PlaneBuzz

Here's the official Delta shot that was issued today of the new livery.

Posted by Holly at 9:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For a video of the festivities today that marked the airline's exit from the bankruptcy bunker, click here.

Oh, and the big super secret new Delta livery? You saw it here on PlaneBuzz -- almost a month ago.

I have to admit, watching Delta CEO Jerry Grinstein jumping around to the sounds of U2 onstage in front of hundreds of screaming Delta employees was a bit disturbing.  It brought back unpleasant memories of Independence Air's rollout and CEO Kerry Skeen's appearance on stage. Although one of our readers who was at that infamous Indy AIr roll out tells me that event was much closer to a 'religious experience.'

For you airline stock fans, shares of the reinvigorated Delta shares are scheduled to begin trading again on the NYSE on Thursday.

Posted by Holly at 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted. Yeah!

FYI. We are still making typo corrections on this week's massive issue, but we want to make sure you folks on the East Coast can print and get out of the office on time.

Subscribers can access this week's issue by clicking here.

Posted by Holly at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have to put up with a 45-point show by Kobe last night?

That's what I get for not staying up to the wee hours to watch.

<sigh>

We're in the final stages of PBB construction, revision, and polish. Be back soon!

Posted by Holly at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Only one problem with that cartoon. The trend line is going in the wrong direction.

Against the backdrop of obscene management compensation payouts, the employees of United are, I think, more than justified in not being very happy with the rather mediocre financial performance the airline has posted since its exit from bankruptcy.

Today the United ALPA MEC decided to send a message to the Glenn and Jake show.

I doubt this will cause any radical changes to occur at the airline.

However -- as we talked about in PBB last week -- with the airline facing pilot shortages this summer, and with the recent proposed TA between management and the pilots' union now toast -- this does not bode well for the airline's summer flying schedule.

Text of the resolution:

"Whereas, United Airlines continues to financially under perform in relation to its competitors, specifically American Airlines, which has not been through a bankruptcy while continuing to fund its employees pensions, and

"Whereas, United Airlines is the only major US airline which has not announced orders for new aircraft, and

"Whereas, the day-to-day operation of the airline continues to suffer due to poor planning and inadequate staffing,

"Therefore be it resolved that the UAL- MEC has no confidence in the senior management of the corporation, and

"Be it further resolved that the Master Chairman will communicate this to the CEO and Board of Directors at
the earliest opportunity."

Posted by Holly at 9:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay all you hungry readers. This week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is going to be posted tomorrow. It's massive. Trust me. You'll have lots to read.

We could get it posted later tonight, but it's so long, I'd rather have a set of fresh eyes go over it in the morning before we post it for the masses.

Talk to you then. In the meantime -- the Lakers and the Suns are on with Sir Charles at 9:30 CT if you need something to do. TNT in high definition no less. Woo hoo.

Nah. Not me. I'm still digesting earnings per share numbers. I need some time with my eyes closed.

Talk to you manana.

Posted by Holly at 8:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm going to scream.

Not really.

Most of the screaming came yesterday when I saw how badly United Airlines did in the first quarter.

Yes, this poor performance comes from the same management team we awarded our special "Greed" Award to last year.

Actually, the award was technically  the "First Ever Glenn Tilton Self-Enrichment Award."

You would think the least this blatantly overpaid bunch could do would be run a fairly efficient airline.

But no. That would mean they had actually done something while the airline was in bankruptcy. (Besides wipe out employees pensions and award themselves handsome "Get out of Bankruptcy Rich" cards that is.)

Oh, and for those of you trying to figure out the airline's press release announcing the earnings? Good luck. We'll take our best crack at it in this week's PlaneBusiness Banter.

Ticker: (UAUA:Nasdaq)

Posted by Holly at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just got a note from one of our subscribers who caught the interview on CNBC with Doug Parker this morning on the airline's earnings release today.

But as our eagle-eyed Mr. Colella reports, "The lead-in was just awful.  Something along the lines of "This is Doug Parker's first interview on CNBC since his DUI conviction." You won't see that on the video.

P.S. US Airways announced pretty darn good numbers this morning.

Posted by Holly at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dirk regained his composure last night and Dallas finally figured out how to beat the Warriors. Meanwhile San Antonio clamped down on the Carmello Anthony/Allen Iverson Traveling Road Show.

Texas NBA fans can breathe a bit easier today.

And what's up with Mav's owner Mark Cuban? He needs to a) get a hair cut and b) get rid of that motley looking attempt at facial hair.

Posted by Holly at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And I quote,

"Our strategy is to 'decomplexify' airline operations in ways that keep costs down while making flying as simple and convenient as possible for passengers."

Bill Diffenderffer, Skybus CEO.

I still want to see them try and tell people they can't take food onboard the aircraft. I wouldn't want to be that boarding agent. It's a wonder one of their rules is not to confiscate iPods and DVD players from passengers, making them PAY for entertainment options. But then, they would have to put entertainment options on the airplane for passengers to purchase.

