PlaneBuzz

Proving once again just how wacky Wall Street can be, almost at the same time we posted this week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter, the news came over the wires that the FL Group -- the hedge fund that is, er, was AMR's largest shareholder, and the one that has been making all the noise about how AMR needs to "maximize shareholder value" issued a release today -- saying it had slashed its position in the airline from 9.1% to 1.1%.

The fund said in a statement this afternoon that while the divestiture of Eagle is a move in the right direction,  AMR's "lack of clarity over timing, terms and valuation" of shedding Eagle "has done little to enhance value."

First, I agree with what the FL Group said.

But secondly, I'm glad they have taken their monopoly money and gone elsewhere.

Ticker: (NYSE:AMR)

Technorati Tags: airline stocks, American Airlines

Posted by Holly at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cranky Flier, aka Brett Snyder has a fun post on his blog today. He was lucky enough to be able to crawl around an Airbus A380 that flew a promo flight around Los Angeles yesterday. Pure airline geekdom at its best.

Posted by Holly at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Subscribers can now access this week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter by clicking here.

Be back in a bit.

Posted by Holly at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Great crisp fall morning here at the Worldwide Headquarters. We're in final edits with PBB -- will let you know when this week's issue is posted.

Meanwhile, since we haven't had a Foto Friday in awhile, who can tell me what year this picture was taken?

Back in a bit.

P.S. Check out those uniforms. Now those are real airline pilots.

Posted by Holly at 8:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ah, scratch that earlier help wanted banner.

I think we've already received enough notes of interest that we may have what we need.

I'm wrapped up in this week's issue of PBB for now.

All of you folks behave while I'm gone. Talk to you later.

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

Okay, I have too much on the plate, and not enough heavy-duty utensils to cut it up with.

With a major shiftover to a totally new software footprint for PlaneBusiness Banter now on the horizon, and with additional web programming needed to get our "Mesa Mess" mini-site completed and posted, I am looking for some part-time web savvy help.

Pressing duties include Photoshop/HTML graphic creation and Movable Type template creation and revisions.

On the backside for PBB, it would be nice to have someone who has experience tweaking code in such programs as JOOMLA, and other open-source UNIX based software on call who can help us as we transition into an entirely new back-end home for our worldwide empire.

This can be more than one person -- so if you are simply a graphics wiz and can manipulate MT templates -- that would be fine. We can look to someone else for the larger site management tasks.

Please send a note to me, at admin "at" planebusiness.com and tell me a little bit about your experience and what particular projects you've been involved in. Also, please advise as to your compensation requirements in terms of project or pay/hour.

Thanks.

Posted by Holly at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mary Schlangenstein at Bloomberg has a pretty good wrap piece on the American Eagle news from today.

As I have shared with a number of you privately this afternoon, I tend to agree with Bob Mann's comments in this piece. While this may make the "activist" shareholders happy -- I'm not so sure that American Eagle is that great a prize, nor will it garner much of a high price.

In the piece, Bob says, "I'm betting this one flops, compared to expectations. Investors may not want a stable of 37-, 44-, 50-seat jets and older Saab aircraft."

He added, "Investors will want to diversify away from American Airlines-only flying, while AMR will want an exclusive, or protection from competitors."

Yep.

The regional sector is growth-constrained, Eagle's aircraft are older, smaller, and more expensive to fly, there is the pilot issue (the contract here is going to be tied to the mainline negotiations to an extent it appears now) and let's face it -- the gung-ho environment that Continental spun ExpressJet into simply does not exist today. Nor is it going to exist in 2008.

So while Craig Hall, who is the airline's fifth largest shareholder tells Mary, "This is a good first step. We certainly hope that they are still looking at spinning off the mileage program, as we believe the biggest opportunity is there," and we can be sure that the FL Group, the largest AMR shareholder is happy with the news, remember that all they are looking for is a bump in the stock price. Meanwhile, AMR is looking for more cost stability.

But neither of those two necessarily go hand in hand with an overly generous price being paid for Eagle. Not in this environment. And not with the equipment Eagle is flying.

Ticker: (NYSE:AMR)

Technorati Tags: American Airlines, American Eagle

Posted by Holly at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Good news for the things with wings today. Weekly inventory numbers issued by the Energy Department this morning showed the drop in crude inventories was lower than expected,  gasoline inventories increased more than expected, and the drop in distillates, which includes the all-important jet fuel, was minimal.

Refinery output was also up for the week.

Wrap all this up together with increasing economic indicators that continue to point to a slowing economy (which theoretically should bring a decline in demand) and voila! Oil prices were down 4% or $3.80 to $90.62 today.

The price of crude has now fallen 7.2% in the last two days.

This fact was not overlooked by airline sector investors today. While the Dow Jones Blue Chip average was up 331.01 points on the day, or 2.55%. the AMEX Airline Index was up a healthy 4% to 40.02.

Leading gainers today included Allegiant, which posted a sizzling 7% gain, closing today at 34.51. It was a day of the 7% gain, apparently as US Airways was also up 7% on the day, closing at 20.97. AMR, parent of American was also up 7%, closing at 21.98. And, yes, Delta Air Lines was also up 7% on the day, closing at 18.77.

