It came as no surprise…that the decision maker(s) at First Nation…would make the worst possible call for dealing with low passenger patronage. Shutting the airline down (ceasing operations) – even as a temporary move – is fiscally destructive, detrimental to the airworthiness of the aircraft – and sends a ‘terminal’ message to potential customers.
Keep the airplanes in the air – at all costs! Obviously, operating jet airplanes at a monetary loss is NOT the way to stay in business – for very long; however, reducing the tickets prices – during the deficiency period – is the best possible way to induce people to buy tickets and keep the load factor up. All airlines have marketing budgets (or should have)…and using some of that marketing budget to keep passengers buying tickets – to keep the company MOVING and to avoid a ‘shutdown’ is infinitely better than ‘joining’ the other African carriers in parking their airplanes and being lazy.
Africa is one of the few places on earth…where capitalism is interpreted this way: “We’re not making ENOUGH money…so let’s cease operations – ‘until the market comes back’ – so we will LOSE 100% of all the money we could have generated during this slow period”. This is insanity !! This is NOT the way to manage an airline !!