Talk about timing.
I walk into the LABTA meeting today to give my speech and someone who is here, who lives in Dallas, tells me that Southwest has grounded 41 aircraft.
Nothing like a little bit of juicy news to go with my rubber chicken. (Actually it was turkey.)
Now that the speech is history and I’ve read through the news reports and Gary Chase’s comments from Lehman Brothers, I don’t think I need to worry about whether or not my flight tomorrow on Southwest will be canceled or not.
It appears that Southwest informed the FAA about the decision to ground the jets this morning. The airline said it had grounded 44 of its Boeing jets to inspect for possible structural damage.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Linda Rutherford, Southwest spokesperson, said the airline identified 44 airplanes from its Boeing 737-300 and 737-500 fleets that needed inspections of the aircraft skin above and below the windows along the fuselage
Of those, 38 were taken out of service Wednesday for the inspections, which take about 90 minutes per airplane, she said. One of the 44 had already been retired, and five were already undergoing other maintenance work, she said. As of 2 p.m. Wednesday, the airline had finished inspections on 19 aircraft and had returned them into service.
The airline says it should be back to its full schedule on Thursday.
How costly is this interruption going to be for the airline?
According to Lehman analyst Gary Chase, not very.
Chase said in a note this afternoon,
“The bottom line?
We believe the impact from this move will be negligible on value for
Southwest and for potential competitors. We expect this issue to be
resolved shortly with no material impact on operations, costs, or
revenue other than for a very short period of time.”
Actually, this IS going to be costly for the airline:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 12, 2008
Contact:
John J. Tormey III, Esq.: ‘jtormey@optonline.net’, 1-212-410-4142
Tom Sullivan, “Quiet Rockland”: 1-845-480-1088
“QUIET ROCKLAND” CALLS FOR NATIONWIDE BOYCOTT OF SOUTHWEST AIRLINES
Rockland County, NY – March 12, 2008:
Aero-activist group Quiet Rockland of Rockland County, New York, enraged over “callous criminal disregard for safety and human life” demonstrated by Southwest Airlines (NYSE: “LUV”) and the FAA, today called for: (1) a nationwide traveler and consumer boycott of Southwest, and (2) a federal criminal investigation of Southwest and “failed regulator” FAA to be spear-headed by the United States Attorney General and a special prosecutor.
Said John J. Tormey III, Esq., attorney and Quiet Rockland co-founder: “The persons that should be flying Southwest at this point, should be only those referred by Doctor Kevorkian. Although the depraved Southwest spin-machine audaciously ‘assures’ us Southwest’s six (6) cracked-fuselage aircraft were “never a safety problem”, Southwest should tell that to the victims of the 1988 Aloha Airlines disaster. There, metal fatigue on an aging Boeing 737 caused 18 feet of fuselage to be ripped off the plane causing grievous injuries and loss of life. House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar in his press conference Saturday, posted on “www.cspan.org”, presented detailed evidence incriminating Southwest and “Bobby” Sturgell’s failed FAA. The incriminating events occurred while “Bobby” Sturgell was Deputy Administrator and Acting Administrator of the FAA. On Saturday, Representative Oberstar thereupon rightfully excoriated the aero-perps for their long-standing “tombstone mentality”. Although criminal and morally reprehensible, and now apparent after a many-month detailed Congressional investigation, Southwest and FAA are clearly in the insalubrious business of making those tombstones happen, in addition to simply reacting to those tombstones post facto.
“As recently as last year, Southwest Airlines, with the complicity of supposed federal regulator FAA, on at least 47 of Southwest’s Boeing 737 aircraft, on between 1,451 and 60,000 flights, over a period of two-and-one-half years, deliberately put approximately 200,000 or more unsuspecting travelers in harm’s way – making them fly in un-inspected, non-compliant, aged, and in some cases fuselage-cracked commercial aircraft. Southwest knew the names and faces of their potential victims. Southwest gladly took their money, and for that matter at this point Southwest owes each of them at least a rebate in full of their ticket prices. This was not mere negligence. Irrespective of what forensic lesser charge might technically ultimately apply once further Congressional investigation concludes, the acts and omissions of Southwest and collaborator FAA were tantamount to attempted murder, on a massive scale.
“This WILL not stand.
“Quiet Rockland asks and encourages those Southwest employees tired of subscribing to their company’s tombstone culture, to leave their sinking airship now to find other and better employ at a responsible airline that actually acknowledges the dignity of the individual human traveler. We further ask every American consumer to now act in solidarity – cancel all flights and other business with Southwest – boycott the airline which we today re-name “Air Kevorkian” – and just say “No” to Southwest, to FAA, and to the greed of the aeromercantile complex that continually and habitually puts profits over people’s lives. And, as to Southwest stockholders? Vote your conscience”.#