Hello everyone. We just posted this week's last 1Q mega-earnings issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.

In this week's jam-packed issue, we have something for everyone. A little AMR, a little Delta, a little United, some more AMR, a little more United, and yes, even a little Republic.

Wrapped around all this are full earnings call reviews of AIr Canada, WestJet, and SkyWest. So yes, you get a lot of Air Canada, WestJet and SkyWest.

In case you haven't heard, Delta Air Lines and its pilots announced yesterday that the two sides had come to terms on a tentative agreement -- seven months in advance of the current contract amendable date.

Bravo.

While we have not seen a copy of the proposed TA yet, we understand that there is one very interesting part of the contract. That part is the one that addresses the flying of the Boeing 717.

Yep, you know where this is going.

In March I broke the story that Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines had come to terms on a deal that would see most, if not all the AirTran 717s go to Delta.

Southwest responded very defensively about the report, although the airline never denied it.

The situation is complicated because of the fact the AirTran 717 pilots who agreed to the contract/seniority agreement with the Southwest pilots and that airline agreed to a deal that saw them more or less given a "carve out" in terms of seniority -- as long as Southwest flew the 717.

All I can say is that if there is a part of the Delta pilot contract that directly addresses the 717 flying as I hear is the case -- this will be interesting to watch.

In other news, we also have this week's edition of the AMR Bankruptcy Follies. We have a real mixed bag of news and commentary this week. As most of you know, both the Unsecured Creditors Committee and AMR released statements last Friday which, in essence, allowed that the UCC was going to look at any and every potential deal that might involve American in an effort to maximize creditor and bondholder's potential return.

American wasn't too enthusiastic about the decision of the UCC, but they really don't have any control over the UCC.

We also talk this week about the March DOT Performance numbers. As we had expected, United Airlines took a big hit in terms of on-time performance, lost bags, and complaints. On the flip side, US Airways did very well in March.

Airline stocks also had a good week last week. Shares of United Airlines took top honors. We'll tell you why.

We also review the recent earnings news from Singapore Airlines, which was surprisingly bad, and IAG, parent of British Airways and Iberia. LAN also reported this last week.

All of this and much, much, more in this week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.

Good evening everyone.

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

This week we have another mega-earnings issue, as we take a close look at the recent earnings calls from Hawaiian Airlines, Allegiant Travel Company, Spirit Airlines and Republic Holdings. Republic was the only one of the group not to post a profit for the first quarter.

Of course Spirit was in the news last week for other reasons -- namely its decision to hike the charges for carry-on bags and for their initial refusal to refund a $197 ticket to a terminally-ill ex-Marine. By the time the week was over, the bag charge increases were still in place, but the airline's CEO Ben Baldanza personally refunded the cost of the ticket and the airline contributed $5K to the Wounded Warriors organization.

For once the airline discovered that bad publicity was not better than no publicity.

In other news, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines slugged it out again in Houston Tuesday before an overflow crowd at the Houston City Council chambers.

Southwest wants to fly internationally out of Hobby Airport, and has asked the city for permission to build a new international addition to the current airport at a cost of roughly $100K.

But United is not amused. Especially since it just broke ground in January on a $700 million expansion and improvement of its facilities at IAH, which will include more international gate expansion.

Most interesting factoid from Tuesday's testimony and questioning -- on the day United Airlines broke ground on its new IAH expansion in January, Southwest's Gary Kelly was talking to the Houston mayor about its desire to fly internationally out of Hobby.

Oh, this is such a cruel dog-eat-dog business.

This week we also have our latest AMR Bankruptcy Follies column. This week we look at the position of the bondholders in the bankruptcy process -- why they want to get as much as possible back from the airline and how this return could be maximized as a result of a US Airways merger with American while it is still in bankruptcy protection.

Last week shares of Republic and Spirit were the laggards for the airline sector, but the price of oil plunged. That's good news. So far this week -- oil prices have continued to move downward.

As always -- all this and more -- in this week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.

Hello everyone.

