. >> gordon bethune used to say, you are only as smart as your dumbest competitors. >> i would maintain there are no dumb competitors. american has a whole new management. richard anderson at delta. right now today we don't have any fruitcakes out there starting airlines that would have any affect on anybody so it is a stable industry. >> we've also talked about higher oil prices, risen to their highest level in months because of the turmoil in iraq. i wonder if that originally has an impact on the airlines and in turn the customers who are trying to board those planes? >> it certainly is going to jack things up. there is no airplane flying today when anyone thought oil to be at $50 a barrel, let alone $100. it is a different system. so as oil prices go up the transportation system has to adjust for that. that means there will be less flying to some smaller communities, mid-sized communities and the air transportation system will have less reach. it is just raw economics. >> michael, thank you so much. >>> up next, we are "on the money." going to school means going global. we'll talk to

i think gordon bethune proved that in the old continental days.ember, you've got to get the employees firmly behind you, everybody moving in the same direction, no matter the company is. you need your customers behind you. >> how do you rally the troops? these airlines, poor men and women who work for the airlines, they have been beaten up for years. right? i mean merger eve merger, layoffs, more real is down, angry passengers screaming about every little thing. nobody wants to pay more than $300 to fly across the united states, by the way. so you have all the amenities are cut out, and then people scream they don't have amenities, but won't pay more than $300 to fly round trip from new york to los angeles. >> i can go on jetblue from san diego to jfk, and see a crew working hard and seemingly fairly happy. in other words, i feel like everyone is working in the same direction. remember when there were questions about where was alan mullally, and jeff sonnen feld chimed in, i chimed in say, gee, imagine a guy like that as a place like that. it woul

let's bring in gordon bethune into the conversation. a cnbc contributor. morning to you, gordon. your outlook -- >> nice to be here. >> nice to see you. your outlook for the rest of the year and specifically where you think fuel prices land and how that's going to impact the bottom line. >> well, i think phil's concerns are valid. obviously, you price the fuel, and there's always a lag, so they'll catch up, but fuel will be a continuing pressure on the cost side of the business. but that will get price for in the end. i think there's modest growth in everybody's portfolio. so i don't see anyone doing anything stupid, that will really cause revenue to fall. >> well, your former company, now part of the united, how do you look at them right now? on a relative basis, in terms of comparing them in terms of market performance, they have not -- they're not necessarily in the same league with delta, let's put it that way. >> well, they've had a tougher time of it. of course, they didn't -- delta was an acquisition. this was a merger and you have all the political