Tag Archives: American Airlines

PlaneBusiness Banter Now Posted!

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Good evening my friends. Welcome back to the show that never ends.

Where is Holly this week? Last week I was in Nashville at The Beat Live. This week I’m in Long Beach at the APEX Convention. Next week? Back to the Worldwide Headquarters.

This week there’s no question what the top news story is for the airline sector — the meltdown in operations at American Airlines. What’s going on and is it going to get better or worse?

Then there are the July DOT Airline Travel Consumer Report numbers. We all only thought United’s numbers in June were bad. They were even worse in July. The good thing? Things are finally trending in a positive direction. Unlike what is happening in Dallas.

SkyWest announced a new deal with American last week. In addition the airline announced a huge stock buy back authorization. No wonder shares in the airline took off.

Unfortunately things were just the opposite at Spirit. The airline announced that it will see RASM figures under what they had originally estimated for the third quarter. A one-time thing — or a more worrisome pattern? We talk about it.

Is Frontier Airlines “penalizing” its passengers by giving those who book on the airline’s website a better deal? We don’t think so.

The word(s) of the conference at this year’s The Beat Live were: Big data.

The word(s) to describe the current “opt-in” number for the American Airlines‘ flight attendants who are going to accept the airline’s offer of an enhanced retirement package? Almost 2000.

All this, and much, much more in this week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.

PlaneBusiness Banter Now Posted!

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Hello all. A rather short review of this week’s issue this week, as yours truly is off to an event that is part of this year’s The Beat Live Conference in Nashville.

Long and the short? This week’s issue is now published!
Subscribers can access this week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter here!

September 11, 2001

Hello everyone.

I am sitting at The Beat Live Conference in Nashville — one of the best conferences for the corporate travel management side of the house. The conference opened with a moment of silence in honor of those who lost their lives on 9/11.

As I always do each year, both here, and in PlaneBusiness Banter, I prefer to particularly remember those airline employees who lost their lives that day.

Yes, there were thousands of people who lost their lives that day. But for those of us who follow this industry, work in this industry, or simply continue to be fascinated by its endearing dysfunctionality, the loss of four airline crews that day hit us hard. And it still hurts.

This is our corner of the world. And as I see it, the courage and bravery of these crewmembers deserve our heartfelt acknowledgment. And remembrance.

American Airlines Flight 11, Boston to Los Angeles, crashed into the World Trade Center.

CREW: John Ogonowski, Dracut, Mass., Captain; Thomas McGuinness, Portsmouth, N.H., First Officer; Barbara Arestegui, flight attendant; Jeffrey Collman, flight attendant; Sara Low, flight attendant; Karen Martin, flight attendant; Kathleen Nicosia, flight attendant; Betty Ong, flight attendant; Jean Roger, flight attendant; Dianne Snyder, flight attendant; Madeline Sweeney, flight attendant.

United Airlines Flight 175, Boston to Los Angeles, crashed into the World Trade Center.

CREW: Victor J. Saracini, Lower Makefield Township, Pa., Captain; Michael Horrocks, First Officer; Amy Jarret, flight attendant; Al Marchand, flight attendant; Amy King, flight attendant; Kathryn Laborie, flight attendant; Michael Tarrou, flight attendant; Alicia Titus, flight attendant.

American Airlines Flight 77, Washington to Los Angeles, crashed into the Pentagon.

CREW: Charles Burlingame, Captain; David Charlebois, First Officer; Michele Heidenberger, flight attendant; Jennifer Lewis, flight attendant; Kenneth Lewis, flight attendant; and Renee May, flight attendant.

United Airlines Flight 93, Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, crashed in Shanksville, Pa.

CREW: Jason Dahl, Colorado, Captain; Leroy Homer, Marlton, N.J., First Officer; Sandy Bradshaw, flight attendant; CeeCee Lyles, flight attendant; Lorraine Bay, flight attendant; Wanda Green, flight attendant; Deborah Welsh, flight attendant.

