United States airline January traffic statistics as released by each carrier. The main statistics released on a monthly basis illustrate the carriers traffic illustrated here as a percentage increase or decrease from the same month one year earlier; carrier capacity illustrated here as a percentage increase of decrease from the same month one year earlier; [...]
Can you say KARMA? The long awaited bankruptcy of Mesa Airlines appears to be here as Jonathan Ornstein’s airline has been forced into Chapter 11. The filing this morning is reported to allow Mesa the ability to restructure debts as well as shed unused aircraft without financial obligations.
Mesa says that the bankruptcy will not affect [...]
Virgin America announced that their 3rd quarter loss was reduced to $5.9 million from the $59.1 million from last year the same quarter. They also said that they will be adding more aircraft in 2010 and 2011 and will begin flying to new cities. Currently, they are hoping to start service between LAX and SFO [...]
The airlines continue to struggle to fill planes and keep fares high enough to make money. October saw low-cost airlines continue to post traffic and capacity increases with AirTran, Allegiant, and JetBlue the only carriers that grew in size and traffic.
Allegiant continues to grow at very strong rates. Allegiant Air is a low-cost model airline [...]
The third quarter had few surprises with the smaller, low-cost centric airlines posting profits, and the bigger guys posting losses. Some of the losses were smaller than expected, and some were rather large and foreboding.
WINNERS
Alaska – Net Income $83 million
Hawaiian – Net Income $31 million
Frontier – Net Income $16 million (consolidated July/August only)
JetBlue – Net [...]
Southwest posted a 3rd quarter loss of $16 million compared to a loss of $120 million a year prior. I don’t really see this as the big story. It was also reported that Southwest’s cash balance as of the end of the 3rd quarter was $902 million which compares very poorly to the $1.4 billion [...]
British Airways continues to restructure to meet the global economic reduction in demand by reducing their staff by 1,700. The reductions include cabin staff that will be reduced by one on larger wide-body aircraft. British Airways is currently not profitable and is seeking these and other changes to stem their losses.
Japan Airlines has decided to put current discussions about investment and cooperation with Delta Airlines and American Airlines on hold. JAL is struggling to implement an aggressive but much needed restructuring to stave off continuing record breaking losses.
This is good news for American Airlines and the Oneworld airline alliance as it keeps JAL in their [...]
Frontier Airlines has emerged today from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection as a wholly owned subsidiary of Republic Airways of Indianapolis. The regional operator Republic now owns both Frontier and Midwest, as well as Mokulele Airlines in Hawaii. These stand-alone airlines are in addition to Republics largest operation flying regional planes for network airlines such as [...]
Many of the U.S. network and low-cost airlines have taken measures in recent days to beef up their cash and/or credit positions. United and American have sold additional stock. Delta has re-negotiated debt. AirTran has negotiated better credit card processing terms. All of these have negotiated with their creditors to ensure they are well positioned for [...]
The beleaguered Air Jamaica has informed 300 of its employees that they will be laid off following a 120-day period of leave without pay. The Montego Bay & Kingston ground workers join some pilots and administrative personnel in the lay offs.
Air Jamaica continues to downsize to almost nothing. The airline is restructuring after failing to [...]
Frontier Airlines, still in Chapter 11 bankruptcy until October, continues to defy critics and Southwest Airlines, by posting admirable financial results. As a result of being in bankruptcy, Frontier must report numbers on a monthly basis as opposed to the usual quarterly reports.
For August, Frontier, now a subsidiary of Republic Airlines and partners with Midwest [...]
Aimed at improving their balance sheet moving forward, American Airlines has announced a number of actions designed to improve operational efficiency, maximize revenue, and inject much needed cash into their operation.
Brought in $1 Billion in cash from Citibank in a deal where the bank paid in advance for AAdvantage Frequent Flyer Miles to be used [...]
Southwest Airlines announced that they will soon begin eliminating lemons as an available garnishment for their beverage service. Up until now, they had offered lemons or limes on all flights, but Southwest said that overwhelming customer desire was for limes, not lemons. They had many excess lemons after each flight that led to substantial unnecessary [...]
Delta, the world’s largest airline, is in talks with Japan Airlines, the largest air operator in that country, to take a financial stake in Japan Airlines as it struggles with mounting losses. Japan Airlines reported a $1.1 billion loss in the last quarter and is in the process of outlining major restructuring plans that include [...]
SkyEurope, the Slovakian based low-cost airline that was founded mostly by an Austrian corporation, ceased flying completely yesterday stranding several hundred passengers at their main airports of operation that include Bratislava, Prague and Paris. The airline had been in bankruptcy protection since early June and had reduced its fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft down from 15 [...]
Czech Airlines, the state owned and operated airline for the Czech Republic, is seeking a buyer to divest the government of the money losing airline. There were initially a few interested buyers, however Aeroflot did not meet the criteria, and KLM/Air France dropped out of the process. That leaves the hopes of being bought to [...]
