For an aviation enthusiast like me, the new blog at Enplaned is essential reading. For a good example of the anonymous author’s work, check out today’s obituary for Independence Air, which has announced that it’s ceasing operations this Thursday. Twisting the knife:
In the event, Independence Air described a bone-headed catastrophic year-and-a-half arc through the airline business. This is, without question, one of the epic flameouts in the airline business. Nothing excuses taking this extraordinary risk, though Independence Air management has tried to pin the tail on fuel prices. At the end of the first quarter of 2004, ACA had over $350mm in cash. All gone now. The Independence Air press release manfully attempts to find some good in what’s happened, but to balance the enormity of the disaster, Independence Air would have had to have incidentally found a cure for cancer.
Elsewhere in the same blog there’s an intriguing look at the U.S.Airways/America West merger, and the enduring legacy of the three airlines (PSA, Allegheny, and Piedmont) that were brought together to create U.S.Air back in 1987. As someone who’s involved in merger and acquisition work at Sun, I suspect that there may be some lessons here.