May they all be at peace in a much better place

PlaneBusiness Banter Now Posted!

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We’re baaack!

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends.

If it’s the week after Labor Day, that means it’s time for us to return to the fold and once again publish PlaneBusiness Banter.

This week we do our best to get back on track and update PlaneBusiness subscribers not only on the most recent industry news and notes, but we give you our take on some events that happened while we were making our way around the Western part of the country while on vacation.

American Airlines bankruptcy — check.

American Airlines CEO Tom Horton’s miscues — check.

APA’s sudden weak-kneed approach to management — check.

APFA’s strong stance on a US Airways merger — check.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane’s decision on Tuesday to allow the abrogation of the American pilot contract — check.

JetBlue’s brand new New York presence — check

JetBlue’s irritation at Tom Horton and American for continuing to imply JetBlue is in play — check.

US Airways and British Airways sign NDAs and begin due diligence process with American in regard to a merger — check.

United Airlines suffers horrible August — check…and check again.

United Airlines’ systems outage gives @FakeUnitedJeff A Treasure Trove of Material — check.

United Airlines’ systems outage shows airline’s glaring lack of Social Media presence — check.

United Airlines’ systems outage gives Social Media folks at American, Delta and Frontier Airlines a reason to shine — check.

Shares of SkyWest skyrocket in August…we tell you why — check.

Ryanair says it is willing to negotiate on Aer Lingus deal to get approval — check.

All this and more in this week’s issue — check.

Can you tell we’re in our pilot mode this week?

Subscribers can access this week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter here.

Check.

PlaneBusiness Banter Now Posted!

home-typewriter copy 1.jpg Hello everyone. This week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted. This week we take a detailed look at the recent earnings releases from United Continental Holdings, Delta Air Lines, US Airways and JetBlue.

We also see how both Ryanair and Air France/KLM fared during the last quarter.

Meanwhile, we have PlaneBusiness Earnings Summaries posted for Republic, Spirit, Hawaiian and Allegiant. Next week we’ll get you caught up on all the airlines that have reported so far for the quarter.

In breaking news tonight, it does appear that there is a tentative agreement between United Airlines and its two pilot groups. Not a lot of details out there yet, but this is certainly good news for the airline. Clearly the deal will have to be approved by the rank and file and we have no idea what will happen at this point. All we know is that it is good news that an agreement is in place.

United was also in the news this week as the airline rolled out its new beautiful Boeing 787 out in Seattle.

While that was good news, the not-so-good news for Boeing was a test of a 787, slated to be delivered to Air India which saw debris from its engine start a grass fare at the Charleston International Airport. Unlike the Trent 1000s that ANA just had to have work done, these were GE engines.

Allegiant Travel announced this last week that is is going to be taking on Airbus A319 aircraft — some are coming from Cebu, others from easyJet. Looks like this is the first move by Allegiant to begin shifting away from the Maddogs.

Even more airplane news as Delta brings the hammer down on SkyWest (Delta CEO Richard Anderson told everyone — repeatedly– in the airline’s earnings call last week that yes, this could be done. And yes, it was done.)

Airline stocks had a so-so week last week, with shares of United getting hammered. Analysts don’t like it when airlines produce revenue results that lag everyone else.

In the AMR Bankruptcy Follies this week, we talk about Tom Horton’s latest Magical Mystery PR tour and how he sounds just a tad desperate as he attempts now to “reposition” the message. We argue he only makes things worse — both for him and the airline.

Oh, we have a lot more than this to talk about, but this gets us started.

Subscribers can access this week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter here.

PlaneBusiness Banter Now Posted!

home-typewriter copy 1.jpg Good evening everyone. This week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted.

This week we have a big, jam-packed issue — and it’s not even earnings yet!

First, we award our Wild Turkey Award for Airline Management Excellence to a very worthy recipient — Richard Anderson, CEO of Delta Air Lines.

We’ve only given out four of these in our 15 years of publishing PlaneBusiness Banter, but we tell you why we think Richard is more than deserving of the honor.