For those of you who are subscribers and print out PBB, I warn you -- this one is probably going to be more than 150 pages. Yes, it is a return of the "Killer Earnings Issue." (Insert screams here.)

This week we're looking at the recent earnings calls of Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, US Airways, and JetBlue Airways. Only one of the four made a profit. Do you know which one?

The laggard in the bunch was definitely United Airlines. The airline's 1Q revenues clearly showed the effect of the airline's SHARES cutover. The problem? The airline still has a number of cutover issues that have yet to be resolved -- and these issues directly affect the ability of the airline to capture additional revenue and/or they concern upgrades.

Between all this and the usual problems that any merger comes with -- this year is looking more and more like a transitional year for United.

Delta AIr Lines, on the other hand, produced excellent revenue during the quarter, as did US Airways and JetBlue.

As we also note in our comments about US Airways' results, the airline continues to be a great poster child for our "Just Say No to Fuel Hedging" campaign.

The airline posted a relatively small loss for the quarter -- with no fuel hedges in place.

This week, Delta Air Lines announced that yes, it is going to purchase an oil refinery. When you stop snickering, I'll tell you why I like the move.

Hawaiian Airlines' shares had a nice gain last week -- the result of better than expected earnings results and strong guidance. Meanwhile. shares of US Airways picked up even more ground last week. For the year, our favorite trading stock (per our comments in January) has picked up more than 103%.

Of course no issue of PBB would be complete now without the latest addition of the AMR Bankruptcy Follies. This week we talk a little about Harvey Miller -- the ex-Lorenzo attorney who is AMR's lead restructuring counsel. We also tell you how much he is charging AMR by the hour. After you recover from that nugget, you can read our take on the airline's attempt to negate the significance of the airline's three unions and their signed term sheets with US Airways, and we talk about some of the comments that came out of last week's court testimony.

Yes, apparently AMR did have another strategy besides the 'Cornerstone Strategy." It was the "Limp-Along" or "Kick the Can" strategy.

All of this and more all all of this in this week's huge issue of PlaneBusiness Banter .

Good evening Earthlings.

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

The last week has been brutal. I'm not kidding. First, we had two airlines report earnings last week, and we have the full review of the earnings call this week from Southwest Airlines and Alaska Air Group.

Our short take? Alaska turned in a respectable quarter -- especially considering the airline used to simply assume it would post a loss in the first quarter. Not anymore.

This was also Alaska CEO Bill Ayer's last earnings call. Ayer, one of the best CEOs in the business -- will remain as Chairman. Should investors be worried about this change at the top of one of the most well-run (and profitable) U.S. airlines? No. I'll tell you why.

As for Southwest, the airline has us totally confused.

It keeps pushing back dates for various merger-related integrations with AirTran. That we get. The airline clearly, as many of us said at the time the deal was announced, did not and still does not have the technology underfoot to make this deal work.

That includes the technology necessary to enable Southwest to fly internationally. Or to merge fully with AirTran. And then there are the fees that AirTran charges as part of their operation. An operation that, in a number of ways, performed better than Southwest in the first quarter.

Now they say they are going to keep all fees that are currently a part of the AirTran model in place. For at least 2-3 years.

Say what?

So now the "we're going to migrate the AirTran operation into that of Southwest as quickly as possible" mantra has changed.

But why? The airline could switch off the fees at AirTran overnight.

Could it be Southwest is finally beginning to understand the value of "the upsell?"

No. Otherwise they wouldn't be putting more seats in its 737-700s.

See what I mean about confusing?

About the best news out of Denton Drive last week was the news that the airline has finally made a decision about upgrading at least some of its IT incapability.

The airline announced it was going with Amadeus -- and will use that company's res product to enable it to start international operations. But not until 2014.

(Actually I think we'll see Amadeus take both the international and the domestic PSS projects on at Southwest before this is all over.)

But clearly the major news last week was the announcement Friday that the three major unions at American Airlines had signed term sheets with US Airways -- in effect telling management at AMR they want no part of a standalone airline -- and pretty much throwing out a vote of "No Confidence" towards the current AMR management.

