"These
days no one can make money on the goddamn airline business. The economics
represent sheer hell."
—
C. R. Smith, President of American Airlines from 1934 to 1968 and from 1973
to 1974
After 37
years from leaving American Airlines (AA), C. R. Smith's point was clearly made when news of what was once the largest U.S.
airline carrier, is now filing for bankruptcy protection. Since learning of
AA's demise, questions like, how the hell are companies in this industry going
to make money and remain competitive with rising fuel costs and a declining
economy, have been popping through my mind while I surf for cheap airline
seats online. To make it more geographically relevant, how are private
Philippine airline carriers, like Cebu Pacific (CEB), able to maintain a
healthy profit margin while pegging itself as the country’s largest budget
carrier?
With
today being Bonifacio Day and I have no Bonifacio party to attend to, I decided
to do something productive and research on whether or not I should put my money
in the company now that it’s relatively (will get into that later) cheap.
To start
off, I motivated myself by watching a YouTube clip of their dancing flight
attendants.
Enticing but not compelling, enough. Hence, I
had to watch some more.