Our two always-volatile Chinese airline stocks had another bounce-off-the-wall day as well, as ADRs of China Eastern Airlines were up 21%, closing at 100.89, while ADRs of China Southern were up 8%, closing at 65.20.

Shares of Pinnacle didn't have a bad day, with shares here closing up 7% to 15.72, while shares of Republic were up 8%, closing at 20.27. Skywest? Up 5% to close at 25.65.

Even shares of Mesa, which have posted a horrible month, had a good day. Shares were up 9%, closing at 3.45.

Technorati Tags: airline industry news, airlines, crude oil, wall street

Posted by Holly at 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just out on the wires. AMR, parent of American Airlines says that it "plans to divest itself" of its wholly-owned regional partner, American Eagle.

Did we hear the magic words in the press release that we've heard oh-so-much these days in the airline industry. Yep. Sure did.

"The decision comes after a careful and deliberate evaluation of the strategy that will best enable us to continue to create value for our shareholders," said AMR Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey.

Ticker: (NYSE:AMR)

Technorati Tags: airline industry news, airlines, American Airlines, American Eagle, regional airlines

Posted by Holly at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yours truly was named one of the "most influential travel bloggers for 2007" this week by travel writer, passenger rights torchbearer, and syndicated columnist Christopher Elliott.

I'm sure many of you know Chris. He's written about the travel and airline business for many years -- and currently, as usual, he has a couple of gigs going on. He writes a syndicated column on airline travel problems geared at consumers, he has his own blog, elliott.org, and I believe he's also writing for a number of publications on a freelance basis.

What I have always liked about Chris is that he has never allowed himself to fall in the "travel whore" category.

You know the type. The ones who want free tickets, free this, free that.

Then we, as readers, passengers, or viewers, are supposed to believe that whatever they write, or say on TV, is unbiased.

Chris doesn't work that way.

In his comment about PlaneBuzz, Chris said, "Holly writes the airline blog. There is nothing more to say."

Woo hoo.

Other lucky recipients of Elliott's largesse included:

Mark Ashley, Upgrade: Travel Better
Paul Brady, Jaunted
Arthur Frommer, Frommers
Wendy Perrin, Perrin Post
Ben Popken, Consumerist
Rick Seaney, Rickseaney.com

I note that Rick's latest post has to do with the fact that New Orleans' Louis Armstrong International takes his nod as having had the longest security check-in lines of any major airport during the month of November.

MSY came in with a checkpoint time of 40 minutes. Newark was second with 35 minutes, and DFW came in third at 34 minutes. You can read more about his geeky TSA misery index here.

As for Mark over at Upgrade:Travel Better, he had a post of fake vomit on his blog the other day when he was tapped for the list. Nice going there Mark. His post dealt with the recent Tainted Turkey incident involving United Airlines and the less than tasty Thanksgiving dinner it served its employees.

Yum. Yum.

I would only add that I think Chris should have included Brett Snyder, aka Cranky Flier to his list. Not too late Chris. It could just become the "Top Eight." Heck, the more the merrier.

Posted by Holly at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If I read one more major media story concerning United Airlines and it's "desire to merge" with a partner, I'm going to scream.

Yesterday it was  the rehash story that BusinessWeek posted. Not one piece of news in the whole thing. Today, Reuters is in on the act. And there have been others. Many others.

Says one thing to me. The United Airlines' PR and positioning machine is making Tilton available to all who want to talk to him, and they are pushing to get this story out as much as they can.

Interesting. I wonder if this means fourth quarter is shaping up worse than expected, and they want to try and sucker, er, convince a would-be suitor/investment banking team before they have to face the music of reporting how much damage Virgin is doing to the airline's trans-con business?

Whatever the reason, the airline is beginning to look like some of the women who hang out on Bourbon Street. Actually, I'm not sure those women might not be more subtle in their approach.

Oh, yeah. To be fair, there have been two stories concerning United this week. The merger story -- and the story yesterday about how the airline wants to alter its debt repayment plans so that it can have the opportunity to "spread the wealth" to its shareholders.

Such a fine airline, that United.

Ticker: (Nasdaq:UAUA)

Technorati Tags: airline industry news, airline mergers, airlines, Glenn Tilton, United Airlines, virgin america

Posted by Holly at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

PlaneDad is just fine. Surgery went as expected, and he's antsy to get back to his normal routine. Good sign. Although I don't think he cared too much for that goofy blue surgical cap they put on his head.

I threatened to take his picture while it was still on his head.

I don't think he thought that was very funny.

Posted by Holly at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Terry Maxon, our partner in airline related mayhem over at the Dallas Morning News gets a quote of the week nod this week.

More than one subscriber sent us a note yesterday about Terry's take on Virgin America's Fred Reid. The comment came in connection with American's Dave Cush's move over to Virgin territory.

And I quote from one email, " I burst out laughing when I saw Terry Maxon's post calling Fred Reid a "fine airline executive."