Needless to say, the fact the pilots did this pretty much confirms what we had said here last week -- that the "Hale Memo" was a farce. Clearly Mr. Hale just signed his name to something that had no truth attached to it whatsoever.

And then the powers that be at AMR wonder why it is that their employees don't trust them. Funny how that works.

We talk a lot about what happened last week, tell you what you can expect to see happen in the next weeks and months, and why you shouldn't think that things have stopped happening just because they aren't happening in public.

No question about it -- the actions of the three union leaders and their boards last week was amazing. Something we've certainly never seen in this industry before.

No surprise -- shares of US Airways climbed sharply last week on the news of the union agreements.

In addition, did you hear about the lawsuit that AIG, parent of ILFC has filed against Steve Hazy, the founder of ILFC, and currently the CEO of Air Lease Corp.?

The really bizarre part of the story -- all the major players were in New York at the Plaza Hotel for the Air Finance Conference this week when the news hit.

I would think that might have made things just a tad uncomfortable.

As always, we have all of this and more -- in this week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.

Hello everyone. Just wanted to post a note to let you know that yes, there will be an issue of PlaneBusiness Banter posted this week. We will publish later today. (Wednesday)

My excuse for our tardiness is the same as it was last week -- 92-year old PlaneDad. (He's not here, so he's an easy mark.)

Thank you to all of you who have sent me emails and tweets. PlaneDad is doing just fine -- as long as he does not try and walk on his own. He leaves the hospital today, after which he will be admitted to a skilled rehab facility.

Our PBB publishing schedule will be back to normal with next week's issue.

Talk to you later!

It's a packed house in Manhattan this morning as U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane opens up the airline's Section 1113c hearing.

Apparently the crowd is so large, they have opened up two "overflow" rooms.

I am not in New York. I am in the lovely confines of Slidell, LA, just outside of New Orleans, where my Dad is now in the hospital, awaiting transfer into a physical rehabilitation program, after suffering three falls in one week.

But fear not.

The intrepid Terry Maxon, reporter for the Dallas Morning News is on the ground there, as is Scott Mayerowitz with the Associated Press.

Scott is the more prolific tweeter of the two. Terry -- he's still getting used to the Tweetie thing.

Scott can be followed at @globetrotScott

But I would strongly recommend you follow Terry's blog posts. You can find them here.

We also have a couple of folks on the scene (our stellar cast of PlaneBusiness undercover correspondents) and if we hear any particular tidbits of note, we will tweet them. If you don't follow us on the Tweetie yet, our account is @planebusiness.

Speaking of, what do you think Captain Dave Bates, president of the Allied Pilots Association, thought, when he realized Terry was on the same plane to New York as he was on Sunday?

Surprise!

You can read Terry's comments about their short "leaving the aircraft" interview here.

Good read. I continue to be impressed with Dave Bates and the way in which the APA has handled themselves over the last few weeks. No histrionics. No union/management posturing. No "looking toward the past." Just a very methodical and business-like way of approaching the options in front of them.

What a refreshing and, I would add, much needed change.

Captain Bates and I spent some time together when we were both at the recent Phoenix Sky Harbor Airline Symposium . I came away impressed with his take on the situation then. I remain impressed.

ALLIED PILOTS ASSOCIATION, ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL

FLIGHT ATTENDANTS AND TRANSPORT WORKERS UNION JOIN IN

SUPPORT OF AMERICAN AIRLINES-US AIRWAYS MERGER

Union Leaders Pursue Best Path to Restore American Airlines to Preeminence

Fort Worth, Texas (April 20, 2012) — The Transport Workers Union (TWU), the

Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) and the Allied Pilots Association

(APA) issued the following joint statement today:

“On behalf of nearly 55,000 American Airlines front-line employees—including

the 17,000 members of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the 10,000

members of the Allied Pilots Association and the 26,000 members of the Transport

Workers Union—we are pleased to confirm our support of a possible merger between our

airline and US Airways. We have reached agreements on terms sheets for collective

bargaining agreements that would govern the American Airlines employees of the

merged airline with US Airways.

