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Matching entries from Houston's Clear Thinkers
An illusion of safety, but at what cost?
The only two airline-security measures that really matter -- fortified cockpit doors and the awareness of the flying public as to what a hijacking can mean -- have been in place virtually since the attacks of September 11, 2001....
Is there a problem with the Airbus 330?
When I travel to Europe, I normally fly on Air France, which is one of my favorite airlines. Professional, orderly, reasonably comfortable and clean. It's amazing how few airlines combine those characteristics these days. Air France's fleet includes a...
Southwest Airlines' legacy of good news
Gosh, it's such a drag reading about business and the economy lately. So, what the heck, let's take a quick look at a perennial source of good news, Clear Thinkers favorite Southwest Airlines. Southwest's discount model of operation has...
Incompetence masquerading as demagoguery
University of Houston finance professor Craig Pirrong (blog here) does a nice job in this Wall $treet Journal op-ed on Friday of explaining how speculation in oil and gas markets helps all of us deal with rising energy prices:...
The instinct against the money-makers
I swear, you can't make this stuff up. As Larry Ribstein cogently explains, Southwest Airlines has taken advantage of futures markets over the past several years to hedge its fuel costs (previous posts on Southwest's hedging program are here)....
What to do about airline service?
Putting aside for the moment airline industry's seemingly intractable financial problems, lousy airline service has become such an issue that even Judge Posner and Gary Becker are trying to figure out what to do about it. At least painful airline...
Conited Airlines, finally?
The NY Times is reporting that the on-again, off-again merger negotiations between Houston-based Continental Airlines and Chicago-based United Airlines are coming to a conclusion and that a definitive merger deal is likely to be announced by the end of next...
Ripples of the Delta-Northwest deal
The merger agreement between Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines (they were meant for each other) announced yesterday not only would create the world’s largest carrier if approved, but it has renewed talk (see this W$J article, too) in...
The Southwest Airlines culture
While Continental Airlines continues its speculative merger dance with United Airlines, Southwest Airlines continues to be the most profitable company in the U.S. airline industry. This Jeff Bailey/NY Times article reports on the unique culture of Southwest that makes it...
Are they finally getting serious?
The Wall Street Journal ($) reported yesterday afternoon that Houston-based Continental Airlines seemingly perpetual merger negotiations (see also here) with Chicago-based United Airlines are accelerating for a variety of reasons. A Continental-United deal is contingent on Northwest Airlines' ongoing merger...
Is the airline industry salvageable?
The chronically troubled airline industry has been a frequent topic on this blog over the years. Even as savvy an investor as Warren Buffett swore off investing in the airlines long ago. After a particularly distasteful experience in an airline...
Why is U.S. airline service so lousy?
Pico Iyer asks an interesting question: Why is service on U.S. airlines so bad compared with that in other U.S. industries? In particular, he asks: "Why is it, I often wonder, that US carriers have far and away the worst...
The Kelleher legacy
Mitch Schnurman asks outgoing Southwest Airlines chairman and former CEO Herb Kelleher how he wants to be remembered: "That I consumed more Wild Turkey and cigarettes than anybody else in the industry," he quipped to reporters last week, after announcing...
Would you bet on United Airlines?
The travails of United Airlines over the past several years have been a common topic on this blog, so Professor Bainbridge's "enough is enough" declaration with regard to flying on post-bankruptcy United caught my eye. And lest you think that...
Lamar Muse, RIP
Former Houstonian M. Lamar Muse, one of the founders of Southwest Airlines and a pioneer of airline deregulation, died earlier this week in Dallas. He was 86 at the time of death. Muse was legendary in the airline industry for...
Continental's big news
The big news story today in Houston is the announcement about Continental Airlines engaging in merger negotiations with Chicago-based United Airlines. Here are the stories from the Wall Street Journal ($), the NY Times, the Financial Times and the Houston...
The Delta Center becomes the Melta Center
Naming rights deals on stadiums and arenas are notoriously speculative ventures, and sometimes the naming itself becomes rather odd. Inasmuch as debtors in bankruptcy such as Delta Airlines don't normally renew naming rights deals, a nuclear waste company has bought...
Those all-important quart-sized bags
I swear, you can't make this stuff up. The Wall Street Journal's airline travel reporter Scott McCartney reports ($) (see McCartney's follow-up article here) about the Transportation Security Administration's latest campaign to make airline travel a complete and utter aggravation:...