Just wait. This could be the next move.

Posted by Holly at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sorry for being so absent this week folks. It's earnings overload. I've got full write-ups of six airlines in this week's issue, along with summaries of two others.

But right now, I'm taking a break, having just sent a raft of pages to our web editor. (Now he can start to have fun as he begins to format!)

Yep. It's time for some NBA playoff watching.

I love this time of year.

Although the Dallas Mavericks had best get their act together tonight if they hope to meet Phoenix in the Western Conference Finals. They looked pretty poor the other day against the Warriors.  Looks like they've come out of the box a bit stronger so far tonight. But they still don't look like they're running on all cylinders. Dirk looks just as bad as he did the other night.

We'll see how the night goes. (Actually I won't. I'll be long gone before this one is over.)

Fie on late games.

For those of you who are not NBA fans,  there's all this great backstory between Dallas and Golden State. (Don Nelson, the coach of Golden State used to be the coach at Dallas. Let's just say he and current Dallas owner Mark Cuban have had their, er, differences.) In addition, Dallas did not beat Golden State once during the year. Not once.

Go Suns. (Yes, I'm a Steve Nash fan. A Big Steve Nash Fan.)

Boo Kobe. Go Steve.

Posted by Holly at 8:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Times Online in London is reporting US Airways is going to ditch a $3.7 billion Airbus order in favor of a competitive deal with Boeing.

And I quote, "The Times understands that US Airways will announce an order for between 20 and 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliners within the next 48 hours. The deal will be worth between $3.2 billion and $4.9 billion at list prices."

Makes sense to me. US Airways needs to replace aging aircraft sooner than later -- and the A350WXB is still kind of a "work in progress" with no definite roll-out date, and, as Steve Hazy, head of uber-leasing company ILFC said in Phoenix at the recent ISTAT Conference, the airplane itself is still a work in progress.

This news comes after Boeing scored two nice additional orders for the aircraft this week -- one from Virgin Atlantic, the other from Air Canada.

Virgin Atlantic said it will buy 15 787-9 jets valued at about $2.8 billion at list prices. Deliveries are to begin in 2011.

Virgin Atlantic's order also included options on eight additional 787-9s and purchase rights on a further 20 planes. Virgin Atlantic said the total deal could be worth up to $8 billion.

Meanwhile, Air Canada said Tuesday that it had exercised options and purchase rights for an additional 23 787s, bringing its total orders for the aircraft to 37 from 14. The order for the 23 planes is worth about $3.5 billion at list prices.

Posted by Holly at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mesaba Airlines left bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, not as a regional airline with a contract to fly with Northwest, but as a wholly owned subsidiary of the still-bankrupt airline.

Under terms of the Northwest acquisition plan, Mesaba creditors will receive a $145 million unsecured claim in Northwest's reorganization. Northwest also agreed in January to sell its Mesaba stock holdings back to Mesaba.

Biggest change on the horizon? Mesaba is scheduled to start taking delivery of 36 brand-spanking new 76-seaters from Embraer between now and the end of 2008.

Posted by Holly at 9:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A reader just dropped me a note and let me know that I had both a mention of Seattle/Vancouver Washington, and Seattle/Vancouver BC in my last post.

I've obviously been making that sales tax run between Portland and Vancouver Washington way too often.

Not really. That's just what my pilot friends tell me who live in Vancouver. (Oregon has no sales tax, while Washington State has no state income tax -- makes for some interesting activity back and forth.)

Sorry for the confusion. Obviously Skybus is going to be flying to Bellingham, which is right up there on the Canadian border. I know that. I was actually there last year. So there!

Also, as he noted, "Also, just what kind of pitch is there to put 156 seats on a 319?? And if they were trying to be a really LCC, wouldn't it have made sense to leave off one row and only have 150 seats (3 FA's rather than 4)??"

I don't know, but I think I'd rather not fly one if that is going to be the seat pitch.

"Space, the final frontier," as Captain Kirk used to say.

Posted by Holly at 4:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ahh, can you feel the excitement in the air? Really?

We now have more details on the new Skybus (ad)venture, based out of Columbus, Ohio.

We now know where the new airline, which includes a number of ex-Southwest folks, and a bit of influence, is going to fly.

Frankly, I kind of like some of the airline's off-beat selections of airports, especially using Portsmouth for Boston flights and Bellingham for both Seattle and Vancouver Washington BC traffic.

Yes, you can see the influence of the Ryanair mode of city selection at work here.

The airline announced that it will begin service May 22, with 10 seats on each flight priced at $10 a piece (not including taxes and fees) between Columbus and the following city areas: Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay

and Seattle/Vancouver areas, and to Ft. Lauderdale, Richmond, Kansas City and Greensboro/Winston-Salem, NC.