“This significant step represents our shared recognition that a merger between

American Airlines and US Airways is the best strategy and fastest option to complete the

restructuring of American Airlines, enabling it to exit the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process

and restore American Airlines to a preeminent position in the airline industry.

“As envisioned, a merger of US Airways and American Airlines provides the best

path for all constituencies, including employees of both American Airlines and US

Airways. The contemplated merger would be based on growth, preserve at least 6,200

American Airlines jobs that would be furloughed under the company’s standalone

strategy, and provide employees of both American and US Airways with competitive,

industry-standard compensation and benefits. Over the long term, the combined new

airline would support greater job security and advancement opportunities for both

American Airlines’ and US Airways’ employees that are far superior to those available to

employees at either airline on a stand-alone basis. Importantly, by avoiding a lengthy and

contentious 1113 process, the new carrier would be able to emerge from bankruptcy more

quickly.

“A merger would create a foundation to establish American Airlines as a vigorous

competitor of the two larger network carriers and the industry at large. Customers of both

airlines and air travelers in general will benefit greatly from a viable third network carrier

and significantly enhanced travel choices.”

That is the full text of the unions’ joint statement.  

Hello everyone.

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

This week we are talking a lot about -- what else? American Airlines and whether the airline should continue in its attempt to come out of bankruptcy as a standalone carrier. Or if, perhaps, it should listen to what many Wall Street analysts are saying, what we are saying, and what a lot of employees believe -- that a merged entity would provide a better opportunity for the airline.

Not only that, but an agreement pertaining to a merged entity would then allow the airline to use bankruptcy to tailor the airline more effectively. And efficiently -- taking into account the much larger airline that would be created.

This last week the airline and its handlers definitely went on the offensive as it attempted to sway opinion using old-school PR tactics. The attempts didn't gain much traction, and we talk about why they didn't. Short reason: you just can't do that kind of stuff today and expect it to hold up. Times have changed.

In addition, the unions at American came out with their own missives last week, including one in which it implored politicians who don't know what they are talking about to not comment on anything to do with the bankruptcy. Until all the facts are known.

I have never seen all three major unions at a bankrupt airline appear to be so in synch in a situation like this. Not a good thing if you are Tom Horton. I don't think his recent exhortations to the pilots to "put the war paint on" had its intended result. In fact, I think it backfired.

Monday, all interested parties will be in bankruptcy court in Manhattan. From that point on, the timing is a bit nebulous, but if I were to guess, I would guess that US Airways will need to come forth in some fashion next week, if it is indeed serious in making an attempt at a merger.

American is slated to open up the hearing Monday with their side of the story, followed by presentations from the airline's three unions. But that schedule may not be followed. Stay tuned.

But there was a lot of other news last week, including a standing-room only crowd down in Houston, where the Houston City Council took their first stab at a decision on whether or not Southwest Airlines should be allowed to fly internationally out of Hobby Airport.

As I say in this week's issue, you rarely see consultants' work so publicly ripped to pieces as members of the Council did this week. But that's exactly what happened. They'll be a rematch in about two weeks, at which time United Airlines will present its side of the story, and its study.

Speaking of Southwest Airlines, we hear that the airline should announce a new IT deal on Thursday. Or as one of our SWA friends put it in an email, "The ranking of the airline's priorities has apparently changed."

PBB subscribers will get the joke.

We had news this last week of yet another CFO departure, and late today, we heard that there will be another CEO departure in the next couple of months.

We also had an analyst change addresses.

Change, change, and more change.

That was certainly true with this month's DOT Air Travel Consumer Report. The March numbers had a brand new denizen at the top of the on-time departure and lost bags rankings -- Virgin America.

Meanwhile, on Wall Street, airline stocks were a bit down for the week, as was the market as a whole. Jet fuel rose modestly for the week.

