TechGrrl
Space Cadet
Yeah but those DC8s were payed for. How much money is UPS going to lose when they get caught with there pants down when the economy picks up. You bean counters can't see past the end of your pencil, you don't know anything about running an airline and you only see numbers. Why did we buy the MD11? Because FEDX had them? Why did we spend millions putting glass cockpits and new engines on 727s and why didn't we take the option for 30 more Airbus 300s for 30 million a piece? Mistake after mistake and the pilots make to much.
Sorry, pal, I'm not a beancounter, and I do know what I am talking about. Does the concept of amortization have any meaning to you? Even though a DC-8 or a 727 is "paid for" in the sense there is no outstanding debt left on the purchase, there is still a very high cost of ownership to operate beasts like that. 4 engines burn more fuel than 2, and 3 people in the cockpit is 50% more than 2 people in the cockpit. And each airplane requires at least 3 full crews, usually 4 or more, to cover vacations, and the fact that a pilot is only able to fly 100 hours per month.
As far as "only seeing numbers", when the numbers have as many zeros trailing as airline costs do, it's a good idea to see the numbers first. One extra airplane = approximately $100 million in excess costs. One extra package car on the road, or even one extra feeder driver on the road, is, comparatively, chump change.
And the pilots may make too much money from our lowly point of view, but they have legally negotiated the deal with the company, and that's the way it works in a free market. Go to flight school, accumulate about 1,000 hours in a cockpit, and apply for a job as a pilot. That's also the way it works in a free market. We get to choose what we want to be when we grow up.