As part of the award, Richard will also be receiving a case of Wild Turkey Rare Breed whiskey, compliments of the person for whom the award is named — former Southwest Airlines Chairman and CEO Herb Kelleher.

Yep, Holly was in Atlanta last week.

I got to tour the new International Terminal at the Atlanta Airport, I got to crawl around one of Delta’s newly upgraded 747s, I met with almost every top member of the airline’s management team, and then there was a terrific dinner with some of the folks from Corp Comm — complete with green fried tomatoes and fried chicken.

What more could anyone ask for?

Meanwhile, while I honor the best in the business this week, in terms of airline CEOs, we still, unfortunately, have to talk about AMR and its CEO.

In this week’s AMR Bankruptcy Follies column, I take a look at the statement last week from the airline in which it says it is now going to look at “merger alternatives.”

We present a timeline of comments from the airline’s CEO Tom Horton for you to consider as we ask the question — is Horton really serious about doing this or is this just a ploy to placate the UCC?

We take a look at the June traffic numbers, and we’ll tell you why shares of SkyWest shot off the charts last week.

Oh, and yes, Boeing locked down the order with United. The FAA also proposed a $13.2 million fine against Boeing — for its slow response to fuel tank modification design work.

We take a look at the latest DOT Air Travel Consumer numbers from May — yet another bad month for United — and we talk about British Airways, Kingfisher, Qantas, Virgin Australia, and a whole lot more.

All — this week — in PlaneBusiness Banter .

PlaneBusiness Banter Now Posted!

home-typewriter copy 1.jpg Hello everyone. A very short preview of this week’s issue tonight. I have a good reason. I have to get on an plane early in the morning. And I have to be coherent when I get off the plane. The clock is not my friend at this point.

So — here is a quick overview. American Airlines and its bankruptcy? Check. United’s new 787 livery? Check. United’s continuing operational problems? Check. Delta, Southwest and Boeing finally make the 717 deal official and Delta gives more details on how the aircraft are going to be configured and how they are going to be deployed. Check.
Then there is Farnborough. Will United go with Boeing or Airbus? I think the answer is pretty obvious. Not a very well-kept secret.
I attended the recent Association of Travel Marketing Executives Conference in Chicago where I spoke about the current state of the airline industry. This week I give you an overview of the opening presentations and why I thought the conference was a worthwhile event.
Five years? Really? American is hanging banners in airports talking about how it is working on giving passengers the industry’s youngest fleet ….in five years?
Airline stocks had a pretty good week last week. We’ll tell you who picked up the most ground and who dropped back.
All this and much, much, more in this week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter!

PlaneBusiness Banter Now Posted!

home-typewriter copy 1.jpg Hello everyone. Happy Fourth of July! This week’s holiday issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted.

This week we take a look at the latest news from American Airlines bankruptcy, including the extension for exclusivity that the airline and the Unsecured Creditors Committee have agreed to. Does this change anything? We think not, and we explain all the fine print of what it does mean.

Meanwhile, as expected, the board of directors of the Allied Pilots Association voted to send out the last best tentative agreement with the company to the rank and file for a vote. All of that will take us into August — one of the main reasons the exclusivity date was pushed back.

The “intensive” two week closed doors locked-down negotiations between the pilots at Continental, United, and the airline came to a close last week. But no contract was to be had. We are still optimistic, and we think the timing of the announcement concerning the results of the Delta Air Lines‘ pilot contract had a bit to do with what happened here as well.

Meanwhile, while all this was going on, Holly was in Chicago last week, attending and speaking at the Association of Travel Marketing Executives conference. More on all that in the our next issue. While I was in Chicago, I also got to take a tour of the United Airlines new network operations center. Wow. What a trip that place is. More on all that in this week’s issue as well.

In our AMR Bankruptcy Follies column this week, we tip our hat to our customary “Ode to a Hot Dog” column and give it a new twist, as we explore the top ten reasons American Airlines’ CEO Tom Horton doesn’t like hot dogs.