-- Los Angeles will be served through Burbank's Bob Hope Airport
-- Boston, through Portsmouth International Airport in Portsmouth, NH
-- Kansas City

Richmond service begins on May 23.

On May 29, Skybus will add service to:

-- Seattle, WA and Vancouver, British Columbia, through Bellingham International Airport in Bellingham, WA
-- Ft. Lauderdale
-- Greensboro/Winston-Salem, NC

On June 12, Skybus will begin service to San Francisco, Oakland and the Bay Area, through Oakland International Airport, and add a second daily nonstop flight to Los Angeles/Burbank.

Go check out their website. It's up and running. Don't forget the Skybus "rules" page. It's interesting reading.

Among the items of interest for passengers, the airline advises, "Hungry, thirsty? Bring Cash. " Not only do they tell you that everything is for sale on the plane, including pillows, they also say, "Oh, and don’t sneak food onboard unless you brought enough for the whole plane." Are they serious? They aren't going to allow anyone to bring food onboard?

"Don't buy a book." Okay, no entertainment. No problem. That's what DVD players and iPods are for anyway.

"Don't call us." Interesting. The airline says it has no phone number. So what happens in bad weather?

Oh, and tickets are non-refundable. Furthermore, if you have to change a ticket, it's $40.

Here we go. Should be interesting to watch, that's for sure.

Posted by Holly at 1:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week in PlaneBusiness Banter I discussed the issue of pilot shortages, and how both regional and major airlines are feeling the pinch.

Because the outcome of the vote on a tentative agreement between the pilots and United was not known last night, I didn't throw this part of the puzzle into the mix.

However, today, ALPA announced that the proposal had gone down to defeat. Handily. The vote against the proposed agreement was by a margin of more than 2-1.

The significance of this deal? First and foremost, It was supposed to help the airline with potential pilot shortages this summer.

According to Paul Merrion at Crains Chicago Business, the agreement would have given United more scheduling flexibility and allowed senior pilots to fly more hours per month. In exchange, pilots would have won a higher minimum number of guaranteed hours of flying time each month and elimination of a lower pay structure and other cost-saving provisions for junior pilots who fly for United’s low-fare Ted subsidiary.

It's going to be an interesting summer.

Ticker: (Nasdaq:UAUA)

Posted by Holly at 2:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Given that we've had three airlines report earnings this week, what's our quick and dirty summary of the results?

Both Continental Airlines and American were able to offset continued sluggish activity domestically with revenues from their international operations. Southwest took a harder hit, because of its lack of international exposure. Remember too, however, that Continental also continues to add capacity, while American continues to shrink.

Southwest, of course, continues to add capacity faster than both of them.

Going forward, if we are to believe what the airlines execs implied and/or actually said in their calls this week, I'd say the folks at Continental were the most cautiously bullish, while there was some Texas Two-Step as to the nature of future guidance on the American call. After all is said and done, the airline is seeing slowing in demand, although CFO Tom Horton turned it around and said no, it was an issue of too much capacity.

The old chicken and the egg syndrome.

As for Southwest, as I wrote in PBB this week, I am glad to see the airline finally admitting that it is going through a "transformation." Admission is the first sign of recovery.

As I've written before, I think CEO Gary Kelly has the most difficult job of any airline CEO out there right now -- and it isn't going to get any easier. As the airline's advantageous fuel hedges go away and costs at the airline continue to increase -- revenues would seem to be the place where the airline has to look towards for the answer. But how much can the airline raise its fares before the branding of "low fare airline" really starts to disappear?

Overall, no big surprises in the numbers reported this week -- although I still think forward earnings forecasts for the industry are way out of whack. As we've been saying since last fall, we did not think 2007 was going to be the stellar year for the industry that many had been calling for, and the numbers we saw this week, and more importantly the forward guidance we heard, merely confirms this.

Most amusing incident on the three calls this week? An obviously planted question and response on the American Airlines call. I mean, if you're going to plant questions and if the airline CEO is going to answer them, it needs to be a little less obvious than the back and forth we got to listen to between former American analyst, and current Calyon Securities analyst Ray Neidl and CEO Gerard Arpey.

Why do I think it was scripted?

First, Gerard hardly said a word during the entire call. Tom Horton basically ran the call. But he responded to Ray's questions -- particularly his second one about labor. And what a carefully constructed question it was. Then again, Gerard's response was so well scripted it stood out like a flashing neon sign.

Neidl: Okay, great. The second [question] on a different topic is the labor situation. I know the contracts don't come up for another year or couple of years in the case of some labor unions there seems to be a lot of concern on the part of many of the employees, now that [inaudible] starting to make money again, that they want their so-called fair share. How are you communicating with the
employees to demonstrate to them that one or two quarters of of profitability does not solve all your problems?