Here's the full quote:

"C. David Cush, American Airlines' senior vice president for global sales, will become CEO of Virgin America.
And who got to make the announcement? Why, Donald J. Carty, Mr. Cush's former boss at American. David obviously made an impression on Mr. Carty, who is both chairman of Virgin America's board of directors and chief financial officer at Dell.

Mr. Cush replaces Fred Reid, a fine airline executive who unfortunately for Mr. Reid and Virgin America was seen as too tightly connected with the Virgin Group, the British investors behind the new airline. Although foreign investors don't own more of Virgin America than U.S. law allows, DOT thought Mr. Reid would be too beholden to the foreign investors."

That Terry. He's one snarky fellow, isn't he?  Yes, Fred is certainly a "fine airline executive." Isn't he?

Those folks in Dallas had better watch out. I understand Terry's daughter is a writer, just like Dad. And a pretty good one at that.

The weekend before last, Dad and daughter were in New Orleans where she picked up the "Best Short Story by a High School Student" Award at the New Orleans Words and Music Festival. She was also a finalist and semi-finalist in a couple of other writing categories. The Festival is put on by the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society. Proud Dad tells me she met with a few agents, had her work critiqued by some movers and shakers, and all in all, it sounds like Lindsey Maxon is already an accomplished writer.

And she's only 16.

Dad had better watch out. He's got some competition in the house.

Technorati Tags: airline CEOs, airline industry news, airlines, American Airlines, virgin america

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

Hey guys. Just a heads up.

PlaneDad has to have some surgery tomorrow -- and yours truly is the designated hand-holder, limo driver,  chair sitter, and prescription retriever.

So I won't be around here too much for the next couple of days.

As for now -- I'm off to find that nurse's uniform with the ugly white shoes and that funky little cap.

Posted by Holly at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Think Virgin America Chairman Don Carty had anything to do with this?

Virgin America announced today that it has found a replacement for CEO Fred Reid. Dave Cush, formerly SVP of Global Sales at American, will take over as CEO at the airline effective Dec.10.

So -- is this good for Virgin, good for American -- bad for either?

I think Cush's departure is not a particularly good piece of news for American.  As for Virgin, I'm sure Cush's international experience will come in handy -- no matter what the future holds for Virgin America. My guess is that his type of experience will be quite valuable to the Virgin Group in the long term.

As for Cush himself, this is clearly a nice grab, as no one is really moving up at American. The only way up is out.

Ticker: (NYSE:AMR)

Technorati Tags: airline CEOs, airline industry news, airlines, American Airlines, virgin america

Posted by Holly at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Taking a look at today's action on Wall Street it's not a very pretty sight -- as airline stocks are once again taking some hits. However, on the good side, the hits are relatively minor, compared to the major body blows the sector has endured over the last week or so.

And this, as oil more or less just sits around $97 a barrel.

Looking at the stocks we track here at PlaneBusiness, as of this posting at around 1:15 PM ET, the losers far outnumber the winners.

Leading the gainers are ADRs of China Eastern Airlines, which are currently trading up 4% at 80.08. The biggest loser for the group are ADRs of TAM. The Brazilian airline's ADRs are now trading down 4% for the day at 26.78. ADRs of AirFrance/KLM  are also down 4%, trading around 36.15 as of this writing.

Continental shares are currently down 2% for the day at 27, while shares of Delta Air Lines are flat at 18.13. AMR, parent of American Airlines, is down about 2%, trading at 20.32, while shares of US Airways are down almost 3%, trading at 19.78.

Shares of United are down almost 1%, trading around 39.94. Southwest shares are down 1%, trading at 13.59, while shares of Northwest Airlines are down almost 2%, trading at 17.50.

Tickers: (NYSE:CEA), (NYSE:TAM), (NYSE:AKH), (NYSE:CAL), (DAL:NYSE), (NYSE:AMR), (NYSE:LCC), (Nasdaq:UAUA), (NYSE:NWA), (NYSE:LUV)

Technorati Tags: airline industry news, airline stocks, airlines

Posted by Holly at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last week in PlaneBusiness Banter, I mentioned that the reports we had received from many of our PlaneBuzz readers and our PBB subscribers seemed to be telling a similar story. In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, many of you had written me, telling me that loads on your flights were not that bad, weather was cooperating, and that overall, things at the nation's airports were humming right along.

Or as one reader put it, "I've seen Friday afternoons at ORD that were much worse than they were Wednesday afternoon."

This morning, we're starting to get the first reports in from yesterday from a number of flight crew members, and those at the airlines who have access to their airline's respective flight info -- and again -- while I hate to disappoint those national media types who seemed to be salivating at the thought of an ugly passenger experience last week -- I've got some breaking news for you.

There is no story here.

The busiest air travel weekend has come and gone. And by all accounts that we have read, it went pretty damn well.

Technorati Tags: airline delays, airline industry news, airlines, puppy

Posted by Holly at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, I give up. I guess I need to just acknowledge the obvious and make a "Football" category over there on the right.

Will do.

But after a weekend like this, how can one not talk about football?

Pro or college, it was a weekend that will not be soon forgotten.

