Final Word from Friday, September 3, 2010
The curious thing about ČSA's strategy of becoming a bridge between the East and West, instead of a full European carrier, is whom it plans to serve. With its flights to the U.S. already discontinued and its U.K. flights to suffer the same fate on Nov. 1, ČSA is beginning to look to some regular fliers like a "bridge to nowhere." Sure, it can rely on its SkyTeam partners to funnel passengers through Prague, but voluntarily giving up key feeder markets seems to increase the likelihood that some other city will become the coveted East-West arch. Board members of the International Business Forum complained in a letter to ČSA's CEO that canceling the U.K. flights is shortsighted and could, in time, be the end of the airline. Others suspect that the objective is to gift-wrap the airline for delivery to Aeroflot. Perhaps, though, ČSA's loyal customers simply haven't understood the management's brilliant strategy.[Czech Republic United Kingdom England United States of American New York Atlanta Miroslav Dvořák]
Glossary of difficult words
to funnel - to guide or channel something through or as if through a funnel;
carrier - airline;
feeder - a branch line of a transport system, such as of an airline or railroad;
arch - a structure forming the curved, pointed or flat upper edge of an open space and supporting the weight above it, as in a bridge or doorway;
ČSA's CEO/President - Miroslav Dvořák;
shortsighted - lacking foresight;
to gift-wrap something - to wrap something intended as a gift in a decorative manner; to hand over something as if a gift.