Arpey: Well, Ray, I guess you're communicating it best right now. I think that's obvious given the years and years of losses that the company incurred that we've got a lot of work to do to recover from the $8 billion that we lost between '01 and '05. So we have
had a very open dialogue with organized labor for many years now. And partnership to work together to make our company
stronger and we're just going to stay the course with that and do our best to continue to work together, to strengthen the
Company and we will go through the Section 6 process with all of our unions and same spirit that it's gotten to us this point t
spirit of collaboration and cooperation and try to get the best outcome for everyone, recognizing that there's a lot of stakeholders
at this company. So we'll do the very best we can.

All I have to say is "Rah, Rah Team!"

I'm off to find the Midwest Airlines mascot.

Ticker: (NYSE: LUV); (NYSE:AMR), (NYSE:CAL)

Posted by Holly at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Play nice.

We're off for the night.

FYI, we've already had one reader write,

"For all I know, Ron Reber is the best regional airline executive there is – which still leaves him substantially ill-equipped to be the Virgin CEO.

Running a regional is all about operations – you learn nothing about marketing, strategy, etc, because it’s all done by the major airline.

If it’s true, it’s even worse than hiring Fred Reid. Fred at least knew something about running a real airline, if from the largely-irrelevant standpoint of a legacy major. Reber would be great at the operations side, but with no experience on all the other relevant fronts…"

As I said --it's the rumor du jour. If I had faith in it, I would have said so. Just wondered if anyone else could confirm.

On that note -- have a good night!

Posted by Holly at 12:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not sure if this one has legs or not, but a couple of folks have written to us tonight to let us know that word on the street is that Ron Reber, President and COO of SkyWest is headed over to Virgin America to replace Fred Reid.

Anyone have any more information?

Ticker: (Nasdaq: SKYW)

Posted by Holly at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted. Subscribers can access the issue here.

Posted by Holly at 11:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There's a lot of strange stuff on MySpace. Personally, I try to avoid it (though I do have a Facebook page), but this caught my eye today.

myspace.com/chip_cookie1 -- the MySpace page for the Midwest Airlines mascot, Chip the Cookie.

Oh my.

Included in Chip's interests are... "I enjoy traveling, baking, taking pictures with fans, charades, Sudoku puzzles, exploring post-mascot opportunities, and attending just about any event in my hometowns of Milwaukee and Kansas City."

Chip also has quite a few MySpace friends, including "Cookie Monster," who unsurprisingly wants to eat Chip. There's probably an inappropriate joke in there somewhere... Ahem.

Posted by Jonathan at 7:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Don't ask me where that came from. I guess I was thinking of the stupid skit on "Thank God You're Here" the other night.

Anyway, look for this week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter to be posted later this evening, as normal.

I'll let you know when it is posted.

Posted by Holly at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Finally, before we shut it down for the night -- employees at Northwest are not particularly happy either.

Employees at the airline will stage a protest tomorrow in Detroit.

"Our 40% pay cuts are being converted into increased compensation for NWA executives," said Capt. Dave Stevens, chairman of the Northwest Airlines unit of the Air Line Pilots Association. "It is unconscionable to use employees' pay cuts to provide huge bonuses to the same executive team that led our company into bankruptcy."

"Northwest's senior executives will not only recoup all the concessions they made since 2001, but will be provided far more in bonuses than any other employee group," Capt. Stevens said.

Executives at the airline stand to make $400 million when the airline exits bankruptcy.

It's unfortunate that we've gotten to the point where we already know how this script reads.

Posted by Holly at 9:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In case some of you think that employees at American are the only unhappy campers in the airline industry, pshaw.

As we have written in PlaneBusiness Banter, while the situation at American is one thing -- the compensation totals paid out to the management at United Airlines following that airline's bankruptcy exit are off the charts.

Today, the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) Local 9 Executive Council (LEC) voted unanimously to withhold support from the United Airlines board of directors on shares that Local 9 owns. Unfortunately, the local only owns 100 shares of United Airlines. But what do they say, it's the thought that counts?

AMFA joins the Air Line Pilots Association and the Association Of Flight Attendants, in strongly urging any of its members that hold UAL stock to “vote to withhold” in the Board of Directors election.

Last week, ALPA and the AFA urged their members who hold stock in parent UAL Corp. to oppose the company's nominees for the board of directors.

The AFA and ALPA said they are taking a stand against the election of the 10 nominees for independent directors. Those directors include CEO Glenn Tilton.

United Airline's annual meeting is scheduled for May 10.

Ticker: (Nasdaq:UAUA)

Posted by Holly at 9:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

More photos from today's march from the APA headquarters to American corporate headquarters in DFW. Thanks to PBB reader James Nichols for sending these along.

Ticker: (NYSE:AMR)

Posted by Holly at 6:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not all the participants in today's march on American Airlines' management fly airplanes for a living. But they sure are handsome PUPs.

Posted by Holly at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today Allegiant Airlines announced new service between Rochester Minnesota and Las Vegas.

