Answer from a friend from Tom Soja
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Dear Jean
You were greatly missed during this year’s PTC. I think you would have been amused by our industry round table discussion this year Of course there was the usual moaning and groaning about how the industry has gone all to hell. I guess that was unavoidable. Most of the obvious things were touched upon – just as you did in your November 2001 correspondence from Paris. Lots of blame was laid upon overly competitive suppliers, overly eager investors, inexperienced management, bullishly optimistic analysts (imagine!), etc., etc. Oddly enough, the most sanguine outlook was expressed by one who might be viewed as an old-line incumbent carrier within the industry. That voice pretty much longed for the good old days of “nice orderly markets.” In other words, safe and controlled industry environment – and the audience nearly fell for it. A long-time industry senior manager later confided, “I was livid” at the attitudes expressed throughout the room. “I thought they were going to bolt the doors and pass out the cigars and scotch as the industry