Hello everyone. It’s that time. Yes, EARNINGSNADO! This week we jump in the earnings shark tank and take our usual long look at the four big guns that reported earnings last week — US Airways, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines. We also offer up PlaneBusiness Earnings Summaries on WestJet, Spirit, JetBlue, Alaska, Republic and Allegiant. 

For the next two weeks we’ll be playing catch-up as we take our longer looks at the entire group. 

So last week — how did the top four guns perform?

It was a split decision. US Airways and Delta Air Lines turned in excellent margins and excellent quarters. Southwest Airlines and United Airlines — not so much.

Don’t get me wrong. All four airlines made money. But in this sector today — just making money isn’t good enough anymore. Hard to believe, eh? The name of the game now is margin expansion. The name of the game is ROIC. Now that an airline has a plan in place to make money and control its costs,  how can it maximize those two even more.

In the meantime, how many of you can tell me what RINs are? Or how about a nonuplet? Read PBB and you’ll find out why both were linked to airlines and their earnings last week.

But we have lots of other news to talk about as well. The creditors of American Airlines voted earlier in the week on the airline’s restructuring plan. The airline issued preliminary numbers Thursday morning — the plan has been voted for overwhelmingly. As expected.

With the European Commission expected to make its decision public next week (US and AA will reportedly have to give up one Philly-Heathrow route), the only remaining regulatory hurdle is the Department of Justice review. Reports are that both the airlines and the DOJ are actively involved in talks to come to an agreement for the DOJ’s approval.

As a result, the scheduled August 15th court date in U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane’s courtroom looks like it should go smoothly and the restructuring plan should be approved.

After that — it’s showtime. Yep, it’s going to happen. We’ll have ourselves another merger.

Delta Air Lines announced a new hourly Shuttle product on the West Coast today. Looks like the airline is going after corporate and business travelers who fly between SFO and LAX. The new product will be flown by Delta Connection partner Compass Airlines using E-175 Embraers outfitted with a three class configuration.

Anyone else think that market is already a little crowded out there? This one is going to be fun to watch.

All this and so much more is on our plate this week in PlaneBusiness Banter. Subscribers can access this week’s issue here!