LSU-Arkansas. Want three overtimes with your public hanging of the nation's number one ranked team? Oh, that was nothing. Let's move to Saturday and the four overtime game between Tennessee and Kentucky. I thought Kentucky should have won that game, for whatever that's worth. Tennessee, as one writer put it today, "Has more lives than any damn cat I've ever owned."

As for LSU, Arkansas was the more prepared and more hungry of the two teams. They deserved to win. The LSU Tigers  played as if they had all eaten way too much turkey on Thursday. And the LSU crowd? For three quarters of the game, they were sound asleep as well.

Then we had Missouri-Kansas Saturday night -- at the same time we had Alabama-Auburn.

No question who I was for in the Mizzou match. I have too many readers who have kids who play football for Carroll High School in Southlake, TX. Chase Daniel, quarterback for Missouri, played high school football there.

All hail the new number one ranked BCS team. For now. (Very important disclaimer, that one. Especially this year.)

And then there was the Iron Bowl. Hey, did I not predict that Tommy Tuberville and the boys were going to beat St. Nick here last week? Yes I did. Tuscaloosa is not a place I'd like to be this morning. Furthermore, if Auburn is seriously considering giving Tuberville his walking papers -- they need to have their heads examined.

All in all, I feel this morning like my football circuits have been shorted out.

But wait. There was more to come. What about the Eagles last night? You can bet that AFC teams are cranking up that video this morning, taking copious notes as to just what Philly did to outgun, outsmart, and flummox the Patriots.

While technically New England pulled it out -- they did end up with more points on the board when the fourth quarter ended -- there's no question Philly won the fight. And with A.J. Feeley at quarterback no less.

What a weekend.

Technorati Tags: college_football

Posted by Holly at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Congrats to you hogheads out there. Arkansas deserved to win today. The Tigers were asleep for the bulk of the game. I guess the Tigers decided to give Coach Les Miles a nice excuse to take the job at head coaching gig at Michigan. With no National Championship game, now Les can say ..."yes!"

Not a happy night in Tigerland. Sigh.

Tomorrow, we've got our Tennessee Vols and Kentucky playing for the Eastern Conference slot in the SEC Championship. Should be a good game.

Posted by Holly at 6:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Subscribers can now access this week's holiday issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.

Meanwhile, let's all go back and watch LSU blow their National Championship hopes. Yikes!

Posted by Holly at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm off to tidy up this week's holiday week issue of PlaneBusiness Banter, but just couldn't resist dropping in to convey the news from Airbus this morning.

In a nutshell, Airbus chief executive, Tom Enders  told Airbus employees in Germany yesterday that the sinking dollar is "life threatening" to the European aircraft manufacturer.

"The dollar's rapid decline is life-threatening for Airbus," he said in Hamburg. "The dollar exchange rate has gone beyond the pain barrier."

As the Financial Post pointed out today in a story on the comments, "For every 10¢ the dollar falls against the euro, Airbus loses a billion euros in unfavorable foreign exchange. The euro now sits at US$1.48 against the dollar, up from US$1.35 at the beginning of the year. While the majority of Airbus's expenses are in euros, aircraft are sold in U.S. dollars."

Now while I am not sure that the drop in the value of the dollar is the biggest problem Airbus is looking at, there's no question that its impact is not insignificant.

Having said that,  I think there might be an answer to this problem hidden in my previous story this week about the drama queen in Alabama. Follow me on this one. I mean, if BMW can manufacture automobiles in Alabama, why can't Airbus make airplanes there?

I can see it now. "Proudly Manufactured in Tuscaloosa" on the side of an A320. Tuscaloosa, Toulouse....what the hey.

I would just make sure they didn't hire St. Nick to do PR for them. That would mean his face would be on the front and back of every aircraft brochure. Just as it was this year on the University of Alabama's football media guide.

Technorati Tags: Airbus, airplanes, Nick Saban, declining dollar

Posted by Holly at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oops. Here they are, in larger form.

Posted by Holly at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...And other various pre-Thanksgiving tasks.

Thought I would stick around online and see if oil was going to hit $100 today, but I think traders are suffering from the Turkey Trot -- they want to get home just as much as anyone else. I don't think we're going to see a new record price hit today.

Friday? Another day, another chance.

For PlaneBusiness Banter subscribers, we'll be posting Friday morning, with end of close numbers from today.

Talk to you later -- on the other side of the giblet gravy, stuffing, turkey, crescent rolls, maple baked sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts and goodness knows what else.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone.

P.S. These Thanksgiving cards are the work of an MIT student, Jennifer DiMase. Check out her work. She definitely has a PlaneBuzz sense of humor.

Technorati Tags: Thanksgiving humor

Posted by Holly at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SkyWest announced today that it has named Brad Holt the new President and COO of Atlantic Southeast.

Holt replaces not only former ASA President Bryan LeBreque, who announced his resignation earlier this month, but previous COO Anthony DiNota, who left the airline in October.

To put it another way -- the Delta-placed execs at ASA who came over as part of the deal originally are now gone, and SkyWest has now put one of its own at the top of the heap.

