You say "Legacy carriers will prevail," yet only 2 out of the 5 stay around? Doesn't sound like that's a victory to me... but that's just semantics. Also, last time I checked neither CO nor NW were in Chapter 11. I admit though, I don't have an inside into those airlines as I do to a few others. Well one thing the LCCs have been able to do that UA, for example, hasn't is to buy fuel at a discounted rate. Fuel costs are the reason things are so bad for the industry (and who's our President? Hummm). I can't remember the actual term it's called but WN secured a price of something like 80% below retail price of fuel. To do that, you have to buy it cash-up-front. B6 was able to do it for close to that as well. AA was able to do it for a MUCH lower %, UA and DL were not able to do it. Clay - SEA -----Original Message----- From: Bahadir Acuner [mailto:bahadiracuner@xxxxxxxxx]=20 Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 11:05 AM Subject: Re: Industry Changes Playing the arm chair airline CEO Clay? :) <j/k> There is a lot of talk about the airlines "changing" these days. Well, whoever is saying that "LCC domestically and legacies international" is a fool. A lot of people fly IAD-FRA, JFK-LHR etc. but a lot more are flying DEN-ORD-LHR or SAN-LAX-FRA, etc. etc. Legacy carriers will prevail , granted some will not survive. I can see AA and UA surviving. CO/NW/DL is the collection of three ugly sisters trying to get married to a hunk :) The fact of the matter is, most of the international carriers have lower cost structures compared to their US counterparts. What makes the US carriers to win is the fact that I can fly UA/AA/CO/NW/DL on domestic routes AND on International routes. Yes, people flying once a year will go with the cheapest ticket and will still fly with legacy carrier's lower fare buckets, but as long as I can fly United out of SEA , even with connections, I am enjoying perks that I wouldn't be able to paying $$$$ for it.. There are some false assumptions about the industry of general public that is actually dead wrong. The fact that LCCs will survive and legacies will go away is one of them.. BAHA Fan of United Business. -----Original Message----- From: The Airline List [mailto:AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Clay Wardlow Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 10:51 AM To: AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Industry Changes While our servers are down, I've been day dreaming of airlines (of course). One article posted here and one a friend sent to me (I'll send later) kinda got me thinking. =3D20 I wonder if we are headed to a time when the legacy carriers (AA, UA, DL, etc) are going to only/mostly fill the international market and the LCCs will fill the domestic market. =3D20 Only time you'd fly AA is to LHR for example...=3D20 =3D20 Then you'd fly F9 between DFW-DEN, or WN between LAS and STL...=3D20 =3D20 Clay - SEA =3D20