quickly cut costs and improve revenues, yesterday became the latest U.S. major airline to formalize reviewing employee suggestions and carrying through on objectives in its current recovery plan. In his weekly message to employees, CEO Glenn Tilton said the airline can't waste any more time in making sure it is prepared to compete in the changing marketplace. As a result, Tilton has created a task force, which "will be structured to represent all aspects of our total business." The group will focus on non-labor costs and productivity savings "that we have embedded in the current strategic plan." Tilton said the task force will consist of a combination of "internal and external resources" and will begin its work this week. The charge of the group is to "examine and to insure United's competitiveness across the full spectrum of our profit margin." The task force will report to a "decision review board" that will meet regularly to provide guidance and monitor project milestones and timetables. This task force also will "gather, review and support the thousands of productivity and cost reduction ideas that we are receiving from you every day," he said. Tilton said he reviews many of the suggestions personally, but the task force will make it easier to track the employee ideas. American, Delta and Northwest have previously created similar committees to review employee suggestions. It's unclear how the new task force is different from previous internal groups United has created. Former President Rono Dutta earlier this year organized an internal group of executives to conduct a four-month, top-to-bottom self-study of the entire airline looking at both structural and technical areas. The review was conducted in-house with no outside consultants and concluded United's one true weakness is that it is a high-cost carrier (DAILY, July 23). Tilton noted in his message the airline business is changing rapidly, and a variety of different business models are being offered to the customer. While JetBlue and Southwest are examples of new low-cost models, "our major competition" also is changing at the same time, he said. Tilton encouraged employees to "focus on every single thing, no matter how seemingly small, that we can do to differentiate ourselves from the pack in the minds of our customers." He added employees should be aligned as a united team regardless of whether they are members of union or not. "The customer, rightfully, should not be burdened with our current financial challenges." He wants employees to work together to create the "global airline of choice" and leave competitors "trying to catch us." <http://www.aviationnow.com/aviationnow/aviationdaily_marketing_page.jsp > Aviation Daily is a newsletter