Holt has been with SkyWest for 25 years, having worked in Flight Ops, Operations, and the airline's Corporate Safety division. Holt's last position with SkyWest was as head of Flight Operations. Holt began with the airline as a line pilot in 1983.

Good move. Long needed move. With the pilots giving the thumbs-up to the ASA tentative agreement this week, and with these changes in management structure -- I can only say -- it's about time. I would expect that we will begin to see the positive ramifications reflected in SkyWest's next earnings call -- but even more so in the first quarter 2008 call.

As we had mentioned here after this quarter's SkyWest earnings call -- it was the first time that I can ever remember SkyWest not receiving at least one of its incentive payments for service -- as part of its flying contract with a partner. And that happened last quarter with ASA. While SkyWest, as usual, ran a pretty efficient operation, ASA was horrible.

The airline failed to meet even one of its contract incentive benchmarks.

A side note to the pilots at ASA: Remember when I told you in February of 2006 at the ALPA "Family Awareness" meeting in Atlanta that the SkyWest deal was a good thing -- and not a bad thing?

It may have taken awhile -- but I stand by my prediction.

Ticker: (Nasdaq:SKYW), (NYSE:DAL)

Technorati Tags: airline industry news, airline pilots, airline unions, airlines, ALPA, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, SkyWest

Posted by Holly at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Little did I know when I posted that note from one of our PlaneBusiness Banter subscribers on Saturday concerning the in-flight delay and the onboard iPhone user that it would it catapult our blog post into the realm of high-tech blog stardom.

Funny to read through all the comments that post has generated -- it's clear that most visitors were not airline centric types -- but those more interested in bashing/praising the iPhone. Or bashing the airlines.

I must say, it's rather mind-boggling. Especially the fact that PlaneBuzz was no. 1 on Reddit for part of Tuesday as a result of the post.

In answer to a couple of personal emails to me -- no, I don't own one -- yet. I'm waiting for version 2.0. My contract has now expired on my Treo deal with Earthlink. So I'm just biding my time.

Posted by Holly at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Okay, I have a confession to make. I try, I really try to make sure that every post here has something to do with airlines. Or airplanes.

But sometimes, things just sneak in here.

My snarky little jab at Alabama this weekend was just one of those I couldn't resist.

And of course, the problem with these posts is that then readers send me notes and force, yes force me to continue the thread. Kicking and screaming.

Well, maybe not.

So, after more than one email today from those of you who were lucky enough to read about Alabama's Coach Nick Saban's little performance yesterday following his team's loss to the University of Louisiana-Monroe -- I feel it is my civic duty to get back in here and tell those of you who don't happen to follow the wonderful sport known as Southeastern Conference Football the following tidibit.

Saturday, Alabama was near-nigh humiliated by the War Hawks of the University of Louisiana-Monroe, 21-14.  Now this is not to say that the War Hawks are not a bad bunch of guys. But hey, let's put it this way. This should have been  kind of like Steve Nash going one-on-one with some kid in junior high school.

So yesterday, Alabama Coach Nick Saban, the man who lied about leaving LSU, and the man who played cute again with everyone when Alabama recruited him from the Miami Dolphins -- the man who has no problem taking $4 million to coach a college football team -- yes, that same man, likened the team's loss to other catastrophes -- such as 9/11 and Pearl Harbor.

Here's the quote from his press conference as he exhorted his team to "rebound":

"Changes in history usually occur after some kind of catastrophic event," Saban said during the opening remarks of his weekly news conference. "It may be 9-11, which sort of changed the spirit of America relative to catastrophic events. Pearl Harbor kind of got us ready for World War II, or whatever, and that was a catastrophic event."

Sorry Nick, but a football game is not quite in the same league as the events that transpired on September 11, 2001. Much less Pearl Harbor. Nick, it's a GAME. It's FOOTBALL. I know you think that whatever you are involved in is the most important activity on the planet -- but no, I hate to tell you this -- Alabama losing to ULM was not a" catastrophe."

But wait, the story gets better.

St. Nick's "spokesperson" then issued a statement today. "What Coach Saban said did not correlate losing a football game with tragedy; everyone needs to understand that. He was not equating losing football games to those catastrophic events," football spokesman Jeff Purington said in a statement to The Associated Press. "The message was that true spirit and unity become evident in the most difficult of times. Those were two tremendous examples that everyone can identify with."

Ah, excuse me, but I don't think this makes things any better.

Only worse.

Nick, forget the X's and the O's this week. Before you lose to Tommy and the boys from Auburn this week -- go spend some time under some rocks -- and try to get some perspective.

Before those irate Alabama fans start leaving bags of burning cow patties on your front porch.

Technorati Tags: Nick Saban

Posted by Holly at 8:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay guys. Just an update on the PlaneBuzz Mesa Air Group Legal Defense Fund. Look for a mini-site with all the information about Mesa Air Group and CEO Jonathan Ornstein's SLAPP suit, how you can contribute to the fund, and more this week. I'm putting the final touches on a small mini-site that will put all of that information in one place.