Finally, my apologies for the delay in publishing this week, but we had an incident involving PlaneDad that kept us more or less occupied all day Monday and somewhat on Tuesday. He fell. No phone was accessible. He lives alone. He's 92. Seventeen hours on the floor. He's now in the hospital. Yours truly will be returning to New Orleans later tomorrow. You get the picture.

And yeah, it's not a particularly pretty one.

Sigh.

On that note -- go read this week's issue of PBB. And if you are not a subscriber -- why not?

Hello earthlings. I would say good morning, but I'm not ready to concede that fact yet.

This week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted. This week we're talking about airlines that are bankrupt, airlines that want to merge with airlines that are bankrupt, airlines that are trying to figure out how to merge with their partners who used to be bankrupt, and then there is the airline that wants to buy a refinery and produce its own jet fuel.

Never a dull moment in this industry.

This week we take a break from our American Airlines' Bankruptcy Follies as we give you instead a summary from a panel discussion we participated in on Monday. The subject? "The Future of American Airlines."

PBB subscribers are pretty familiar with most of what was discussed, which is more than I think was the case for most of the folks assembled at the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth.

Stand alone? Go belly up? Enter into a merger with another airline? Stand on the sidelines while their last chance at a major airline merger is snatched out from under their nose?

Trust me -- there are a lot of scenarios here.

Twelve months out, those of us who participated on the panel will be able to see if our suggested thesis for the business case study --"Missed Opportunities" is still the case. Or if the long-term trend changes.

In other news, we talked to the folks at United Airlines last week about their continued cutover hangover. There does seem to be progress being made -- and we'll talk about that. We also talked to them about why the cutover had to be done on March 3 -- and not after the new SHARES GUI was completed in nine months. We also ask the question that we were pushed to ask by subscribers -- namely -- was the airline motivated to do the cutover because there were management incentive payments in play?

We got answers to most of our questions. By next week, hopefully we'll have the rest.

Meanwhile, down in Houston, Southwest Airlines wants to start flying internationally out of Hobby Airport. Needless to say, United, which is in the middle of a $700 million international terminal upgrade at IAH is not too happy about this idea. But it sounds like Houston is very happy about the thought of increased service, more money, and more jobs.

Let the fight begin.

Airline stocks had a pretty benign week last week -- with one glaring exception. That of course was Pinnacle. Shares of the airline sank 60% after the airline filed for Chapter 11 protection.

And of course, we preview first quarter results, as they are just around the quarter. Long and short -- we will have more airlines lose money for the quarter than post a profit.

All this and much, much more in this week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.

Hello everyone. It was indeed a dark and stormy day today in the DFW Metromess. Which is why I am glad I was not there.

Thanks for all the updates you sent to me. Many of you had windshields cracked, skylights smashed, and some of the videos from DFW International I've seen are downright frightening.

After it was all over, 110 aircraft at DFW International were determined to have hail damage, hundreds of passengers are no doubt spending the night there tonight, multiple tornadoes touched down in the DFW metropolitan area, and all in all, I was glad I was in Phoenix.

In addition, yes, in answer to a number of your emails, the Worldwide Headquarters made it through the event just fine. No hail. No damage of any kind.

Now that we've finished with all that -- what else are we talking about in this week's PlaneBusiness Banter?

Oh, you know. Bankruptcies, bankruptcies and more bankruptcies.

This week not only do we update you on the latest with the American Airlines' bankruptcy, but Pinnacle Airlines filed for Chapter 11 protection Sunday night. And surprise, surprise, guess who put up the $74 million plus DIP money for Pinnacle? That's right. Delta Air Lines.

Pinnacle also announced that it was ceasing its flying for United Airlines -- later this year.

Which begs the question -- what eventually becomes of Pinnacle? Will Delta Air Lines force a shotgun wedding between it and Comair? Or will Pinnacle simply become part of the SkyWest empire?

Then there is the matter of 30 Bombardier Q400s. Who is going to fly these aircraft after Pinnacle stops flying them for United?

