Attention Gerard Arpey, Glenn Tilton, and all other airline CEOs and/or Chairman and their respective boards of directors to whom this might apply.

Please make note of what management at Continental Airlines did today — as they announced plane groundings and employee cutbacks.

The airline also announced that CEO Larry Kellner and President Jeff Smisek will “decline their salaries for the remainder of the year and have declined any payment under the annual incentive program for 2008.”

Why is it that the management team at Continental Airlines does the right thing — consistently — in terms of their employees, while other management teams in this industry simply act as though they could care less?



Because the folks in Houston are great managers.

They understand people and what motivates them to come to work every day. And they understand that if those employees don’t have respect for the people they work for — if they don’t feel valued for their contributions to the company — that they won’t have a reason to come to work every day and do their best.

And those other guys….well…you fill in the blanks for yourself.

A special note of praise to Larry and Jeff this morning. It’s a shame we don’t have more guys like you in this industry.

You didn’t have to do what you did, but it says a lot that you did it anyway. 

Ticker: (NYSE:CAL)