Have we got a bomb shelter for you
This Wall Street Journal article reports on the decision of Continental Airlines and several other local companies to lease as an emergency control center one of the most bizarre sites in the Houston area -- a 38,000 square foot, 70-foot...
One of the risks of the modern church
It's trendy these days for megachurches to provide all sorts of special services for their members. One of the most popular of such services is marriage counseling, which this NY Times article reports placed a Texas church squarely in the...
This is a compromise on the Wright Amendment?
These previous posts have examined the hopelessly obsolescent Wright Amendment, which protects DFW Airport and its main airline -- American -- from competition that is beneficial to consumers by restricting Southwest Airlines and other discount carriers from flying passengers from...
Checking in on Southwest Airlines
Mitch Schnurman, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram's business columnist, notes that low-cost airline leader Southwest Airlines is now one of the industry leaders in pilot and flight attendant compensation: Southwest employees are also paid some of the highest salaries in the...
Is United Airlines bailing out on Chicago?
Long-suffering United Airlines' first quarter of operations after emergence from its three-year hike through chapter 11 was not particularly impressive. The Chicago-based carrier reported a loss of $306 million (excluding a one-time, emergence-from-chapter 11 accounting gain) that compared with a...
More on rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic
A day after the news of the latest big merger, the WSJ's Melanie Trottman reports here ($) that the merger of U.S. Airways and America West Airlines is having, ahem, might we say, "cultural problems": As executives try to figure...
Flying the friendly chapter 11 skies of United
After wallowing over three years in chapter 11, United Airlines parent UAL Corp. finally emerged from bankruptcy this past Friday (previous posts here) amidst the usual wave of optimism that greets such achievements. Recent trading in bankruptcy claims and UAL's...
While UAL lurches to chapter 11 exit, Independence Air tanks
Overall, the U.S. airline industry improved a bit last week as United Airlines parent UAL Corp. announced that it received creditor approval of its chapter 11 plan to emerge from bankruptcy next month as low-cost airline Independence Air announced its...
That Osteen Family Christmas spirit
You know, it's difficult not having the Joel Osteen Family maid along on those pesky first class trips to Vail to take care of untidiness. The Chronicle story reports the following: A dispute involving the wife of Lakewood Church pastor...
Ripples from the Wright Amendment compromise
Following on this post from last week regarding this year's compromise over the dubious Wright Amendment, this Fort Worth Star-Telegram article reports that American Airlines will move some of its planes to Love Field to compete with Southwest Airlines' new...
Indulging the Wright Amendment
Well, this year's Congressional machinations over the Wright Amendment are over and the outcome is about as satisfying as one of those hard-fought football games that used to end in a tie before the era of overtime. Rather than simply...
The judge said what?
New York Bankruptcy Judge Prudence Carter Beatty -- who is overseeing the Delta Airlines chapter 11 case -- is apparently somewhat of a live-wire on the bench. The airline pilots union has already asked her to recuse herself over remarks...
Another one bites the dust
Flyi Inc., which spun off a year ago into the low-fare independent airline called "Independence Air" after beginning as a contract carrier for United Airlines and Delta Air Lines Inc., filed a chapter 11 case early Monday morning, joining a...
The federal government's increasing equity stake in public companies
This Wall Street Journal ($) article picks up on a subject that I have previously addressed in regard to the legacy airline bankruptcies -- that is, the federal government's increasing equity stake in public companies resulting from the conversion of...
Continental's quarterly earnings report
Houston-based Continental Airlines announced yesterday a modest third-quarter profit despite high fuel costs, parleying lower labor costs with increased revenue from its international flights and higher fares. Nevertheless, Continental announced that it expects to post a "significant loss" for the...
Southwest, you're welcome here
This NY Sunday Times article provides a good overview of the challenges that Southwest Airlines faces in the rough and tumble airline business as its fuel hedging strategy (noted in earlier posts here and here) fades and it faces the...
United Airlines finalizes chapter 11 exit financing
Following on this earlier post, UAL Corp., the parent of United Airlines, announced that it has finalized $3 billion in debt financing commitments from Citigroup Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. that will allow the company to exit its...
More on the sad state of the airline industry
The Wall Street Journal's ($) Holman Jenkins addresses the sad state of the airline industry in his Business World column today, and hammers home a point that this previous post made about the ownership stake in the reorganized United Airlines...
Delta and Northwest tank
As anticipated here earlier this week, Delta Air Lines commenced its inevitable chapter 11 reorganization case yesterday and was joined by fellow legacy carrier Northwest Airlines. Both chapter 11 cases were filed in New York City, which has become the...