It was April Fools Day Sunday. We'll give you our take on which airline we think produced the best April Fools effort.

Last week we had a guest columnist tell us why he thinks Air Canada is not too big to fail. This week another subscriber argues that the Canadian government would never let that happen. And our PBB Brown Bag Analyst comes back and argues some more.

Just what we like -- healthy debate.

Friday was also the end of the first quarter. We give you the full rundown on how the airline sector fared for the quarter, as well as for the last week. The top performing major airline stock for the first quarter? US AIrways. (Something about merger chatter that tends to run up the price of a stock.) In the case of US Airways, the stock rose 50% during the quarter.

This week in the latest edition of the American Airlines' Bankruptcy Filing Follies, we talk about why it is we think labor has leverage in this bankruptcy; we talk a lot about "convergence" and we we update you on why WolfeTrahan analyst Hunter Keay still doesn't think American Airlines will exit bankruptcy on its own.

We update you on easyJet's updated fiscal year first half numbers, we sneak a look at Delta Air Lines' RASM estimate for March it issued Tuesday morning, and oh gosh, we talk about a whole lot more.

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

Hello earthlings.

Whew.

Yes, I know. We're one day late this week.

As PlaneBusiness Banter subscribers know -- sometimes our publication times are, er, flexible.

Besides, I have a good excuse.

This week we've got the latest on the continuing and somewhat stranger-by-the minute tale of the Southwest/AirTran 717s, and the airline's response to the report we posted last week about the airline selling some if not all of them to Delta Air Lines.

We also, unfortunately, talk about the JetBlue Captain who apparently went nuts at 35,000 ft. yesterday. The Feds have released the formal complaint and affidavit on the incident. Makes for some chilling reading.

From a personal perspective, it's very sad and troubling. The pilot was one of the airline's most senior pilots, a Check Airman -- and, as I realized when I read the complaint, he had been a recent subscriber to PBB.

How did the airline handle the situation? We'll talk a bit about that.

Shifting gears, last week was a huge week here in the Valley of the Sun where I am still happily hitting the computer keys. First it was the ISTAT Conference. Then Wednesday it was US Airways Media Day. Did CEO Doug Parker give us all the juicy details about what they want to do with American Airlines? Not hardly. But it was a worthwhile day nonetheless. I'll tell you why.

Thursday and Friday, the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport held its annual International Airline Symposium and this year the airport, along with Oliver Wyman, put together an impressive list of participants, including IAG Chairman and British Airways former CEO Willie Walsh.

American Airlines' Will Ris brought the house down Friday afternoon as he called out to Willie from his place on the platform, "So Willie, is that your checkbook in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?" Surprisingly, Walsh began waving a checkbook around for all to see.

Later on, during the CEO panel, Walsh commented, "It's one thing when a competitor is in bankruptcy, but it's another thing entirely when it's your partner."

Yes, isn't it?

The event also was the first public appearance of former ALPA President and former FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. Randy gave an excellent speech Friday, wearing one of his legendary Hawaiian shirts, and the crowd gave him a standing ovation. Randy is one of our favorite people. We're glad he's back. And we're glad he wasn't in a shirt and tie.

I hung out with Nick Calio and Jean Medina from Airlines for America last week. In fact I hung out with them a lot. All three events during the week. And cocktails. And dinners. And lunches.

I like Nick. I think he is a much needed breath of fresh air in an organization that has needed it for a very long time.

ALPA President and PlaneBusiness Banter Lounge Lizard Interviewee Lee Moak was also in attendance at this year's Symposium. We got to spend some time with him, as well as APA's President Dave Bates. Yes, there were, as you can tell, more than a few pilots in the house.

In addition to all this, we have a great PBB Brown Bag Analyst Guest Column this week. The question he poses: Is Air Canada too big to fail?

We also have this week's edition of the American Airlines' Bankruptcy Filing Follies.

Yes, the mega-issue of PlaneBusiness Banter from the desert is posted. Finally! Next week we can get back to normal!