Not to be outdone, AirTran announced new service between Rochester New York to Las Vegas.

Strange but true.

Posted by Holly at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

For the first time since 2000, AMR, parent of American Airlines, posted a first quarter profit today.

The airline reported a net profit of $81 million, or $0.30, in the first quarter, compared with a loss of $92 million, or $0.49, in the same quarter of 2006. Analysts had expected AMR to earn $0.31a share.

However, much of the airline's improved financial strength came as the result of increasing revenues from International operations -- not U.S. domestic routes.

Revenue per available seat mile was up 19% on the airline's Pacific routes, compared with a 10.3% gain on Latin American routes and a 9.7% increase on Atlantic flights. But domestically, RASM increased only 1% over last year.

Meanwhile CASM increased 0.9% to 10.91 cents/mile. This was 1.6 percentage points higher than forecast. The airline blamed bad weather for the increased costs -- saying that the airline was force to cancel 2.9% of its first quarter flights.

American expects CASM to increase 2.1% from a year earlier. Excluding fuel, expenses are estimated to increase 1.1%.

Jamie Baker, analyst with JP Morgan said in a note this morning that the airline's future guidance is "discouraging." He said that the airline's revised cost forecasts "call into question the achievability of its full-year plans."

Tomorrow? Both Continental and Southwest Airlines report first quarter numbers.

Posted by Holly at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shifting gears 180 degrees here, just a plug for the movie, United Flight 93. It's an excellent treatment of the subject matter --none of this "made for TV smaltz" garbage -- although, admittedly, it is not an easy movie to watch. I think I sat in my seat for about 10 minutes before I could move when I saw it in the theater last year.

Paul Greengrass, who directed the movie, was nominated for an Academy Award for his work.

If you missed it in theaters, it began a run on HBO this week.

It's on tonight on HBO East at 7:00 CDT, 8:00 EDT.

Posted by Holly at 5:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the midst of everything else that is going on this week at American, frankly, the issue of a ill-conceived lavender colored website "geared towards women travelers" was way down in the middle of the list of issues with American Airlines. It was so not-an-issue that I barely gave it lip service in this week's PlaneBusiness Banter. To me, it was simply something thrown out there last week in an effort to distract people from what else is going on with the airline.

But thanks to Joe Sharkey with the New York Times, who took up the cause.

In his column dated today, Sharkey writes:

"JULIE PFEFFER, who has traveled on business to more than 55 countries, was among many female business travelers not impressed with the announcement by American Airlines last week that it had started a Web site just for its female travelers, www.AA.com/women.

“There are so many things that are infuriating about this lip-service nonsense that I can’t begin to list them all,” said Ms. Pfeffer, an executive with the emerging markets division of Artisan Partners, an investment management company.

“But I have to ask this: Why does AA feel that female travelers need things explained to them that male travelers don’t? Are we that dumb? That inexperienced in the ways of air travel?” she said.

It seems the airline’s long-planned foray into niche Web marketing for the growing number of female travelers, and especially female business travelers, has “hit a nerve,” as Ms. Pfeffer said.

She was especially disdainful of what she called “stereotyped and occasional downright insulting content” on the Web site, which offers travel advice from a panel of experienced businesswomen, as well as various on-the-road tips and a forum for women to share experiences and compare notes.

Ms. Pfeffer wasn’t buying the airline’s contention that this constitutes vital information. “We most certainly do not need 1950s-era advice, such as ‘Always bring a little black dress to wear with these heels’ — from the ‘Tips From Our Road Warriors’ section — good grief!” she said.

I thought American had a good idea there, mostly because I have always been impressed with the proclivity of female business travelers to network and closely compare notes, in contrast to males. It is an article of faith in the hotel industry that women’s tastes and networking drive decisions on room design, bedding, lighting, even lobby layout.

Airlines, obviously, are not hotels. Airlines have made powerful enemies over the years among both sexes, and a lavender-hued Web site (the color has since been changed) isn’t going to win over a lot of new tough customers, it seems.

Pamela Johnston, the president of the New York public relations company PJ Inc., employs seven female associates, and they all routinely travel first class on company business. No one at her company was exactly overwhelmed by the site.

“There is material out there that already serves women travelers better,” she said. “I don’t see what they brought to the table that was new. It was like, ‘Hi, we have some content that we posted.’ ”

Many of the women who wrote to me about last week’s column noted that they were already networking, on forums and threads devoted to female travelers, like those on the popular Web site Flyertalk.com, and didn’t need what one reader called a “condescending marketing ploy.”

American has sought to tap into the female market with innovations like lie-flat business-class seats on its long-haul flights. The seats have a handy place to stow a purse and privacy screens to make women more comfortable when sleeping.

American posted a statement on Flyertalk.com saying that content on its site “will evolve based on valuable feedback from our customers.” The statement said, “We felt this was an important step in furthering our relationship with our women travelers and demonstrating our continued commitment to the women’s market.”

