In article k1aQb.129498$I06.1119980@attbi_s01, Jay Honeck wrote:
Until this bottom-dollar mentality goes away (which it won't) GA will be
financially distressed.
I agree with much of what you have said, but I think you may be over-stating
this aspect a bit.
EVERY businessman is "bottom-line oriented" -- or he won't be around long.
And every consumer should be looking for the best deal. That's what makes
our economy work.
But not to the detrement of quality. There is a tradeoff (bottom dollar
vs quality) so you can't be purely bottom dollar oriented. GA is, in the
general case, purely bottom dollar oriented - trading off too much
quality to get 'cheap' (which isn't even attainable in GA due to the
high base prices to start off with).
I don't know the history of the US automotive industry well enough, but
the British motor industry was decimated by being cheap over quality
(and making many false economies in the process). The customers voted
with their feet. That's why there is only one British car manufacturer
left, but many Japanese and German manufacturers.
I did read the case over Continental Airlines. They tried to cut
expenses and concentrate too much on the bottom line, and it almost
caused them to go bankrupt instead of saving the business. Once they had
new management who realised that you need to have some quality too they
recovered, despite their higher expenses (and fares).
Since the motor industry is well studied, it was quite easy to see the
quantity of people voting with their feet and deciding to buy German
cars and Japanese cars instead of British ones. But how many people are
voting with their feet against GA, and taking up sailing instead?
Since you run a hotel instead of a GA business, I'm sure you've already
made the assessment that you can better pay for your GA habit by running
a hotel instead of an FBO :-)
--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying:
http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe:
http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"