Hello everyone.

This week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted. In this issue we talk about this week's ISTAT Conference that was held in Scottsdale. Can airlines find financing in the capital markets? What about the European banks -- are they completely out of the loop now? Asian banks -- are they stepping up to the plate?

What is the biggest challenge to an airline treasurer these days?

Then of course the Airbus/Boeing competition was in full swing, with dueling presentations. Both sides used information that was not directly comparable, so trying to figure out just who is better than whom was almost impossible. But it was good theater.

But probably not as good theater as watching the engine manufacturers go at it.

In case you have not been paying attention, the engine manufacturers are the ones who are responsible for coming up with new products that are substantially more efficient. Why? Higher fuel prices. And I do think that perhaps the competitive undertones that once could sense between the folks from CFM, Rolls-Royce and Pratt &Whitney were more nasty than the usual Airbus/Boeing cat snarls.

Are Boeing and Airbus production rates too high?

We let you know what the folks at ISTAT thought.

It is a requirement that airlines make money? One aircraft lessor argues no, it isn't.

Which widebodied aircraft did most ISTAT attendees say they would like to own?

Who upstaged Air Lease Corp's Steve Hazy on the aircraft lessor's panel?

What is the current update on the cargo market? (Hint: It's not positive.)

Anyway, you get the picture. We love the ISTAT Conference each year. It is the closest thing this country has to an Air Show. It has all the same people -- just without the chalets and the aircraft.

We also have a new American Airlines' Bankruptcy Filing Follies column, we take a look at how the usual suspects fared in the most recent DOT Air Travel Consumer Report (and welcome Virgin America to the group that reports each month) and we look at some recent stock action in share of Pinnacle.

All this and much, much more in this week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.

Hello earthlings. This week's edition of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted. This week we take a long look at the latest goings-on with the American Airlines' bankruptcy; we update you on why we think not all the bitching and moaning about problems with the United cutover to SHARES is a function of IT malfunctions, but rather of planned changes; we talk a bit about the presentations that were made Tuesday at the JP Morgan Airline Conference, including what US Airways learned from its failed bid to takeover Delta Air Lines, and yes, we talk about Southwest Airlines a bit this week as well.

Laura Wright, Southwest's CFO, told investors at the JP Morgan conference Tuesday that the airline will post a loss for the first quarter. She also addressed a question from an investor about a huge pet peeve of ours -- the airline's apparent continued inability to upgrade its IT systems. A case of priorities? Maybe the airline needs to readjust its priorities.

We also have another edition of our "AMR Bankruptcy Filing Follies" this week. This week the new consultant to go to court and ask for money as part of the airline's bankruptcy restructuring is....McKinsey. We give you our irreverent and opinionated take on the consultants' 18 page filing to the court.

On the earnings front, we summarize the year end numbers from both Lufthansa and Air France/KLM, and then there is February traffic numbers for the North American market.

Speaking of Lufthansa, the airline's deal to sell bmi to IAG, parent of British Airways, has hit what appears to be a small bump in the road. And no, that bump is not Sir Richard Branson's backside. The EC wants more time to consider the deal, and reports said late Tuesday that IAG was willing to offer up some concessions. What concessions is IAG offering up? Nobody knows.

And what about this situation with China? The country seems determined to punish Airbus for the sins of the European Union and its insistence that all airlines that fly to Europe participate in its Emissions Trading Scheme program. Can the IACO come in and take control of this situation? Will it make a difference?

Last week airline stocks had a reasonably good week, but between rising fuel prices and some not-so-hot traffic and RASM estimates from a few of the usual suspects, the angst did take a toll as most U.S. airline stocks ended up in the bottom tier of the lot for the week.

Speaking of traffic, we have all the traffic numbers from February for you to take a look at as well.

All this, and a lot more, in this week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.

Good evening everyone. This week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted!