It added that the airline understood that women, no more or less than men, “want a competitive fare, flight frequency, a large route network, and robust frequent flyer program.”

On Flyertalk.com, some of the reaction was harsh. “I was truly gratified to realize that AA flyers of both genders had the same disgusted reaction that I did to this nonsense,” one post read, suggesting that rather than resorting to “this patronizing silliness,” American should “start paying someone to clean your bathrooms instead of designing dumbed-down lavender Web sites.”

Said another: “As a female frequent traveler for both business and leisure, I’m quite indignant that AA thinks this kind of silly fluff is going to appeal to me. I want a clean plane, a comfortable seat, and good service at a fair price (not cheap, just reasonable). That’s what my husband wants. That’s what my colleagues of both genders want.”

“Instead,” she said, “they offer us dirty planes, wretched seats, and increasingly awful service — sometimes at reasonable prices, sometimes not — and wholly silly programs like this one.”

Added another, “If they’re serious about wanting to do something to make women more likely to fly with them, they should start by cleaning the planes, getting their employees to treat us better, and have someone who understands the human spine (not a good design itself, admittedly) design their seats.”

Some things simply don’t fly the first time up. American says it’s working on this one."

Posted by Holly at 3:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is interesting, and something we haven't seen too much of in the industry of late. Over the last couple of years, it seems we've seen more of a "fight your own battle" attitude with many union groups -- for the exception of Mesaba, where all three major union groups shared resources and information in their negotiations with management.

Today the TWU, which represents the flight attendants at Southwest Airlines, issued a release that is basically a call to arms to support their fellow flight attendants at American Airlines in their protests against AMR management. The flight attendants at AMR are represented by an independent union, APFA.

"The Southwest union plans to blanket American's executives with protest emails, it will encourage its members to sign an online petition opposing corporate greed and it will ask Southwest flight attendants to walk on informational picket lines organized by the American Airlines flight attendants' union, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA).

"Our members are stunned and angered by the size of the stock give-aways to American's executives," said TWU Local 556 President Thom McDaniel. "Southwest Airlines has remained profitable throughout the very worst times in the airline industry through shared sacrifice and commitment from management and labor. The result has been growth for the airline and job security for all employees. Our executives are paid fairly and employees share in the profits of the company.

The union is asking its members to sign an online petition (the petition can be found at http://go.care2.com/9425295) and send protest emails to the top executives at American. Southwest flight attendants also are being asked to send a note to their Congressional representative urging them to support HR 1257, a bill that would provide shareholders with an advisory vote on executive compensation. The bill, sponsored by Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank is scheduled to be debated on the floor of the House of Representatives this week.

Members of TWU Local 556 will also join airport demonstrations in cities such as St. Louis, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Phoenix in support of picketing members of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA)."

Ticker: (LUV:NYSE), (AMR:NYSE)

Posted by Holly at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, enough of the medical drama we've been going through here of late at the Worldwide Headquarters. Today PlaneMom's on demerol, and the world is just hunky-dory.

Isn't she lucky?

Lots going on out there in Airlineland today. We've received a number of interesting emails today from a number of American Airline employees. It certainly appears that not only are the flight attendants holding additional protests today nationally, and the pilots are scheduled to hold their big protest at Centerport tomorrow, but there are also a number of other concerted efforts afoot. More individualized, if you will.

Thanks to the folks at PUPoff. com, who sent me an official PUPoff lanyard. While I don't have a company badge to wear it with, I'm sure I can find something to do with it. I guess I'll just have to make up my own official PlaneBusiness badge.

If you haven't been over to the PUPoff site, you need to go just for this graphic.

I have to admit, the "in your face" tone of the note makes me laugh. And it makes me wonder just what the guys over on the sixth floor are thinking today.

But here's the funny part. Below that, there is a caption that reads, "Weather Session: February 15, 2007"

Because of course, that photo is only referring to the pilots at the airline parking jets in bad weather.

Dunno. Sometimes I wonder how it is even possible to fully explain the subtle niceties that make the airline industry so unique to those who work in more mundane industries.

It's a never-ending challenge.

Posted by Holly at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay all you hungry PBB subscribers. The current issue is now posted here. Happy reading.

Thanks again for your patience as we worked through this most recent health issue with PlaneMom. It's appreciated.

Posted by Holly at 6:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey folks. We're in final edits. Look for the current issue of PBB to be posted in the next couple of hours. I'll let you know when the issue is ready for subscriber perusal.

Posted by Holly at 4:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In case you're looking for something to pique your interest this week, just a heads up. American Airlines reports its first quarter earnings on Wednesday, while Continental and Southwest will follow suit on Thursday.

American's news will be accompanied by the Aliied Pilots Association's Employee March on Management. Not doing anything on Wednesday? Go join in the protest that starts at APA headquarters, before making its way to Centerport. You'll at least get some free barbecue.