Delta is ready to file a chapter 11 case
Following on this report from about a month ago, this Wall Street Journal ($) article reports this morning that Delta Airlines will pull the plug this week and file a chapter 11 reorganization case. Let's hope that this prediction on...
United Airlines files its Disclosure Statement
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. filed its Disclosure Statement yesterday in its longstanding chapter 11 case in Chicago and it was not a pretty sight. United was the second major airline to seek bankruptcy court protection during the current downturn...
Big banks taking a flyer on UAL
UAL Corp.'s shopping excursion for reorganization take-out financing has apparently resulted in a preliminary commitment of a cool $3 billion in financing from four lending lending institutions that, if consummated, would allow the troubled airline to emerge from over three...
To file or not to file? That is the question.
The Wired GC -- which is an excellent blog resource for any attorney who is, or advises, a general counsel of a company -- has this interesting post today about the tough decisions that some currently troubled companies currently have...
Coudert Brothers kaput
Coudert Brothers LLP, one of the oldest big U.S. law firms, elected to disband yesterday in a vote of its partners. The firm will remain in business as its lawyers move on to new jobs. The firm was established in...
Delta on the brink
This NY Times article reports that Delta Airlines is finalizing debtor-in-possession financing arrangements, which is a strong signal that the airline is likely to file a chapter 11 case in the near future. Debtor-in-possession ("DIP") financing provides loans that a...
United Airlines continues to flounder in chapter 11
In a move that almost certainly means that its bankruptcy case filed in December, 2002 will extend well into 2006, United Airlines parent UAL Corp. announced Tuesday that it was delaying the filing its plan of reorganization with the U.S....
DFW's new Terminal D
This U.S.A. Today article does a nice job of reporting on the opening later this week of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport's massive new international Terminal D, a $1.4 billion, 28-gate terminal that includes a Grand Hyatt Hotel and the latest...
Is Bethune going after United?
This Houston Business Journal article is reporting that former Continental Airlines CEO Gordon Bethune is leading one of the investor consortiums that the United Airlines' Creditors' Committee is touting as one of the groups that is interested in investing in...
Optimism and pessimism in the airline business
It's a bit difficult to keep up with the different perspectives regarding the airline business these days. On one hand, this NY Sunday Times article laments just how close some of the major airline companies are to breaking even on...
The Enron Airline?
A sure sign that a discussion on a particular subject has deteriorated to an unrecoverable level is a participant's allegation that the other side's position defends Nazism in some respect. With regard to discussions about business, it's quickly becoming evident...
George Will on the Wright Amendment
Washington Post columnist George F. Will adds this column to the growing body of opinion that the Wright Amendment -- which restricts Southwest Airlines from flying to most states from its Dallas Love Field hub -- is at least obsolescent...
Crandall on the Wright Amendment
Before retiring in 1998, former American Airlines chairman and CEO Robert Crandall steered American successfully through the first two decades after deregulation of the American airline industry. Mr. Crandall was viewed as a hard-knuckled but successful executive during his tenure...
Rearranging the deck chairs?
Following on the news reported in this earlier post, America West Holdings Corp and U.S. Airways Group Inc. announced yesterday that they are proceeding with a merger that -- contrary to the usual optimism surrounding such deals -- could sink...
"And those legacy airlines are doing just great, too"
Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan gave the commencement address at Wharton yesterday and was quoted as saying the following: "I am surprised that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, so rapidly developed and enacted, has functioned as well as it has." H'mm. This...
Low expectations
The headline to this USA Today article about Delta Airlines' quarterly earnings report speaks volumes regarding what is considered positive news these days for legacy airlines....
United Airlines takes another blow
As United Airlines continues to flounder in its nearly two and a half year old chapter 11 case amidst union strike threats and troubling pension obligations, an even bigger problem is emerging -- that is, keeping its jetliners. As noted...
It's hard to pull the plug on an airline
As noted in previous posts here, here, here, here and here, it is extremely difficult to liquidate even an insolvent airline. Rather, such companies seem to go out to pasture in chapter 11 for an indefinite period until creditors approve...
U.S. Airways to marry America West?
The airline business is all atwitter today with the news that US Airways, which has been wallowing in a chapter 22 (i.e., it's second chapter 11 case) since September of last year, is considering a merger with America West to...
