Monthly Archives: June 2007

Speaking of Boeing — Who You Gonna Believe on the 787 Roll Out Schedule?

As Reuters noted in a story this morning, should we believe Boeing or a Wall Street analyst?

“Boeing’s (BA) closely watched 787 Dreamliner plane is up to four months behind schedule, according to a JP Morgan analyst note circulated on Monday.

“We believe that the ‘power on’ to the aircraft was scheduled for April 21, but is now scheduled for August 15, and even that date is considered a bit of a stretch by some suppliers,” said JP Morgan analyst Joseph Nadol in a research note, citing unnamed suppliers on the 787 program.

Carson N

The head of Boeing’s commercial airplane unit, Scott Carson, said earlier on Monday that the plane was still on schedule for roll out in July and test flight in August or September. He said it would be delivered on time to the first customer in May 2008.”

US Airways Apparently Sticking with Airbus

Logo Airbus

Bloomberg reports tonight that it appears US Airways is going to stay with Airbus, and not make the switch to Boeing.

“US Airways Group Inc. plans to order at least 90 Airbus SAS aircraft valued at more than $10.7 billion to replace planes and add long-range jets, a person with direct knowledge of the sale said.

   

US Airways will purchase about 60 single-aisle Airbus A320 aircraft, eight wide-body A330s and 22 long-range A350 XWB jets, said the person, who asked not to be identified before today’s announcement at the Paris air show. US Airways, the seventh-largest U.S. carrier, chose the Airbus planes over Boeing Co.’s 737 and 787 Dreamliner models after months of negotiations.”

Ticker: (NYSE:LCC)

So Take That You Northwest Person….

From a posting impaired reader:

“To the person who wrote the first email . . . either you’re an NW employee preparing to testify to the judge or you’re smoking something reeeeaaaalllly good.

NW did NOT find an underserved market here that they think has profit potential.  This is simply a slap back at AA and nothing more.

AA has a legitimate market reason for flying to MSP since they have a large NYC presence, but NW won’t have any of it.  And that’s how we got where we are today.”

More Readers Chime In on the Northwest/American Slap Down

Arguing

I can see the flood gates have opened. It’s good to see some things never change.

First email received:

“Holly,

While a cute observation by the author, this “mine is bigger therefore better” analogy is off the mark – the real question is what are the load factors on those routes and is there room for extra capacity?  If NWA can fly full airplanes from DFW-LGA and make a profit good for them, ditto AA to MSP. It is not necessarily an “us or them”.

I must say the author’s comments do accurately reflect the typical “Sky Nazi” view of the airline world……”

Ouch.

Second email received:

“Gee Holly –

At least we have something else to talk about now that the Sopranos is over.

I can see Tom Bach up there in MSP screaming,  “Those f**ks in Dallas have NO RESPECT for NW in MSP.  Let’s teach them a lesson.  Add 3 DFW-LGA nonstops with mainline.

MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!

Puff on the cigar……cut to scene at AMR Headquarters.”

Third email received:

Holly,

Regarding the catfight between NW and AA, I think you said it best a few years ago when you said, “AA may have written the airline gamebook, but nobody plays the game like NW.”  Or, words to that effect.

The e-mail you posted earlier today from the AA employee reflects the usual “Don’t Mess with Texas” attitude that we all hear from AA from time to time.  Its best he/she keeps in mind that NW’s costs are MUCH lower than AA’s.  Best they be careful who they choose to two-step with!

Have a good weekend!

Northwest/American Pissing Match: A Reader Comments

Twobullies Copy

“I may be biased (since I work for AA), but I think it’s clear who will come out on top in the AA-NW hub-infiltrating pissing match.

Let’s see….out of NYC, including LGA and JFK, Northwest (including Airlink)  flies to….MSP, DTW, MEM, IND, GRR, and in September, DFW. I think that is it.

Out of LGA and JFK, AA (including Eagle) flies to LHR, CDG, ZRH, NRT, SJU, STT, SDQ, STI, CCS, EZE, SCL, AUA, YUL, YYZ, YHZ (those are outside of the 50 states, for starters, and I am missing some for sure ), and in the good old 50 states, BOS, BWI, DCA, RDU, CLT, ATL, JAX, MCO, TPA, FLL, MIA, PIT, CLE, CMH, CVG, DTW, ORD, MSP (as of September) SDF (beginning in September), BNA, MSY, DFW, STL, LAS (beginning in September), LAX, SFO, SAN, SEA…and I am missing some here as well.

Despite the fact the DFW metroplex is much bigger than the MSP area and it generates more local traffic to NYC, I don’t think there’s any doubt AA is going to smack NW around on this one.

NW needs to stop getting pissy about someone overlapping their routes.  I know AA was well known for that too, but I think cooler heads have prevailed for awhile on that aspect here.”

LOL

Sorry. I couldn’t resist posting this for all to read. It’s Friday. We need a little levity around here.

 

Dead Money

Wall-Streetsepia-1

That’s what Goldman Sachs analyst Robert Barry called the airline sector today in a research note.

He wrote that  increasing supply of available airplane seats, continued fuel-price pressure and a tough pricing market together make “most [airline] stocks look like dead money.”

Even with their recent pullback amid anxiety about weakening domestic results, Barry wrote that he doesn’t see many positive catalysts for airline industry stocks.

He also downgraded Continental stock to “Neutral” from “Buy” on valuation and said he’s enthusiastic only about shares of Delta Air Lines. In the longer term, he said JetBlue also is a “Buy.”

Ticker: (NYSE: DAL); (Nasdaq:JBLU); (NYSE:CAL)

Let the Games Begin

Well, we figured that one out quickly enough. Moi was just reminded that this announcement follows the one a couple of weeks ago by American that it was going to start LaGuardia-Minneapolis service.

Oh boy.

Here we go. Let’s get ready to rumble with two of the best.

Ticker: (NYSE:AMR)

Good Morning

Nwa-4

I know, I know. I’m supposed to be writing. I am. But I couldn’t resist this one piece of news that just came across the wires this A.M. I think it definitely qualifies for “strange news item of the day.” Then again, the day is far from over, so who knows?

The news? Northwest Airlines just announced new service between Dallas Ft. Worth and LaGuardia.

Go figure that one out.

More later.

Ticker: (NYSE:NWA)