You've pointed out precisely the cunundrum that airlines have with PE. Many people find it 'good enough' that this can have a negative impact on their J class cabin yield. People that would have bought a $6K J seat, will settle for a $3K PE one. While the same is true for Y passengers buying up, th...
Jump to postThere’s no way for any carrier to build a fortress hub a JFK or BOS. At JFK, DL is less than 20% larger than B6 and around twice the size of AA; at BOS, DL is a very distant third place (half AA and a third the size of B6). The markets are too fragmented and too highly developed at this point for a...
Jump to postBut what I do not understand is why doesn't American Airlines convert their aging 767s into freighters, won't they get even more profits hauling larger and more cargo? Or are US passenger airlines prohibited to operate freighters. As said, there is nothing, legally, stopping AA or any other U.S. pa...
Jump to postI'm sure it was also the tour operators asking for it to reaccom bookings to other properties. Perhaps, but again, tour operators rebooking vacationers to "other properties" were unlikely to be too worried about SDQ and STI, anyway - neither of those markets is particularly leisure-focuse...
Jump to post2. UA gets back to JFK and while they will be bigger at EWR, they will start flying international from both airports plus the trans cons and Airbuses Why does United need to get "back to JFK" at this point? I understand Kirby's previous point that United should not have walked away from t...
Jump to postCaribbean alternatives *AA JFK-SDQ DEC 0>0.5 JAN 0>0.2 *AA JFK-STI DEC 0>0.5 JAN 0>0.2 While I don't expect it, it would be nice to see AA permanently reenter these markets that it once dominated. But, alas, this is, indeed, obviously just about opportunistically parking excess capacity freed up by...
Jump to postFLL and MCO would hemmorage money for UA. Raising fares would result in destimulting markets B6 has stimulated and the traffic would disappear. UA would be forced out of FLL and MCO by WN and NK and DL would beat UA in BOS. Plus you're correct. The motivation for the merger would be something DOJ w...
Jump to postI agree with the conclusion of the article, rather than the speculation of the analyst commentary. A United-JetBlue transaction does not seem plausible or credible to me, for a variety of reasons. To start with the obvious, I find it very difficult to imagine regulatory approval of such a combinatio...
Jump to postJust wondering what you consider to be proper profit margin, maybe I can tell UA management so they can make you happy and not the people who own the company a.k.a. shareholders.? Does the gas station "stick it to the consumer" when they raise prices, Starbucks? Whole Foods? General Mills...
Jump to postBut right now, isn't there a bus from USAir to CTB? If all under one roof, I assume the bus will go away, meaning more people that have to leave security to change planes. Nowadays, anytime you have to leave security to change planes, I find unacceptable. Quite true, although theoretically at least...
Jump to postConnections will not be pretty. True, but AA-AA connections aren't pretty at LGA now, anyway, so little change there. And in any event, luckily for AA, most of the traffic in and out of LGA is O&D, and the level of connections is far, far lower than Delta, so if AA and its passengers do have to...
Jump to postDFW seems like a little bit of a stretch. Still though, more than anything I wish is for a DL flight to SLC or LAX. SLC would be a nice complement to the DEN flight, and it still is somewhat surprising that DL doesn't have any service to the Central Coast. I agree that DFW-SBP seems implausible. AA...
Jump to postCool - good news for passengers, and good news for the Hawaii economy. From a business standpoint, this will, indeed, be interesting to watch. Similar to Latin America and the Caribbean, Southwest is late to this party - and the time it's taken to finally take the plunge on Hawaii has given competit...
Jump to postIts slightly ironic the AA of today does need the range of the 744 for such cities as Sydney and Hing Kong plus all the beyond Japan Asian services from DFW. The 787-9 and 77W are doing the ultra long haul and some regular 10 to 12 hour flights too for AA now. Said differently: at the time when the...
Jump to postAmerican inherited a pair of 747SP's when it completed the purchase of TWA's London Heathrow routes in 1991 and used them from JFK to LHR (it also flew the 747SP on JFK-BRU for a brief time). American also used the 747SP on DFW-NRT. Close. AA's two 747SPs did come from TWA, but not as part of the L...