Southwest Airlines continues to roll
On a day in which the stock market was hammered generally, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines savvy use of fuel hedges allowed it to offset high fuel costs and nearly triple its profit to $76 million in the first quarter. Southwest's net...
Meanwhile, in regard to another troubled business
Jerry Flint writes in his Forbes Backstreet Driver column that GM's problems are worse than they appear, and they appear to be pretty darn bad. Mr. Flint focuses on GM's tactical decisions, including a suggestion that the Pontiac and Buick...
Continental reiterates pessimistic earnings forecast
Houston-based Continental Airlines reiterated this earlier warning by announcing in this Form 8K filing that it is forecasting continued "significant" losses for 2005, but projecting cash flows and reserves are sufficient to carry it through the year so long as...
French formally target Continental in Concorde crash probe
A French magistrate opened a formal investigation on Thursday of Houston-based Continental Airlines for manslaughter in the alleged role that one of its jets played in the July 2000 crash of the supersonic Concorde. The step of placing Continental under...
Continental reports big revenue decrease
The airline industry just continues to reel. Yesterday, Houston-based Continental Airlines announced that competition from Delta Air Lines's recent broad-based fare cuts is the primary factor behind a revenue decrease that will be at least $50 million more than it...
Chapter 11 plan investor arrested
In a development that you just don't see very often, the primary investor under one of the two competing chapter 11 reorganization plans in the Hawaiian Airlines chapter 11 case was arrested yesterday in St. Louis for allegedly trying to...
Continental wins right to fly non-stop to China
The U.S. Transportation Department announced yesterday that Houston-based Continental Airlines and Dallas-based AMR Corp.'s American Airlines have won a lively contest within the U.S. airline industry to offer additional non-stop flights to China. Continental will offer a daily, 13-hour nonstop...
To regulate or not to regulate? That is the question
The New York Times sometimes has trouble sorting out business news items because of its bias in favor of greater government regulation over capitalist roaders. On one hand, this NY Times Sunday article on the struggling airline industry suggests that...
Except Southwest, airlines continue to reel
Several major airlines reported quarterly earnings yesterday, and the reports continue to verify what everyone already knows -- the legacy airline business model is broken and in need of such serious reorganization that it is questionable whether many can or...
US Airways = Eastern?
This Washington Post article reports on the seemingly simple choice that US Airways machinists face this week -- either they can approve the carrier's latest contract proposal calling for pay, benefit and job cuts or they can turn down the...
The developing infrastructure to service HSA's
Health Savings Accounts ("HSA's") are still a new concept in health care finance, but McKinsey & Company partners Paul Mango and Vivian Riefberg write in this Wall Street Journal ($) article that there are promising developments in the insurance infrastructure...
Attempting to cure the PBGC blues
This earlier post noted the growing concern in the business community that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation -- the quasi-governmental insurer of private company pensions -- is facing a string of large company bankruptcies and pension defaults that could lead...
Markets finally working in the airline industry
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. announced Wednesday that start service to Pittsburgh International Airport in May. Southwest's move comes on the heels of US Airways Group's disastrous performance over the holiday season and the troubled airline's service cuts at the airport....
Continental inks big deal for Boeing 7E7s
Houston-based Continental Airlines announced Wednesday that it will order Boeing Co.'s new high-efficiency 7E7 aircraft and accelerate the delivery of other Boeing aircraft that it previously ordered. Continental's 7E7 aircraft order is the first by a U.S. airline and is...
WSJ profiles the Texas Pacific Group
This Wall Street Journal ($) article profiles the Texas Pacific Group, the Fort Worth-based investment fund founded by former bankruptcy lawyer David Bonderman and business whiz Jim Coulter in 1993. Originally established to invest in and restructure Continental Airlines to...
Put US Airways out of its misery
The airline industry in the United States is beset with an oversupply of airlines, a number of which have been wallowing in chapter 11 while unsecured creditors try to come to terms with the fact that their claims will never...
Kellner takes over at Continental
On Dec. 31, Larry Kellner -- Houston-based Continental Airlines' president and chief operating officer -- will take over as chief executive of Continental, replacing 63-year-old CEO Gordon Bethune, the former mechanic who pulled Continental from the brink of what would...
UAL wins key concession
The Air Line Pilots Association agreed yesterday not to oppose United Airlines parent UAL Corp.'s effort to terminate the group's generous defined-benefit pension plan in return for UAL's agreement to issue to the union $550 million in convertible notes that...
Was there really any doubt about who would win?
