GLG News by Airline Consultants: GLG Leaders and Scholars (US)

Boeing is about to faceoff with its unions. These have never been nice events, and those to come this year may be among the most nasty.

It is really only "excess capacity" - or is it muddled thinking about revenues as well? With average load factors at 80% and only one airline covering its costs of production, there seems to be a straighforward first step. Airfares, on average, are simply too low.

United Airlines is in trouble as events conspire to add insult to injury. United's management is incapable of exiting the current malaise intact. But in trying to paper over its woeful situation, I expect to see United’s management become increasingly irrational. Becoming the fare increase leader may...

Writing down goodwill does not mean a great deal - it merely takes attention away from what really needs to be done. But big organizations and their proclivity for silo thinking are adding to industry risk.

The 757 is probably being abused. But it is a testimony to the plane's performance that it can handle this sort of route - something for which it clearly was never designed. But with airlines under the gun as never before, expect to see airplane abuse growing. Indeed, airlines are about to start abusing...

The weaker dollar problem is causing the same challenge to airlines; airline sface higher fuel prices but they can react faster.  Airbus' sales create a long tail of exchange rate risk. Without immediate action taken to reduce such risk, EADS is looking for trouble.

The EADS scandals continue to drip, drip, drip. Each drip means another waste of managers' time. Which means less progress than could be achieved.

EADS will remain operating at sub-optimal levels as long as the politics continues to play a role in its structure. Every minute spent worrying about its ownership means a minute wasted from the central issue - running its business.

Boeing has not handled the 787 program news well.  Obfuscation has enabled others to frame the news; invariably putting Boeing in a bad light.

Losing skilled pilots is a problem