Joined: Oct 25, 2004 Posts: 1331 Location: Stalag 13
Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:15 am Post subject: Re: Airline Bankruptcy/Merger/Layoffs Thread
It will be a turbulent end of the summer for the nation's airline industry
Quote:
As jet fuel prices continue to rise, analysts say passengers will likely face more fees and more service cuts.
Eyewitness News reporter Thalia Patillo has the story from LaGuardia airport.
"You had to pay $6 each to get a seat otherwise you had no seat," traveler Anthea Jones said. "I've never heard that before."
Story continues below
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Anthea Jones says she was pretty upset when she realized she was being charged a $6 dollar fee for her seat at check in.
Its all new says analysts as airlines introduce service fees and air travelers start seeing price hikes, less service and fewer flights in the coming months
"Once fuel prices started to increase there was really nothing airlines could do but cut flights out of their schedule and increase fares," Travel Industry Analyst Jared Blank said.
Most recently Delta, Southwest and United all added fare increases ranging anywhere from a few dollars to 40 dollars.
Blank says we're going to see the worst of it come Thanksgiving and the holidays when we'll see far more crowded planes.
"This is probably as bad as its going to get unless fuel prices keep getting higher," Blank said. "It can get worse before it gets better."
The cuts are expected to reduce flights across the board. Already United Airline and American Airline announced plans to cut service to Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.
Air travelers at LaGuardia seemed to be informed about the changes ahead
"I was telling my family we're going to have to take a 'stay vacation,'" passenger Lela Cruz Ponce said. "Just stay at home because we can't afford to fly anywhere not even basic places like Dallas...usually cheap."
link _________________ Now why didn't I think of that?
Joined: Oct 25, 2004 Posts: 1331 Location: Stalag 13
Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:21 am Post subject: Re: Airline Bankruptcy/Merger/Layoffs Thread
Airlines Face the Abyss
Quote:
We've become familiar with Chapter 11 in recent years, as airline after airline has gone into bankruptcy protection to reorganize its operations. Soon, we may become familiar with an even darker chapter in the airline story: Chapter 7.
That's liquidation, which some airline experts think is coming, thanks mainly to historically high oil prices, which are hovering north of $140 for a barrel of crude.
In a report released, appropriately, on Friday the 13th, the Business Travel Coalition flatly predicted several unnamed major U.S. carriers will be forced to liquidate late this year or early next.
When an airline liquidates - as ATA, Aloha and SkyBus have done this year - it stops flying and sells its assets to pay creditors. That can leave small, unsecured creditors such as the airline's passengers in the lurch.
Experts are sharply split on whether liquidation is going to happen to major U.S. carriers. But even airline optimists allow it's a good idea to prepare should your carrier be forced to fly into Chapter 7.
Industry analyst Robert Mann, principal of R.W. Mann & Co., thinks major U.S. airlines have enough cash to stay aloft, giving them wiggle room to eliminate money-losing routes and raise fares by 20 percent to boost revenues. But should Chapter 7 happen, he said, plastic is a traveler's best friend.
"Only buy travel on a credit card. You will get a refund if the carrier fails. The most you can lose is the cost of replacing your ticket on a failed carrier at what will likely be a significantly higher price," said Mann.
We've become familiar with Chapter 11 in recent years, as airline after airline has gone into bankruptcy protection to reorganize its operations. Soon, we may become familiar with an even darker chapter in the airline story: Chapter 7.
That's liquidation, which some airline experts think is coming, thanks mainly to historically high oil prices, which are hovering north of $140 for a barrel of crude.
(...)
Major US airline liquidations coming soon? Very doomerish article.
Either that or increase fees... in the long term, that's basically airline's only routes. The other depends on aircraft manufacturers; a new non-fossil fuel dependant aircraft... but this is quite unlikely; there's not even hype of new innovations on this area. RIP airline industry. _________________ anagami.net
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:42 am Post subject: Re: Airline Bankruptcy/Merger/Layoffs Thread
Hogan wrote:
"Only buy travel on a credit card. You will get a refund if the carrier fails.
