Whew. We made it. Between a new server migration and April Fools’ day, it’s been a jam-packed couple of days at the PlaneBusiness Worldwide Headquarters.
This week’s edition of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted. Subscribers please note: If you have our log in page bookmarked, you will need to change that link. The new log in address is: http://www.planebusiness.com/banter/
This week we’re talking about the Doug and Tom Show. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court approved the merger between US Airways and American Airlines last week. Meanwhile, American Airlines’ Chairman and CEO Tom Horton ramped up the revisionist history stories at the Wings Club Luncheon last week — now the merger was not only his idea, but he was only just “playing poker” last year when he continued to rebuff the advances of US Airways.
Right Tom. Keep telling yourself that. But I have something to share with you: nobody believes you. And for good reason.
We also had a chance to spend some time with Ken Kaufman last week in New York. He is one half of the KaufmanFranco design team that has been given the task of creating new uniforms for more than 70,000 employees of the new American Airlines. I liked what I heard from Ken. Any project like this is a massive undertaking, but I think KaufmanFranco is on the right page in terms of how they want the employees to look and the image they need to project. Classy, but functional. Not trendy and non-versatile.
On the airline stock front, it was a blockbuster first quarter for the airline sector. We tell you who the big winners were. (And there were very few losers!)
Boeing. Oh Boeing. Where do we start? It looks like Airbus is going to snatch a nice A350-1000 order with IAG — as opposed to the new Boeing 777X aircraft. Or at least that’s what Jon Ostrower at the Wall Street Journal is reporting tonight.
Meanwhile the Boeing 787 saga continues. Nobody still knows what caused the two batteries to melt down, and the company has yet to fly the test flight in which they will deliberately try to obliterate the battery. But the company still says the aircraft will be flying commercially again “very soon”.
Meanwhile, more airlines are getting testy about cash compensation from Boeing as a result of the continued grounding of the 787. None of this “discounts on future purchases”. Patience can only go so far.
On the analyst front, this week we look at recent comments from Morgan Stanley analyst John Godyn concerning the industry as a whole, and United and Delta in particular. We also look at the updated American/US Airways merger profit and revenue forecasts issued by JP Morgan analysts Jamie Baker and Mark Streeter.
We had a ton of subscriber letters this week. Thank you, thank you. We also give you our take on what our favorite Airline April Fool efforts were Monday.
All this and much, much more in this week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.
Oh, and please pardon the dust and packing boxes here in PlaneBuzz. The new stuff from Restoration Hardware is still in the boxes. (Including that very cool but very overpriced aviator desk! Yeah. Right.)
Look for additional sprucing up as we get more up to speed on our WordPress skills!