Technorati Tags: Mesa Air Group

Posted by Holly at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As if you smart guys could not figure out why it is that airline stocks are getting the smackdown treatment today -- a big reason is you-know-what.

Yes, the price of oil is rearing its ugly head today again.

As of this writing, it looks like the price of a barrel of crude is now up more than $3. In one day.

Crude is currently trading at around $98 a barrel.

Technorati Tags: airlines, crude oil, oil prices

Posted by Holly at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Taking a look at the sad state of affairs the airline sector finds itself in today, one can't help but wonder if we're getting to the point where it's simply ridiculous not to assume that there is at least one, if not more mergers or other types of link-ups just around the corner.

Why?

Because airline stocks are cheap. And, as of today, getting even cheaper. And if airline stocks are getting cheaper, that means market caps are as well.

Glancing at the rundown from today's trading -- at this writing, shares of Southwest Airlines are hovering around $13.00 a share.

Shares of United Airlines? Down a hefty 10% to $36.65. That will put some of those spoils-of-bankruptcy options under water.

Then there is Mesa Air Group. The airline was told yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris' courtroom that it has to post a $90 million bond, pending the result of the airline's appeal of Faris' recent ruling against the airline in the case involving Hawaiian Airlines.

Last week Faris had told Mesa that the bond could be as high as $98 million, but that was based on the assumption that the appeal would be heard in a U.S. Bankruptcy appellate court. As the case will now be heard in a Federal District Court, the waiting time before a decision in the appeal process will be closer to a year, rather than three.

Hence, the lower figure. However Faris also warned that the bond could be adjusted further, depending upon the result of the District Court's ruling.

Not the news that shareholders of Mesa wanted to hear. Obviously. Shares here are now trading down about 12% on the day, with the airline's shares currently trading around $3.45. Yes, $3.45.

At prices like this -- I wonder if any of the other regional airline players could be taking a look at Mesa? I mean, consolidation is not necessarily a "major airlines only" possibility.

Delta Air Lines is having a miserable day as well, with shares here down 9% for the day, currently trading at 17.26 a share. Continental? Shares here are down 8% to $25.57.

Yikes.

Ticker: (CAL;NYSE), (DAL:NYSE), (MESA:NASDAQ), (UAUA:NASDAQ), (LUV:NYSE)

Technorati Tags: airline industry news, airline stocks, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Mesa Air Group, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines

Posted by Holly at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Can't help it.

If someone is going to take the trouble to issue a press release about something, and pay the money to do so through PR Newswire, the credibility of the press release is then completely shot when I read a sentence such as this. (Actually I have other problems with this whole survey, but that's another issue.)

From today's release touting the new Zagat Airline Survey,

"Discontent with the air travel industry is so high that 61% of the respondents favored the enactment of the Airline Passengers Bill of Rights, which, inter alia, would insure that passengers be compensated for bad air travel experiences. Only 5% oppose the bill while 34% still don't know what it is."

This sentence ENSURES that I won't take much of the rest of the story seriously. For more reasons than one.

Inter alia? Apparently this writer not only cannot spell, he or she likes to impress people with his or her Latin knowledge too.

I'm really impressed. Aren't you?

Technorati Tags: airline industry news, airlines, Zagat Airline Survey

Posted by Holly at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

News reports today say that WestJet is in talks with Air France in an effort to reach an "interline" agreement which would see the airlines cooperate on services.

According to the Globe and Mail, details are being ironed out to first clear the way for WestJet to accept inbound Air France electronic tickets by mid-2008. Air France would accept outbound WestJet e-tickets by the end of 2008. The outbound arrangement means Canadian consumers could eventually book a flight to Paris through WestJet, with Air France getting part of the fare revenue after the French carrier flies passengers overseas.

"Discussions with Air France have been very positive, and there is a strong desire by both airlines to move ahead on an interline traffic agreement," said Hugh Dunleavy, WestJet executive vice-president of commercial distribution in the article.

Dunleavy said WestJet would announce "substantive airline partners" in 2008. Other "potential" partners being mentioned -- no less than Cathay Pacific and British Airways.

Christian Herzog, Air France vice-president of the Americas, said in an interview with the Globe and Mail that no WestJet-Air France deal has been inked yet, but "Canada is an important market for us. WestJet would be a good partner."

Christian Lahccen, Air France vice-president for Canada, expressed regard for WestJet's growing network, a sign of "an excellent company."

WestJet will initially benefit by attracting Air France passengers arriving in Montreal and Toronto, but who want to connect to other cities, said Michael Merrithew, chief executive officer of Toronto-based tour operator Merit Travel Group Inc.

Very nice move for the airline that, as we noted last week in PlaneBusiness Banter, not only posted the best operating margin of any airline in North America for the third quarter, but also posted the lowest break-even load factor as well.

Ticker: (WJA.TO)

Technorati Tags: Air France, British Airways , Cathay Pacific, WestJet

Posted by Holly at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Go Tigers.