I'm surprised this thing doesn't take a big chunk out of the credit card companies. Maybe they cover themselves by increasing the merchant services fees though. _________________ "So while you sit and whistle Dixie with your money and your power.
I can hear the flowers a-growin in the rubble of the towers.
I hear leaders quit their lying
I hear babies quit their crying.
I hear soldiers quit their dying, one and all." - OCMS
American Airlines expects to cut nearly 7,000 employees by the end of the year, or about 8 percent of its worldwide work force, as it reduces flights and grounds aircraft because of high fuel costs, the airline told employees Wednesday.
American said in a regulatory filing that it expected to record a second-quarter charge of as much as $1.3 billion to account for the job reductions and to write down the value of the MD-80 and Embraer 135 regional jets that it is retiring as it eliminates flights.
The job cuts, which appear to be twice as big as those announced so far by any other carrier, could affect as many as 900 flight attendants.
Just know that if it was technologically feasible, filling an A380 tank with biofuel would use up 150 hectares of yearly yield,considering an optimistic figure of 2000 litres per hectare for Jatropha biodiesel. You'd need 150x2x365x150 = 16 millionhectares -- the arable land in France -- to power the currently ordered A380 fleet.
Meanwhile the fuel efficiency improvements do not come anywhere close to compensating the price surge. Boeing claim that their new 787 will burn 20% less fuel than current jets of the same category (namely the 767 or A330). 20% is how much oil prices rose between the beginning of April and mid-May 2008: 30 years of technological improvement in aircraft and engine design will offset six weeks of price increase, and no technological Deus ex Machina will change that deal.
Technofixes: Bah, humbug... _________________ "Thank you for attending the oil age. We're going to scrape what we can out of these tar pits in Alberta and then shut down the machines and turn out the lights. Goodnight." - seldom_seen
A tepid outlook from the package delivery company is not a good sign, showing that high oil prices are starting to really squeeze corporate profits.
Quote:
Alan B. Graf, Jr., FedEx's executive vice president and chief financial officer said in a statement that the next year is expected to be "very difficult due to the weak U.S. economy and extremely high fuel prices."
FedEx is considered a bellwether for the economy.
Edited for correction. FedEx is not in negotiations for a merger with DHL.
My brother, a FedEx pilot, wrote me:
Quote:
No, that (FDX-DHL) was an old rumor.
What is occurring is the negotiations between UPS and DHL (Alstar) for
UPS to fly DHL's freight.
DHL is owned by the German Post Office.
Reposted for correction. The original CNN article has been edited. I wish I had quoted the erroneous statement the reporter made concerning that merger. _________________ About my avatar: Guess.
Discount carrier AirTran Airways is cutting 480 jobs, or more than 5% of its work force, amid difficult financial times due largely to soaring fuel prices, a company executive said Monday.
The Orlando, Fla.-based airline told employees that 180 pilot jobs and 300 flight attendant jobs will be eliminated effective Sept. 6, according to Kevin Healy, senior vice president of marketing and planning for AirTran Holdings Inc. Flights will also be reduced in September, Healy said.
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:15 am Post subject: Re: Airline Bankruptcy/Merger/Layoffs Thread
you beat me to it. This was all over the news yesterday. Funny thing is I just flew Airtran from Baltimore back to Orlando on Sunday. Planes were packed and everyone seemed happy. I had a long talk with a flight attendant in the back of the plane and he said Airtran is not making the cuts the other airlines are making. He has been with the company for five months. Guess he will be looking for a new job. He gave me his contact info so I will fire off a email to see if he still has a job. The ticket was 300 dollars round trip. I remember taking that same trip a few years ago costing 100 bucks. Overall the Airports were busy this past weekend but not packed like I was used to. Security was not a long wait. I expected the airports to be booming and they were only mildly crowded.
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 7:57 am Post subject: Re: Airline Bankruptcy/Merger/Layoffs Thread
ExpressJet to end self-marketed flights and Delta service Sept. 1:
Quote:
HOUSTON, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- ExpressJet Airlines announced today that it will suspend flying under several lines of its at-risk flying operations in September 2008. ExpressJet mutually agreed to terminate its agreements with Delta Air Lines effective September 1, 2008 and will cease its branded (XE) commercial passenger flight operations on September 2, 2008.
