=20 Gordon Bethune uncensored (almost)=20 The former Continental Airlines CEO has some candid words on ...=20 Thursday, September 14, 2006=20 Gordon Bethune, who was re vered as the chief executive at Continental Airl= ines, may not be sitting in a corner office anymore, but he still has plent= y of opinions about the airlines, the industry's notorious egos and what it= takes to effectively manage a business.=20 Nearly two years into retirement, Bethune, 65, still relishes the notion th= at he doesn't spend time arguing with government officials and doesn't go h= ome with his stomach tied up in knots. Yet, he continues to entertain offer= s from the business world as if he might plunge back in any day -- if the r= ight offer came along.=20 "What you got," he's apt to say, as if he's waiting for the perfect challen= ge.=20 Earlier this week, we caught up with Bethune in Newark where he was schedul= ed to attend a board of directors meeting at Prudential Financial.=20 -- Susan Todd You were recently named chairman of the board at Aloha Airlin= es. Is that a sign that you haven't got the airline business out of your sy= stem? It just means the people at Aloha think I can provide some good advic= e and strategies for their future. I know the airline. It doesn't compete i= n any way and on any route or in any segment with Continental. I'm not in a= ny -- forget the legal -- emotional conflict. I like Hawaii, and it's not a= full-time job. When you were headed out the door at Continental, it sounde= d like you might want another full-time job. Have you seri ously considered= any offers to run another airline? There are a number of opportunities tha= t may never materialize, mostly because of testoste rone in the business. P= eople who are running these dysfunctional companies like running them. I th= ink what I said was who knows what the future's going to be. I wasn't adver= se to picking up the phone and saying hello and listening. The stuff I've b= een offered to do are things I don't want to do. One company wanted me to start nonsto= p service from the New York area to Europe. I won't mention who. It was fun= ny be cause they had talked to Bob Crandall, who is the retired chairman of= American Airlines. Bob e- mails me and says: "This guy is going to call yo= u. He wants to start this new airline. He's got the money, and he seems ver= y professional." I wrote Crandall back. I said: "I'm going to tell him no f= or two reasons, Bob. One, I don't want to compete with my old company and t= wo, I don't want to help him lose all his money. It's a stupid idea." There= are a lot of stupid ideas out there. I decline those opportunities. How do= you think the airline industry is doing these days? It's evolutionary, jus= t like it's always been. It's going through a lot of changes. 9/11 has forc= ed a lot of companies to modify their behavior, both in the way they deal w= ith their employees and the way they deal in the marketplace. Take a look a= t United, Delta, Northwest, US Air. Look at how much capacity they've pulled out. Yo= u know who made them do that? The bankruptcy courts, the creditors' committ= ee, because the guys who are running the companies, they don't want to do i= t. They're all testosterone driven: Who's got the biggest airplanes, whose = got the most, all that kind of crap. Well, that's never made anybody any mo= ney. Why are the carriers still struggling so with profitability? I think a= irlines are coming back because of the restructuring in the marketplace, th= e restructuring even in the way that unions see their relationships with th= e companies. Take a look at ALPA as a national organization. They've found = they can't win if the company loses, nor can the company win if the union l= oses. That's the kind of mantra we had at Continental 12 years ago. Working= together meant we all win or nobody wins. Take a look at the behavior in t= he marketplace and all the acrimony you're seeing and the restructuring and= the lost pensions. You think people have learned anything here? There are no more p= ension plans. People have learned you shouldn't make promises you can't kee= p. People have learned promises, even though they're in writing and in cont= racts, don't mean anything. People have said, "We've got to work toward a d= ifferent end." There's another wave of merger speculation moving through th= e industry. Are more likely to happen? That's logic. Have you ever tried to= predict what a crazy person's going to do. You say ... he'll never do that= , but he just did it. You think, rightfully, Continental and United are two= companies that ought to get together and win the game decisively. But it t= akes two sets of intellect and ob jectivity to do that, and it's not going = to happen. Why do we have six big airlines? Do we need six? No. Would the m= arketplace have the long-term stability of good employment and predictable = careers and no bankruptcies, yes, it sure would. What keeps that from happe= ning? The government has been almost paranoid about antitrust provisions, to the poi= nt where they stifle any kind of consolidation. I think they may be getting= more amenable. (Doug) Parker's doing a good job at US Airways (which merge= d with America West last year). He's a smart man. But those companies didn'= t have any alternatives where other companies see alternatives. You mention= ed the pairing of Continental and United. Tell us more about that. Well, it= would be strategic. Just take a look at it. United has Chicago, a huge mar= ket, Denver, the West Coast. They have facilities in San Francisco and L.A.= that you can't replicate and never will. They have access beyond Tokyo, wh= ich are governmental rights that Continental can't ever, ever get. They hav= e access to London Heathrow, which Continental will never get. Continental = owns New York, has the best European connections out of New York out of any= body. And Latin America? It's the No. 2 carrier. It's got a huge operation = in Houston, which is contiguous to Mexico. You put these two companies together, it's = called checkmate. You've got to have people with an IQ of over 40 to figure= it out, and they kind of like what they're doing. I think Continental woul= d be the management team, obvi ously, because they've got the expertise and= the track record investors would like and employees would bet on. Let's mo= ve away from airlines. Did you know Alan Mulally at Boeing? Going to Ford i= sn't exactly like jumping from Boeing to an airline company, but what advic= e would you give him as he tries to turn Ford around? I'd tell him to use t= he judgment and the team-building and the customer focus that he used at Bo= eing. I mean, he doesn't need my advice, but cer tainly that's what got him= a long, long way. Why would you change now? You've got to give Bill Ford a= lot of credit. Here's a guy who is willing and, at least, cognizant of the= fact that you can't reformulate a company with the same old guys. You've g= ot to have some new thinking. That takes some courage, but at the same time with the = belief that it couldn't be worse. If Ford now learns to build cars with the= same customer appeal and integrity that Boeing builds airplanes, well ... = wouldn't that be wonderful. So, I think, getting Mulally's a smart move. In= the Navy, whey they shuffled people from one job to the other, we used to = call it a new deal from the same old deck. You know, what difference did it= make? Here, they've got a new player, a new way of looking at the business= . It's got to be exciting for the people at Ford to think that something mi= ght just happen. What are your thoughts on the troubles at Hewlett-Packard'= s board? It just shows there's no substitute for good judgment. Judgment is= just one of those things. Maybe you can learn from others. I think you can= . Judgment isn't an acquired skill. It's an innate skill. In hiring executi= ves, that's what I always look for, good judgment. You don't know what's go= ing to happen tomor row, but you know this guy usually has good judgment, he'll make the= right call. With all your free time, will you ever take up golf? No. There= 's too many other things I like to do.=20 =C2=A9 2006 The Star Ledger =C2=A9 2006 NJ.com All Rights Reserved. http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/business-4/1158212167223780.xml= &coll=3D1 =20 =20 View our videos at: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=3Dewrw4co =20 Roger & Amanda La France