Oh, and for you Alabama fans out there -- who beat you today? What was the name of that team? I may have to send fellow University of Tennessee attendee, fellow Daily Beacon alum, and Alabama football expert  Paul Finebaum a note and ask him to explain this unfortunate turn of events to me.

Paul had a lot more hair when I knew him.

Posted by Holly at 6:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

One of our subscribers sent me this story today. We all knew this one was inevitable when the latest iPhone commercial rolled out -- now didnt we?

"Oh joy! I can't wait for the next ground delay or long taxi due to weather somewhere to get a smart ass with a freakin I-phone shoving it in my face saying "It's NOT raining there... SEE !" Too late ... already happened to me.  We push back, get advised of a ground stop in MEM due to storms in the area. Go to the penalty box and wait. My Captain does the lecture over the PA... not one minute later, we get dinged from the F/A "Some guy with an IPhone says the weather is good, and wants to know what the real reason is for the delay. Is something wrong with the plane?"

I want to tell this clown what he can do with his IdiotPhone - but the Captain does it even better. He gets on the PA and makes the following announcement :

"If the passenger with the IPhone would be kind enough to use it to check the weather at our alternate, calculate our fuel burn due to being rerouted around the storms, call the dispatcher to arrange our release, and then make a phone call to the nearest Air Traffic Control center to arrange our timely departure amongst the other aircraft carrying passengers with IPhones, then we will be more than happy to depart. Please ring your call button to advise the Flight Attendant and your fellow passengers when you deem it ready and responsible for this multi-million dollar aircraft and its passengers to safely leave."

Needless to say, the pax was pretty embarrassed. The F/A later told us the rest of the plane was outright laughing at this dude. What a clown."

Posted by Holly at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (31)

Posted by Holly at 7:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I think we have a winner for the Mesa Air Lawsuit Defense Fund name.

CAN EAT WAFFLES.

Now, bear with me. This was the suggestion of a reader, who wrote,  "If not for the needless "negative energy, and a lot of time spent on lawyers' pay with very little good coming out of them," I would have to say that Jonathan Ornstein's lawsuit would be nothing but comical. And since Mr. Ornstein finds lawsuits such a productive use of money (perhaps he sees this as an attempt to offset the financial impact of having to pay Hawaiian Airlines), I have come up with a catchier name for your legal defense fund."

Coalition
Against
Negative

Energy
And
Time

Wasted
Arduously
Fighting
Frivolous
Lawsuits
Exemplifying
Superfluousness

Okay, so maybe I've been typing for too long.

Dunno.

I kind of like it. Lots of graphics possibilities.

Posted by Holly at 3:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Subscribers can now access this week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter. Have fun!

Posted by Holly at 2:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Okay guys. Tomorrow morning I'm going to unplug the phone and don't expect me to answer any emails.

No worries. PlaneBusiness Banter will be up in plenty of time for you to print and read on your way out of town.

By the way, how many of you find the numbers coming out of the Dubai Air Show rather mind-numbing?

Was just finishing up our take on the haul by Airbus and Boeing in this week's issue, and I tell you what, if you want any more evidence that the center of the aircraft universe is nowhere near the U.S. -- look at the orders that were announced this week from Middle Eastern and Asian carriers.

Airbus and Boeing have announced contracts worth almost $70 billion over the past four days. Airbus sold 297 jetliners and Boeing 155, putting the two companies on track to easily exceed  2005's record of 2,057 orders.

Technorati Tags: Airbus, Boeing

Posted by Holly at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The only way to effectively deal with lawsuits such as the SLAPP suit that has been filed against me by Jonathan Ornstein, CEO of Mesa Air Group -- is to attempt to negate the reasons for them in the first place.

It is my belief that this suit was filed for two reasons. One, it is an attempt to intimidate me. Two, it is an attempt to bankrupt me.

So first -- I'm not intimidated.

In reference to the second issue, it's not going to happen.

On that note, I have been truly overwhelmed with the show of support that has come in from many of you in just the last couple of days in regard to contributing to the cause. I don't know what else to say, except thank you.

In response to those communications concerning potential donations -- hold those thoughts!

I will be posting more information here in the next couple of days as to how you can contribute to a PlaneBuzz Legal Defense Fund. (And yes, isn't that one of those "More Room in Coach" sounding monikers? I assure you I will come up with something more catchy and less....catatonic.)

In the meantime, I have a day job I need to attend to -- this week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.

Talk to you guys later.

Ticker: (MESA:Nasdaq)

Posted by Holly at 3:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Just for the record -- I am a big fan of CNBC's Erin Burnett. A really big fan. She's smart, she's sassy, she knows what the hell she's talking about. She's also a former M&A banker with Goldman Sachs.

Every morning, I make sure I catch (either live or on tape) her 5 minute segment on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that is hosted by Joe Scarborough. She and Joe have a conversation back and forth, and it's a nice concise look at what will probably be shaking in the market during the day. I don't have time to listen to CNBC for long periods of time, but this segment always serves as a nice short condensed look at what's on the horizon. I also usually agree with Erin's take on the market as a whole -- so that doesn't hurt either.

This morning, as Erin was wrapping up her take on what the market would probably be doing this morning (the live segment airs about 7:15 ET), she brought up the subject of the Delta/United merger rumors.

Pause.

Joe's response, uttered in a slow dramatic fashion.  "Oh god."

Pause.

Erin then added, "I personally don't like to fly United."

Then after a more serious comment about why a merger might be considered (we all know the reasons including higher fuel prices ), and Joe allowed as to how he's had "issues with Delta," (Joe was constantly bitching about Delta Air Lines over the summer as he continues to fly regularly between his home base in Jacksonville and New York), Joe said, "Okay, so I've had issues with Delta in the past, and you've had issues with United, and now....these two may merge."

To which, after an appropriate pause, Erin responded, "Yeah, I know. It just becomes one ......giant........Goliath."

Joe, smiling, "One giant cluster.....what?"

Erin, looking down at her paperwork, smiling, and trying to figure out what to say next, "Ah, yes, a cluster, a cluster of something."

Joe: "Ah, yes....a cluster.......of love."

Laughs all around the "Morning Joe" table and a big smile from Erin, as she said, "Yes, a big cluster......of love."

That's it folks. From now on, this potential deal has a new moniker as far as I'm concerned.

A cluster.....of love.

Ticker: (DAL:NYSE), (UAUA:Nasdaq)

Technorati Tags: airline industry news, airline mergers, airlines, CNBC, Delta Air Lines, Erin Burnett, Joe Scarborough, United Airlines

Posted by Holly at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As we alluded to in the last post -- one of our readers just confirmed that he's being told Pardus leaked the letter to both the Associated Press and Jeff Bailey at the New York Times.

Considering how thick and credible the rumors have been over the last several months linking Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines -- all of this today now makes perfect sense.

Posted by Holly at 5:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Late reports out now have Delta's CEO Richard Anderson saying, "There have been no talks with United regarding any type of consolidation transaction and there are no such ongoing discussions."

Hmmmm. So who decided to stir up the pot and why?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Interesting comment from Anderson, especially considering an earlier statement from the airline this morning. This morning, Delta said that it had formed a special board committee to review "strategic options." Or, as it put it, "to ensure Delta maintains its leadership position in the airline industry, including potential consolidation transactions."

Delta said that non-executive Chairman Daniel Carp is leading the committee.

So why did the airline say this -- after news of the Pardus letter broke -- if there is nothing going on? And why then did Richard come out and take the position that "there have been no talks with United regarding any type of consolidation."

We're definitely hearing some static here.

Technorati Tags: airline industry news, airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines

Posted by Holly at 5:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is one behemoth to try and get one's arms wrapped around.

1. If the Delta Air Lines management team is the surviving team, fine. If not, no. (Just think, this will mean that Jake Brace and Glenn Tilton will get yet another stratospheric payout.)

2. As I told Barney Gimble with Fortune today, "As I've said in the past, the money guys will dictate who goes after whom. Not the players themselves."

That was true last year. Same now.

If this hedge fund can convince other major players on the Street to support the deal -- that is what will make or break it.

Employees and shareholders will have little to say in this type of situation. Delta ALPA MEC Chairman Lee Moak can say whatever he wants to say about how the pilots at Delta have to be involved from the get-go with any "merger discussions," but indications this afternoon are that this one is already pretty far along.

As I write this, reports are flying all over the place, no pun intended, with some reports suggesting that the headquarters of the airline would remain in Chicago, but that Delta AIr Lines' CEO Richard Anderson would be named CEO of the new airline.

Atlanta would be used primarily as an "operations" center.

Again -- just one set of rumors that are flying this afternoon in regard to the potential deal.

Ticker: (UAL:NYSE), (DAL:NYSE)

Technorati Tags: airline CEOs, airline industry news, airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines

Posted by Holly at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jeff Bailey at the New York Times has a story today that says:

"Pardus Capital Management, a New York hedge fund, has sent a letter to management of Delta Air Lines asking it to seek a stock-for-stock merger with UAL, the parent of United Airlines, in a deal that would create the world’s largest airline and could prompt sweeping consolidation in the airline industry.

Gordon M. Bethune, former chief executive officer of Continental Airlines, is working with Pardus, the hedge fund said in the letter. And consultants have identified $585 million in savings the two big airlines — currently Nos. 2 and 3 in the country — could realize by combining operations.

Pardus said in its letter, sent Tuesday night, that it owns seven million Delta shares, about a 2.6 percent stake."

Technorati Tags: Delta Air Lines, United Airlines

Posted by Holly at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There was another get-together in the courtroom of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris Tuesday.

Mesa Air Group was granted a limited stay -- until Monday -- before he makes a final determination on the amount of the bond Mesa Air Group will be forced to post -- a result of his recent ruling against Mesa. As you recall, Faris ruled at the end of October that Mesa must pay Hawaiian Airlines $80 million in damages in addition to interest and attorney fees, as a result of his finding that  Mesa was guilty of using confidential information obtained as a potential investor during the Hawaiian bankruptcy -- in an effort to gain an advantage in entering the Hawaiian market with its "go!" operation.

Faris said yesterday that