And oh, then there were the first quarter earnings that Virgin America issued on Tuesday afternoon. Yep, that’s right. The old “Vanguard” method. You know how that works. You issue bad earnings news on a day when no one is paying much attention. Like on the afternoon before July 4th.

That’s okay. We were paying attention, as were some of our subscribers.

The numbers were, in a nutshell, horrible. We ask — how long can this operation continue?

All this and more, including our second quarter airline stock performance review (in which US Airways handily took top honors) in this week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.

PlaneBusiness Banter Now Posted!

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Good evening earthlings. This week’s edition of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted.

While yours truly enjoys her digs in Chicago this week, as I hang with the folks at the American Travel Marketing Executives Conference and United Airlines, there is a lot going on in my usual environs down in the DFW Metromess.

This week I tell you why I think the board of the Allied Pilots Association will vote this week to send a contract proposal between it and American Airlines out for a vote. I explain why this does not mean that the APA no longer supports a merger deal with US Airways. And, I also talk about why, if you are a drama queen, you will certainly like July. We ain’t seen nothin’ yet folks.

In our AMR Bankruptcy Follies column this week, I take a look at two recent articles/editorials in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. We are not impressed when people who should know better treat a complex bankruptcy situation with such obvious disregard for the facts.

Meanwhile, downunder, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce was yelling loud and clear last week about the dangers of Etihad buying into Virgin Australia. While usually I listen to these types of complaints with a very skeptical ear — in this case Joyce may have a good point. Etihad could, if it wanted, purchase 100% of Virgin Australia. But Qantas is limited in how much foreign investment it can accept.

No doubt about it. Australia has become a hugely competitive market — both in terms of its international routes and on the domestic front.

In our email bag this week, we’re talking about whether or not yet another suitor could come out of the woods for American Airlines, and we discuss the potential for further changes in the United Airlines‘ C-Suite.

On Wall Street last week, airline stocks frolicked, as the price of both crude oil and jet fuel dropped dramatically. Who were the biggest gainers? We’ll let you know.

All this, and more, in this week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.

PlaneBusiness Banter Now Posted!

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Hello everyone. This week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted.

In this week’s issue we give you our take on what we think Ryanair is up to with its announced deal for Aer Lingus, we talk about the recent North Texas visits of US Airways executives, and we share what we think is the Kodak Moment of the Week from the recent US Airways’ Annual Meeting in New York.

Meanwhile, the 1113 process continues in the American Airlines bankruptcy. We think we’ll hear about a deal between the airline and the pilots this week — and it’s now up in the air as to whether Judge Lane will rule on Friday or not. He could rule on all three contracts, although APA has now formally requested a stay. Or, he could delay his ruling if he believes there is a chance for one, if not two of the unions to come to terms.

No, we don’t think the APFA will come to terms. Their contract will be abrogated.

Remember — all of this is part of the bankruptcy process. The 1113 proceedings have to come to a conclusion before the bankruptcy process can move forward, i.e., a US Airways plan be formally presented to the UCC.

As our Kodak Moment of the Week clearly shows, union leadership at the airline still solidly supports a merger with US Airways.

In other news, Delta Air Lines held its annual meeting in New York last week as well and CEO Richard Anderson talked a bit more about the airline’s refinery project. We talk a bit about that. And yes, to answer some recent questions — we like the idea a lot.

Airline stocks had a sloppy week last week, with the exception of LAN and GOL. The merger between LAN and TAM is now expected to become official on Friday, after an unexpected hold-up involving TAM shareholders. As we explain, this is no big deal, and after Friday, the largest airline in the world, per market capitalization, LATAM, will be based in Latin America.

The DOT April Air Travel Consumer Report was issued last week. All and all, a pretty good month for the airlines — particularly in terms of on-time performance and lost bags. But there were some airlines that did not fare quite as well as the others — and we’ll let you know both the good and bad news from the report.

As always, all this and more in this week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.