Following on this earlier post regarding Dallas-based Southwest Airlines' effort to expand its operations at Chicago's Midway Airport, Southwest won the auction of bankrupt airline ATA's Holding Corp.'s Midway assets yesterday....
Southwest Airlines attempts to expand Chicago operation
You gotta love Southwest Airlines, Inc. While most of the legacy airlines are trying to figure out either how to avoid bankruptcy or find financing to exit bankruptcy, Dallas-based Southwest just continues to execute its methodical business plan of expanding...
A positive sign in airline financing
This NY Times article reports on the growing concern within the lending industry regarding the long-term ability of several of the legacy airline companies to service their existing financing. This follows the move last week reported on here of one...
UAL, we have a big problem
Most of news over the past two years about the United Airlines chapter 11 case has focused on the legacy airlines operating losses, its unfunded pension obligations, and its need to overhaul or reject its collective bargaining agreements. Here is...
United finally seeks to reject CBA's
Two years into its aimless chapter 11 case, UAL Corp. finally requested that the Bankruptcy Court allow it to reject its existing labor contracts with six unions if the company cannot reach consensual agreements on modifications to the contracts by...
Continental requests employee concessions
Houston-based Continental Airlines -- one of the city's largest employers -- announced Thursday that it is asking employees for reductions in pay and benefits effective Feb. 28 of next year as a part of a plan to reduce its annual...
The Lord of Tax Havens
This NY Times article interviews Jerome Schneider, who for the past 20 years or so made a fortune setting up offshore banks and phony investments in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, Grenada, Montserratt, Vanuatu, the Cook Islands, and...
The Wrong Amendment
After years of remaining neutral on the Wright Amendment -- that law that restricts flights from Dallas's Love Field Airport -- Southwest Airlines is now calling the rule "anticompetitive" and "outdated". It's about time. The Wright Amendment was enacted in...
Delta Airlines Chapter 11 filing imminent
Reports the Washington Post....
Continental posts big 3rd quarter loss
Houston-based Continental Airlines reported a net loss for the third quarter on Tuesday as high fuel prices and competition from low-cost carriers continued to savage the "legacy carrier" segment of the airline industry. In announcing the loss, the fifth-largest U.S....
Analyzing airline woes
The Wall Street Journal's Holman Jenkins, Jr.'s Business World ($) column today addresses the mess that is the American airline industry, and notes that this is not a problem that has just arisen recently: Today's crisis is not materially different...
US Air tanks
As expected, US Airways Group Inc. filed its chapter 22 case (i.e., chapter 11 for the second time) in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Alexandria, Virginia. US Air's previous case concluded a little over two years ago. Like its larger...
U.S. Air prepares for chapter 22 filing
Inasmuch as its labor negotiations with the pilots' union are not going well, the Washington Post reports that US Airways Group Inc. confirmed yesterday that it has retained the restructuring advisors Seabury Group and the Washington, D.C.-based law firm of...
Continental announces jobs cut
Continental Airlines -- one of Houston's largest employers -- announced plans to cut 425 jobs today in a move that the company says will save it $125 million before taxes in 2005 and $200 million a year before taxes by...
PGBC objects to United's financing plan
The federal Pension Guaranty Benefit Corporation, the quasi-governmental pension insurer, challenged the key portion of United Airline's new debtor-in-possession financing arrangement in United's Bankruptcy Court on Friday by asserting that the agreement violates federal-pension law by forbidding the company from...
U.S. Air on the brink
The Airline Pilots' Association's investment bankers at US Airways Group Inc. warned yesterday that the carrier could fail in the near future and is highly likely to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by mid-September without substantial cost cuts. Such...
Union requests a trustee in United chapter 11 case
Labor relations at UAL Corp.'s United Airlines hit a new low yesterday as United's the International Association of Machinists union asked the bankruptcy judge overseeing the carrier's chapter 11 case to appoint a trustee to operate the company. Still fuming...
The $100 Terrorist Insurance Plan
Steven Lansburg is an economist who writes a monthly column for Slate. In his most recent column, Professor Lansburg addresses the controversy over racial profiling of airline passengers and Annie Jacobsen's recent article in WomensWallStreet about her harrowing experience on...
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation blues
Following this earlier post regarding United Airlines' decision to default on its obligations to its employees' pension plans to attract capital to fund its chapter 11 reorganization plan, this NY Times article reports on some experts' concern that the Federal...
