OK Folks,
Unless you live in more of a cave than I do out here, you have seen the headlines about the airline industry latetly. Some highlights have been

American Airlines cancelling a thousand flights today
Alaska Airlines cancelling flights
Southwest cancelling flights
I am sure there are others, but these have made headlines all because of maintanence issues.

Three regional carriers have folded in a month. ATA and Aloha are both large regional carriers, Skybus was an upstart at probably the worst possible time and didnt have a chance.

Fuel prices are through the roof, ticket prices are high and sales are apparently flat.

How does this effect the American People?
Is this going to get better or worse?

Please....discuss

__________________
Abstinence Education at its finest:

It'll get better.

The Fed will bail them out, too.

__________________
When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

Great as it will make trains relatively cheaper. The Eurotunnel had it's first profitable year last year. The extra taxes on airtravel are expected to boost train travel even more.

I doubt they can make a profitable highspeed connection to Alaska though.

By the way I'm going to Japan this summer (no I'm not taking the transsiberia train), so flying is still affordable for lower class riffraff. It's not that bad.

Of course, travel by train in the US is nothing like Europe. I think Europeans really struggle to understand how large the US is.

__________________
When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

Frankly, I am appalled that US air carriers were able to ignore required airworthiness directives for so long. This, IMHO, borders on depraved indifference to human life.

The carriers are given very reasonable timeframes to conduct the inspections / apply the corrective actions in an AD. Typically, 12 to 18 months for non-emergency ADs.

There is just no excuse for having huge sections of the fleet not having had the inspections and maintenance done.

Matt

__________________
De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

But, Matt, human life is clearly secondary to profits. Large businesses make decisions like this all the time.

__________________
When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

Do some simple math. What is the distance between LA and NY or NY and Houston? A tgv goes 300 kmh, a 747 900 kmh. Also take into account that you get to the station and can board the train 5 minutes later. No bagagge checks and waiting like on the airport. I don't think the US is that hostile to trains, it just requires a large initial investement and that is why the governement and companies aren't taking the risk and are relying on less efficient airtravel. Besides how many times does the average american go from one side of the country to the other?

Yes, they are in the business for profits. From a business viewpoint, they were morons. Eventually they were going to be found out, and now they are losing millions because of their negligence. It is also, a truly moronic business decision (and moronic in the lack of concern, of course).

__________________
I am an American. That's the way most of us put it, just matter of factly. They are plain words, those four: you could write them on your thumbnail, or sweep them clear across this bright autumn sky. But remember too, that they are more than just words. They are a way of life. So whenever you speak them; speak them firmly, speak them proudly, speak them gratefully. I am an American. ...a tradition

By air, it is 3944 km. By rail? If it just followed the roadways, it's 4467 km. So, 15 hours on the TGV, assuming it could sustain that speed the whole way and make no stops. That's, of course, after we built tracks capable of running that kind of speed. Never mind those little Rocky Mountains that sit in the way.

Not likely.

__________________
When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

Maybe not for long distances, but up to 1500-2000km it would be useful. Granted, the initial investment would be rather, huh, large.

Hi Erik, I will echo some comments Pram made, the infastructure and land issues involved in making railroad become more convenient or viable than vehicle or air travel is unimaginable. I think it would be wiser in terms of rail traffic to develop more in quantity and efficiency the diesel electrics we alreay have.

In terms of Alaska...Keep in mind how big Alaska is. 2.5 times bigger than Texas. More coast line that the lower 49 combined. More fresh water than the lower 49 combined. At the same time, in pure numbers, less than 50 communities statewide are connected to outside roads. One cannot drive or take a rail to even the state captial Juneau. So there are several hundred communities of various sizes that rely souly on air travel to even a town 20miles away. In the case of Anchorage pop275,000, in modern times anything short of a 737 isnt realistic.

__________________
Abstinence Education at its finest:

If the French can go under the channel and the swiss under the Alps (153.5km of tunnel!) the Americans can go over/under the Rockies. The Chinese even made a railroad through Tibet (that's a challenge in a whole different league than what is possible in Europe or the USA). And lets not forget Japan, they don't have it easy geographically either. I already bought the Japanese tourist train card for this summer.


(its not even a railroad bridge i just like the picture. I've seen it before, during and after the construction.)

Well the FAA would certainly have a hand in this as well.

Now in terms of missed maintence, These are wiring inspections, and it is not unheard of for entire types of airplanes to be grounded world wide because one plane out of potentially thousands of examples had an issue. This recently happened with the F-15 for structural inspections.

Either way, there has not been a crash, any loss of life or injuries as a result. What you had is someone attempting to prioritize between the higher fuel prices and maintenance issues with a solid grasp on not declining the corporate board expense account.

__________________
Abstinence Education at its finest:

Yeah I don't seriously expect Alaska to get serviced by train. Perhaps if Russia had still owned Alaska they would have tried something.

Ahh good one. We actually have a single train system. It runs from Seward on the pacific coast and runs through Anchorage and up to Fairbanks. I took the train to Talkeenta once. From what I am told, the Alaska RailRoad is quite popular with train enthusiasts because of the beyond words amazing scenery and the party atmosphere that is prevalent on the passenger trains.

__________________
Abstinence Education at its finest: