Hello everyone. This week in PlaneBusiness Banter we are talking earnings. And more earnings. And more earnings.
This week’s 150-plus page issue contains our earnings call reviews for American Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Air Group and Southwest Airlines.
To sum up? We now know American has no more unencumbered aircraft (all the furniture has now, officially, been burned), one analyst believes the company is pushing pilots to agree to an expanded domestic codesharing agreement so that American can enter into such an agreement with US Airways, and yet another analyst thinks the airline’s liquidity situation is inevitably going to lead to a bankruptcy filing — probably in 2012.
Meanwhile, American Eagle and its pilots came to terms on a new eight-year tentative agreement last week.
Southwest Airlines‘ earnings call was …long. The airline’s financial results are…confusing. They are going to be that way for probably another couple of quarters — until the merger with AirTran passes the year-over-year comp mark. Meanwhile the airline’s costs are higher than we’d like to see but revenues were good.
Many of you still appear to be confused as to whether the airline lost money or made money. We explain all of that, and we give you CFO Laura Wright’s dissertation on the airline’s hedge situation. In full.
Laura deserves a medal for that performance.
Alaska Air Group had another strong quarter. The airline now does appear to be that very rare breed. Quarter in, quarter out, the airline continues to produce exceptional margins while running a very well managed operation.
Pinch me. Is this company really operating an airline?
Hawaiian Airlines also had a very good third quarter. The airline has taken a number of risks over the last couple of years, in an attempt to diversify its flying mix. This quarter’s results prove the airline’s strategic plan is working.
A heads up for institutional investors — management members from both Alaska Air Group and Hawaiian Airlines will be in New York in November for investor days. I’d recommend you go and talk to the teams from both airlines.
All this and much more in this week’s lengthy issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.