Not exactly a shocker _________________ At 1% annual growth, human bodies will incorporate every gram in the observable universe in approximately 10,170 years.
The Boeing 2008 outlook calls for a market of 29,400 new commercial airplanes (passenger and freighter) by 2027.
...
These new airplanes will accommodate a forecasted 5 percent annual increase in global air travel, and a 5.8 percent annual increase in air cargo traffic.
The reasoning behind this upbeat forecast is that because oil is expensive people will have to retire their old planes, and because demand is going up they will have to buy more of Boeing's new planes which are more fuel efficient. _________________ We should teach our children the 4-Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rejoice.
NEW YORK (Associated Press) - The chief executive officers of a dozen U.S. airlines, beset by record fuel costs that have caused several to cut jobs, reduce capacity and impose higher fees on customers, are now asking for their customers' help to curb the rise of oil prices.
They have co-signed a letter being sent to frequent fliers of their respective carriers, asking customers to contact Congress about the problem of market speculation, which they believe is driving up the price of oil.
"This pain can be alleviated, and that is why we are taking the extraordinary step of writing this joint letter to our customers," the letter states. A copy was received by The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Air travel is about done with for the masses. All these fees and gimmicks the airlines are using are going to amount to nothing.
NWA
Quote:
MINNEAPOLIS - Northwest Airlines Corp. said on Wednesday it will cut 2,500 jobs because of high oil prices, and will begin charging $15 to check a single piece of luggage and as much as $100 to redeem a frequent-flier award ticket.
The airline said it expects the new fees to add $250 million to $300 million a year in revenue.
Northwest said the job cuts — which represent about 8.3 percent of its work force — will include front-line and management workers. It said it will start with voluntary departures and leaving open jobs unfilled before moving to furloughs to reach the 2,500 total.
Northwest had said previously it would have fewer workers after it cuts 8.5 percent to 9.5 percent of mainline flying in the fourth quarter of this year. It has said overall capacity would shrink 3 percent to 4 percent because it is adding regional seats. As of the end of 2007, Northwest employed about 30,000 people.
President and Chief Executive Doug Steenland said Northwest's fuel costs have more than doubled in the past year.
"These reductions are the direct result of our extraordinary fuel costs and the necessary actions we must take to right-size our airline and eliminate unprofitable flying," Steenland said in a written statement.
Northwest also said it would begin charging $15 for the first checked bag, matching a fee announced earlier this year by US Airways, American Airlines, and United Airlines. Northwest's new fee applies to tickets sold after Thursday for travel starting Aug. 28 in the U.S. or to Canada.
Northwest also announced a fee for issuing frequent-flier tickets beginning Sept. 15. It said it will charge $25 for domestic tickets, $50 for trans-Atlantic tickets and $100 for trans-Pacific tickets. Steenland called the service fee temporary.
"As fuel comes down, we will re-visit this decision," he said.
At Delta Air Lines Inc., which is buying Northwest, a spokeswoman said record high fuel costs are causing the Atlanta-based carrier to look at everything. "However, we have made no changes to the service we offer to customers for a complimentary first checked bag," spokeswoman Betsy Talton said.
Last month Delta announced a surcharge for redeeming frequent flier tickets $25 for tickets in the U.S. and Canada and $50 for international.
American Airlines was the first major U.S. carrier to announce a fee on first checked bags. Spokesman Tim Smith said Northwest's moves "clearly show they are facing the same extreme challenges all airlines are dealing with these days."[/quote] _________________ "Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07
I'm not sure if it was mentioned, but I saw it in the Province newspaper in Vancouver BC today, that Malaysian Airlines was cutting and reducing some runs, in response to high fuel prices... As well as cutting recruitment, as well as already having raised fuel surcharges up to 80%. I can't find the story online though...
But in searching, I did find this, a sadly impressive collection of info about the events related to the airlines... scroll down it...
:and yes, I realize it's a hype page for the company, but read...
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as already having raised fuel surcharges up to 80%. I can't find the story online though...
