PlaneBusiness Banter Now Posted!

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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.