United busts pension plan payment
United Airlines announced today it would not contribute to employee pension plans while it remains in Chapter 11. This is the first in a number of bold moves that Chicago-based United must take in order to save the struggling airline...
Continental posts quarterly loss
Houston-based Continental Airlines annonced that it posted a net loss of $17 million for the second quarter, citing weak domestic fare prices, high fuel costs and expenses associated with retiring aircraft. Continental, which is the No. 5 U.S. carrier, reported...
The addictive nature of governmental subsidies
Edward Lotterman is a Twin Cities-based economist who writes a column for the Twin Cities Pioneer. In this column, Mr. Lotterman points out that the original good intentions of governmental subsidies have, over the decades, generated obsolescence: News about subsidies...
Southwest Airlines CEO resigns
James F. Parker, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines' CEO, unexpectedly resigned yesterday after just three years. The publicly stated reason for the resignation was the ubiquitous "personal reasons," such as the "draining" nature of the job. Airline CEO's are becoming as disposable...
United, this is getting monotonous
The federal Air Transportation Stabilization Board announced today that it was not going to change its its June 17 decision to deny United Airlines government backing for a government credit enhancement that was the central component of United's reorganization plan...
United revises bid for federal financing
As noted in this earlier post, the federal Air Transportation Stabilization Board announced last week that it had rejected Chicago-based United Airlines' application for a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee, which was the foundation of United's reorganization plan to emerge...
United goes back to the drawing board
The federal Air Transportation Stabilization Board announced on Thursday that it has rejected Chicago-based United Airlines' application for a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee, which is the foundation of the second largest U.S. airline's current reorganization plan to emerge from...
United Airlines - should the federal government save it?
This NY Times article gives a good overview on the state of United Airlines, which continue to flounder in a chapter 11 case filed in December 2002. As the story relates, United's emergence from chapter 11 is based upon the...
More on hedging fuel costs
Following on this Professor Ribstein post and this reply post here over the weekend regarding most airlines' failure to hedge fuel costs, this NY Times article reports that the hedging of fuel costs also varies widely in other fuel intensive...
Why don't airlines hedge fuel costs?
The always perceptive Professor Ribstein over at Ideablog asks this question: Given the volatility or oil prices and the adverse impact of high prices on the business of running an airline, why don't airlines hedge their fuel costs? The answer:...
Continental responds to fuel cost increase
This NY Times article reports on Houston-based Continental Airlines' plan to respond to the recent spike in fuel prices that are straining profits of all airlines. Fuel is the second-biggest expense for airlines, after labor costs, and typically totals about...
Flyin' taxi
This Scott McCartney Wall Street Journal ($) article reports that business travelers will have a new alternative to flying commercial airlines or buying their own jet as early as next year -- an "air taxi." Using a new generation of...
Continental and Southwest Airlines release quarterly earnings reports
Houston-based Continental Airlines narrowed its first-quarter loss, and Dallas-based Southwest Airlines scratched out a small profit as both airlines struggled with higher fuel prices. Continental, the nation's fifth-largest airline in terms of traffic, had a net loss of $124 million...
Yeah, but do they have rubber chicken?
This NY Times article relates some airline industry executives' frustration with the glowing media reports that low-budget airlines such as Southwest Airlines and JetBlue have been receiving recently. The article is a good summary of where the airline industry stands...
UAL bankruptcy - Will it ever end?
This NY Times article and this WSJ ($) article report on the postponement of confirmation and consummation of United Airlines' reorganization plan in its long pending chapter 11 case. UAL has been operating under chapter 11 since December, 2002, and...
Waste Management names new CEO reshuffles top management
Houston-based Waste Management named David P. Steiner to succeed A. Maurice Myers as chief executive officer. Mr. Myers will remain as chairman until November, when he will retire. Upon Mr. Myers' retirement, board Director John Pope, a former president and...
Southwest Airlines facing low-cost competition
This NY Times article describes the increased competition that Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is facing from other low-cost airlines and the steps that Southwest is contemplating to combat that competition. A word to wise investors in airline stocks: Don't bet against...
Higher fuel costs concern Continental
Houston-based Continental Airlines -- one of the Houston area's largest employers -- announced today that the airline's stated financial goal for break-even results in 2004 is "at great risk" due to the high price of jet fuel and oil....
Southwest Airlines takes Philly by storm
One of Texas' great business success stories--Southwest Airlines--is causing heartburn to U.S. Airways in the Philadelphia market with Southwest's tried and true formula of low fares and prompt service....
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