Also -- look for more proxy fillings from airlines to be filed this week. Translation? We'll get to read more management compensation details.

Posted by Holly at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, so I'm sure you all read the article today talking about how the board of directors at Delta is going to select the new CEO at Delta.

First, I doubt that former CEO and board member Gerry Grinstein isn't going to have a fair amount of say-so in the decision. Even though I think he would like to give the impression that he is "riding off into the sunset."

As a result, as I see it, it is going to be one of two people. One if the airline stays in-house it will be Jim Whitehurst.

However, if the board decides it wants to go outside the current brain trust at the airline -- I'd have to put my money on Richard Anderson. The former CEO of Northwest Airlines is on the new board of directors at Delta, and I think he has to be considered the external frontrunner for the job.

Posted by Holly at 5:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay folks.

PlaneMom is finally out of intensive care, yours truly has finally caught up on her sleep, and I am now in the process of updating last week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter -- so readers Monday will not feel like they are reading a week-old newspaper.

:-)

But then again, subscribers can now look forward to two, two, two issues this week!

Thanks again for all the kind thoughts and words.

Look for the latest, and updated issue of PlaneBusiness Banter to be posted Monday.

Posted by Holly at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi guys.

Won't go into the details, but let's just say the situation here has stabilized for the time being and at least we now know what the problem is with PlaneMom.

The PlaneBusiness M.A.S.H. unit is now going to try and get caught up on some much needed sleep.

My apologies again for the delay in posting this week.

Thanks also for all the kind emails. Yes, if nursing homes suck, I think hospitals are worse.

Those are my words to live by for today. :-)

More later. In the meantime, good luck with the weather -- wherever you are!

Posted by Holly at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey folks. After a night of many phone calls, and little sleep, I am on my way out the door. PlaneMom is now in intensive care and PlaneDad is pretty ragged. It's time for PlaneDaughter to step up to the plate.

This week's issue is on the boards, but not ready for prime-time viewing as we had planned to do final edits this morning. But after talking to my Dad just a few minutes ago, I think my place right now is at the hospital.

My apologies for the delay in posting this week's issue.

I'll update you later when I get back.

Posted by Holly at 7:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just an update -- as of right now, we should be out tomorrow in the A.M. We've got an issue with PlaneMom, who was taken to the hospital tonight -- but I'm anticipating that we should be able to get out and posted tomorrow with no further delays.

If this situation should change, I'll let you guys know.

Talk to you soon!

Posted by Holly at 9:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just an FYI.

As bad as that number is, as PBB subscribers will see in this week's issue, the problem is not so much the price of crude, it's the price of jet fuel. We have a huge gap between the price of jet fuel and crude this week.

Posted by Holly at 9:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For those of you who are PlaneBusiness Banter subscribers, an update on when we anticipate posting this week's issue. We will post this week's issue either 1) very late tonight or 2) in the morning. We're both formatting and doing final editing tonight, as I was out of town this week for a day or so, and that has pushed our schedule back a tad.

I'll give you a better ETP later today.

Posted by Holly at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"British company the Premium Aircraft Interiors Group (PAIG) has developed a "ying-yang" seating pattern in which neighbouring seats face in opposite directions.

The new layout removes the need to leave a gap between seats for an armrest under the traditional shoulder-to-shoulder seating plan.
Instead, one person's shoulders would be in line with the neighbouring passenger's knees and each would have their own armrest....."

"British Airways says rear-facing seats developed by PAIG for its business-class cabins had proved popular with passengers and it would consider them for economy class.

Backward-facing seats are believed to be safer because, rather than being thrown forward in a crash, rear-facing passengers are pressed back into their seats.

The layout is being unveiled at an exhibition in Hamburg, Germany, this week."

You can discuss the merits or demerits of such a system amongst yourselves. But it would seem to me that if someone in the middle seat were to sneeze, they'd effectively sneeze all over their forward facing seat mates. And I still don't get the "armrest" argument. It still appears to me that there would be a fight for the center armrests.

Posted by Holly at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not a good day today on Wall Street for airline stocks. As usual, the bogeyman is oil. With oil futures climbing as much as 2% this morning, airline stocks have felt the pain.

As I write this, the price of a barrel of crude is running at $62.65 --down a bit from a morning-high of 63.25.

This run-up appears to be a continued to reaction to energy inventory levels which were reported Wednesday by the DOE. Those numbers showed gasoline inventories down -- again. Not what traders wanted to hear.

Posted by Holly at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A late hello from my hotel room in Houston. I just returned from a session with an MBA class at Rice University. My thanks to Dr. Shannon Anderson for the invite -- and what ended up being a pretty interesting 2.5 hour session with her students.

Oh, and yes, Shannon and I did have dinner afterwards. No, class did not go until 11 PM.

