TECH TALK
airline industry has returned 96% of their free cash flow to shareholders over the last five years, yet retained very little in reserve. As reported by many other sources, American, Delta, Southwest, and United have collectively spent nearly $45 billion in share buybacks over the past five years to keep shareholders happy, but now are unable to weather the storm. How is it that Google, Apple, and Microsoft retain some earnings and can ride out this crisis, while airlines cannot survive for more than a few weeks? I do realize that comparing technology companies to airlines is not an accurate comparison, or even entirely fair. Still, the fact of the matter is that nearly every airline does not bother retaining much of a financial reserve
and depends upon taxpayers as a fallback option. Is this capitalism? Or something else altogether? While the depth of this crisis would surely exhaust any financial reserves an airline would have, how does society expect individuals to have savings to tide them over a job loss but not companies? If taxpayers are relied upon to take financial risk for failed companies, then such risk should be compensated accordingly, and taxpayers should share in the economic recovery of these companies (airlines and OEMs). Governments around the world need to reassess how airlines are regulated, and perhaps demand that they build up cash in the good times for the next rainy day.
AIRPORTS COVID 19, and SARS before it, have forced many airports to increase their cleaning regimens and their passenger handling processes. This is already being done, so let’s concentrate on new ideas that airports will need. Since most of these are government-
owned, they serve as a gateway for travelers to a city or country. Over the past few decades, we have seen many airports upgrade themselves to become malls and entertainment hubs practically. Great start. While much as been written about
how the lack of revenues, which are nearly bankrupting airlines, airports share similar problems. While these may not be stand-alone entities, many governments depend upon their income from passengers, airlines/
24
DOMmagazine.com | apr 2020
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