In this week's issue we take a look at the fourth quarter earnings results from Republic Holdings, parent of Frontier, Chautauqua, and Republic Airways. The airline rolled out Frontier's new CEO on the earnings call last week. Some of you may remember him. His name is Dave Siegel. Yes, the same Dave Siegel who used to be the CEO at US Airways.

While the airline's financial reports remain a struggle to dig through, the good news is that Frontier made a profit for the fourth quarter. Those dramatic cuts in capacity have helped the airline's profitability tremendously.

But just when we thought it might get easier to dissect the financials of the company, Republic announced last week it was changing the way they report the various components of its operation. Sigh.

This last weekend was a huge weekend for United Airlines as the airline formally moved over operations of both United and Continental onto the Continental SHARES PSS platform. How did the airline do? Not bad. It certainly wasn't smooth sailing, but none of these cutovers ever are. By Tuesday morning, most of the boarding pass and kiosk issues had been taken care of, most passengers were seeing their miles and itineraries appear in their new FF accounts, and operations were running with many fewer delays.

We talk about what issues remain with the cutover in this week's issue.

On another front, we had a veritable slew of personnel shifts in the financial side of the industry last week. CFOs moving from here to there, airline analysts taking jobs with airlines, and other airline analysts moving up. We explain all of these, and tell you why we think the two moves that Delta Air Lines made were very good ones.

On the American Airlines front, there was no movement to report between the unions and the airline last week. The airline said on its restructuring blog that it was "disappointed" there wasn't more progress this week at the negotiating table.. "

I don't think the unions quite see it the same way.

The airline also announced its equivalent of Economy Plus -- I have high hopes the airline will market this effort a hell of a lot better than it did its previous expanded leg room product some 10 years ago. I never though the MRTC program was ever effectively marketed.

The airline sector staged a nice comeback last week, after the drubbing it took the week earlier, most as a result of lower oil and jet fuel prices. Who did well, who didn't and how low did shares of Air Canada go?

We also have some great letter this week in the PBB Mail bag.

That's it for now folks. All this and more in this week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.

Hello all!

Whew. It's late! Or maybe it's just very early.

Whatever way you'd like to look at it, this week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted.

Last week we thought we would have had fourth quarter earnings from Pinnacle Airlines to discuss this week, but the airline notified us last week that the information in Thomson concerning its reporting date was not correct -- even though it had been recently updated. In fact, the regional airline that is desperately attempting to stay out of bankruptcy says it does not know when it will report fourth quarter numbers.

In addition, Pinnacle said in an SEC filing Wednesday that it has canceled its shareholder meeting, which had been scheduled for May. The airline did not set another date.

Meanwhile, Republic Holdings released their fourth quarter numbers late Wednesday, and the airline is scheduled to hold its earnings call later today (Thursday.)

So we will have our usual in-depth look at that call and those numbers in next week's issue.

This week we talk a lot about AMR -- as the company was in bankruptcy court Wednesday. Did the bankruptcy judge allow the company to hire its laundry list of advisors, consultants, and attorneys? We'll talk about that decision by the judge, along with the fact that the airline is apparently going to use yet another consultant, not Boston Consulting Group, to come up with strategic plans for American Eagle.

That means the airline will have one consulting firm working on the mainline operation and another working with Eagle.

Uh-huh.

The other consulting group? Bain.

Meanwhile, this week the pilots union at American sued the airline, claiming that its negotiations with the airline should be conducted not under Section 1113, but under the auspices of the Railway Labor Act.

Meanwhile, on Wall Street, the stocks we track at PlaneBusiness posted the worst week of the year last week , as traders got more nervous the higher jet fuel prices climbed.

United Airlines attempted a fare increase last week -- but by Tuesday of this week it was clear band the rest of the discounters were not going to bite.

IAG, parent of British Airways and Iberia, reported earnings this week. How did the airline holding company do? We'll tell you.

And finally, yep, we'll tell you the details from our adventure with Oscar on Sunday. Yes, that Oscar. Red carpet and all. That's the reason we are a little later than usual this week. But you know what -- it was worth it!

All this and much more -- in this week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter .