Monthly Archives: February 2015

PlaneBusiness Banter Now Posted!

home-typewriter copy 1This week’s edition of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted. This week we take a close look at the recent 4Q14 earnings posted by Virgin America. It was the first earnings call for the company, which rolled out an IPO in November. While the IPO certainly helped to clean a lot of ugly stuff from the airline’s balance sheet, the airline has its work cut out for it as it goes head to head with Southwest out of Love Field, and it faces more pressure on its transcon routes.

We’ll give you the take from three analysts on the results — and then we throw in our $0.02 for good measure.

We also talk a lot this week about our recent visit with management at United Airlines. While our sessions were off the record in regard to a lot of topics, I think subscribers will still find enough interesting material to get a good feel for what the visit was like.

Oh, and yes, I finally got my official PGA  plaid socks! I’ll be modeling them in the next issue of PBB. 

Last week we sat in on the American Airlines Leadership Conference. Again — this event was also off the record, but we can talk about a few things….including some things that I was most happy to hear.

We have an update this week on the Open Skies report. It now appears that the report  the three major U.S. airlines have been working on for the last two years will finally be allowed to go public next week. I can’t wait.

As for airline stocks, last week was a pretty good week for the sector, with shares of Delta Air Lines leading the sector. Meanwhile, shares of Bombardier dropped again — as more talk of a potential bankruptcy of the transportation company hit the media. Then again, it sounds like the Canadian government would be more than happy to help with financial assistance.

What a mess.

Southwest Airlines got hit again by the FAA on Tuesday for failure to perform required checks on it aircraft. The airline and the FAA still have not come to terms on the last proposed fine — for again essentially not doing what it was supposed to do. I fully expect that we’ll see a fine levied for this latest breach by the FAA as well.

Over the last ten years, no U.S. airline has been fined more by the FAA than Southwest. 

I would strongly suggest that perhaps something needs to change over on Denton Drive.

All that, and so much more, in this week’s edition of PlaneBusiness Banter. 

PlaneBusiness Banter Now Posted!

home-typewriter copy 1Hello everyone! This week’s edition of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted!

This week we do our  in-depth review of 4Q earnings from Spirit, Skywest, and Air Canada. We also have the PlaneBusiness Earnings Summary for Virgin America, which reported earnings Wednesday. We’ll talk more about those results  next week.

In other news, did you catch the sharp drop in Bombardier’s shares last week? The company reported 4Q14 earnings, along with a whole lot of other news, including a departure of a CEO, an admission that it needs more cash; and more. Shares of the Canadian transportation company took a serious hit as a result — and rightfully so.

But the most talked about news of the week was the interview of Delta Air Lines‘ CEO Richard Anderson by CNN’s Richard Quest.

The subject — a more than two year research effort by the U.S major carriers that attempts to document the illegal subsidies that the three Middle Eastern carriers have benefited from.

Unfortunately Richard decided to take the Fox News approach — and link the Middle Eastern carriers to those who carried out the attacks of 9/11.

Wrong message. Completely.

We’ve see the documentation that the airlines have presented to the DOT, and we talk this week about our opinion on all of this.

Meanwhile, on the stock side, shares of Expedia flew off the charts last week, pushed by news of its deal to buy Orbitz. We give you our take on this news as well.

As usual, all this and more in this next-to-last earnings issue for the quarter of PlaneBusiness Banter. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PlaneBusiness Banter Now Posted!

home-typewriter copy 1Hello everyone! This week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted!

It’s another heavy earnings week issue this week as we take an in-depth look at the recent 4Q14 earnings reported by American Airlines, JetBlue, Allegiant, and Hawaiian. We also have the PlaneBusiness Earnings Summary for WestJet, which reported earnings Tuesday.

So which airline surprised us with their report — and not in a good way? That would be Hawaiian Airlines. If you’re wondering why shares of the stock fell of a cliff after the airline reported earnings, we’ll tell you why.

As for American, while some investors decided that lower-than-anticipated RASM guidance for 1Q15 was something to get worried about, (and one analyst actually downgraded the stock as a result of concerns over short-term sluggishness) I am not worried.

For that matter, Delta Air Lines announced lower than expected PRASM estimates for December on Tuesday.

Things are sluggish out there right now.

Now American has both its pilots and its flight attendants set with new JCBAs, the airline can devote more time and attention to other integration issues.

Best integration news we heard in the call? The airline has almost completed all the steps necessary to obtain single carrier status.

We were happy with JetBlue’s call as well. I like the attitude of the new management team. I think whatever drama has been sitting over the management team at JetBlue has finally left the building. That is a good thing.

Allegiant? What can I say? I hate the business model. But the airline continues to make money. With fuel dropping, it is only going to make more money.

We also talk about the situation developing with alliances — particularly with the Middle Eastern carriers, European carriers and U.S. partners. In case you missed it, Qatar announced a 10% stake in IAG Holdings last week, and today Korean Airlines announced a codeshare deal with American on Seoul/DFW routes. Why is this a big deal? Because Korean is a founding member of the SkyTeam alliance. Not sure what the folks in Atlanta think about this development.

All of this, and more, including the latest update on oil prices, in this week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.