And what, prey tell, did we discuss? Airlines. Strategic cost management. Gordon Bethune. American Airlines. Herb Kelleher. Doug Parker. Robert Crandall. US Airways. Delta Air Lines. Management compensation. Don Burr.

Don Burr?

Just wanted to see if you were still awake and paying attention.

Before I go and get some sleep before getting up early and winging my way back to the Worldwide Headquarters, a belated Happy 40th Birthday to the Boeing 737.

The workhorse of the industry, the 737 first flew on April 9th, 1967. Since then, almost 5500 have been delivered and more than 7000 have been ordered, making it the most successful jet aircraft ever manufactured.

And yes, I flew on one today, and I'll fly on another one tomorrow.

Have a good night everyone.

Posted by Holly at 11:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From today's Wall Street Journal (sub required):

"You get out of bankruptcy, and it's easy to get fat," says James M. Whitehurst, Delta's chief operating officer. "We have to continue to think [about] the 100 things we didn't do" during bankruptcy protection."

Now, let me get this straight. He's not out of bankruptcy protection yet, but he's already thinking about the things the airline hasn't done while in bankruptcy protection?

I'm a bit confused by this statement. Granted, I think if you asked 10 people who follow the airline well, you're going to get 9, including me, who would say the airline didn't even scratch the surface in some areas while in bankruptcy protection -- particularly their regional airline operation.

But it sounds here as if Jim knows this.

So if he knew it -- then why didn't the airline use the bankruptcy process to clean up the airline's operations more thoroughly?

The guys at US Airways must be shaking their heads.

Posted by Holly at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Speaking of Tucson -- for those of us who consider aircraft living breathing beings (and what's wrong with that?) Tucson can be a difficult place to visit. First you have all the planes sitting at Marana. Then there is Pima Park. But the most disturbing thing was flying into Tucson and looking down on a number of dismembered aircraft there near the end of the runway -- where a company is dismantling them for parts. There, with part of its tail off and part of a wing was a Legend Airlines DC-9 -- the rest of the paint job looking as good as it did when the aircraft flew back in 2000.

I don't care how many times you see an aircraft with a wing missing or an engine gone -- I still find it a rather unsettling sight.

Posted by Holly at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thanks to SuncalPilot who correctly identified our "Where is it" Foto Friday this week.

Yes, that fine establishment is located right near the airport in Tucson, AZ.

This time of year, considering its location, I'd watch for rattlesnakes under the bar. That is unlike the rest of the year, when the ramp rats take over.

Posted by Holly at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Enough excitement over advertising mock-ups of the new Delta livery.

Today, we have really important things to discuss, i.e., the return of Tony and the boys.

Last night "The Sopranos" began their final swan song, as the last nine episodes of the best written series on television began airing on HBO.

I'm so depressed I don't know what to do.

What will we do without Tony? It's hard to realize that it's been eight years since the Soprano's dysfunctional family first appeared on our television sets.

They're like...well....family.

It will be hard to let them go.

Great episode last night. David Chase, creator and head writer for the show, outdid himself. The beauty in his touch is that there is always so much running just under the surface of the dialogue -- we know the characters so well now -- that the show really has become a metaphor for so much that happens in our own lives. He uses our knowledge of the characters to build tension -- not an easy task to pull off as a writer.

Okay, enough lamenting. And adoration.

Next Sunday night, you know where I'll be.

Posted by Holly at 2:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We received an email this afternoon with copies of the photos I posted below, along with links to where these shots were posted.

Shots were posted in a group of about 30 or so other photos on Flickr, under a private account.

The shots all seemed to be of a television advertising shoot. And that is basically what the captions alluded to.

However, shortly after we posted these here tonight, we understand that the originals were yanked from Flickr.

Ah, the intrigue.

All I can say is that if the guy who posted these was employed by the agency who shot a commercial for Delta, and he then posted these shots on Flickr, I doubt he is going to be employed Monday morning.

Posted by Holly at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Want a glimpse at what appears to be the new Delta Air Lines' livery?

Here you go. No more "drapes" on the tail, just as CEO Gerry Grinstein promised recently. The widget is also alive and well.

These are apparently from a recent Delta Air Lines' television commercial shoot.

Posted by Holly at 6:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Now, here is one fine looking establishment.

And of course, it's here because I am told this fine looking Airport Inn is frequented heavily by, what else? Airline employees.

This week's Foto Friday detective question is this -- where is this fine establishment located?

Posted by Holly at 6:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A new "where is it" Foto Friday.

See you then.

Posted by Holly at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Don't fall over yourselves trying to get in the door, but this week's "Easter Bunny" special edition of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted.

Well, it's not actually an "Easter Bunny" special edition. More like a normal issue. But I thought that sounded rather festive, didn't you?

Subscribers can access this week's issue here.

Posted by Holly at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We will be out tonight, but with a bit of rewriting now on tap for page one, we may be a bit late. But we'll be out. I'll be back to let subscribers know when this week's issue is ready for perusa