Jump to postUntil the last decade, AA had a relatively minimal transpacific network - as compared to those of Northwest and United at their respective peaks. As such, AA - unlike both Northwest and United - didn't really have a need for an aircraft that large, or with that range. By the time that AA ultimately ...
Jump to postI think AA is making a mistake with the retrofits, but that's just my opinion. DL will have a better domestic product when all is said and done. The only major difference, ultimately, will be AVOD PTVs - and that will only, I suspect, really be a difference relative to Delta and JetBlue. Otherwise,...
Jump to postI'm interested in others' takes... is this an indicator that connections over PHX might be approaching DFW's (since they chose to add in PHX instead of yet another DFW leg)? Or is this targeting customers who are flying UA or WN when they head west out of Lubbock or Midland-Odessa? I think this is ...
Jump to postAs a B6 shareholder, I would hope that B6 could cut its losses, move the aircraft to more profitable markets to help supercharge growth (think: BOS, FLL), and let the other 5 carriers duke it out in LA. B6 seems to be very profitable from LAX, and is the largest airline on JFK-LAX (capturing 30% of...
Jump to postSFO/California is the priority now, not PDX. Indeed. Alaska likely perceives - correctly, in my view - that the opportunity in California is more time-limited, and that it probably has less of a competitive threat to worry about in PDX. At SFO, Alaska faces a far more organized threat from United p...
Jump to postAlso helps explain Delta's recently announced exit from the GUM market.
Jump to postIn speaking with some of the LAWA folks, it sounds like United have indeed pitched T9 as a partner facility. If true, will be interesting to see which odd men out are sent out to Midfield. I'm assuming the cats and dogs in T5 once AA inevitably completes that takeover to achieve parity with DL's tw...
Jump to postUA has the best chance of the Big 3 to achieve serious fleet synergies. The PMUA A320's are getting old. If they were all replaced with 737's, along with the full seniority list integration, UA could become quite efficient domestically. Near WN or AS levels. I'm not so sure. I think AA will likely ...
Jump to postI agree with you, for a company that was on the verge of bankruptcy, very savvy. As was reported upon and well discussed at the time, AA worked the 2011 fleet dealings with Boeing and Airbus very smartly given the seemingly weak position in which the company found itself at the time. The original i...
Jump to postYou're right, AA's not going anywhere because LAX is their "only shot" at a West Coast-Asia hub. Without it, they're an also-ran to Asia. Yep. AA executives have pretty much said as much. AA must succeed at LAX because of its broader strategic importance for AA's network - domestically, a...
Jump to postAs far as stopping any further growth from AA, I find that really unlikely and I would point to DL at NY. In general, for large corporations, once a strategic direction has been set, there is very little competitors can do to stop it. Same for DL at SEA. Why is UA all excited about LAX again? Is it...
Jump to postThis. I would hardly expect AA and DL to sit idly by and continue their capacity restraint while UA is bumping their capacity at a 5% rate. Agreed. This leads to the second thought. Airlines used to chase market share, by adding flights and using larger planes to increase seats in a market. The pro...
Jump to posto Says UA most profitable of majors @ LAX with "double-digit margins". Says AA/DL "basically breakeven" o More flying coming to LAX in 2018. Will back fill lost flying - example given was UAX to Medford. Also more Hawaii Ha, so translation (half-kidding): "We're making mone...
Jump to postThe problem is at the moment we are looking at different expectations of market development. UA seems to see more growth than AA and DL, but you would be foolish to believe that AA/DL would not grow if the market growth is higher than expected. All 3 have the cash to react quickly to any need of ad...
Jump to postDo you think United can grow organically into the worlds largest airline or was he hinting at a possible acquisition down the road? Sure, United can certainly grow organically into an airline larger than AA or Delta. There isn't really anything - logistically, operationally, financially - that woul...
Jump to postTugger wrote:Otherwise how else did they increase profits and come back from an "economically disastrous" situation?
So, if I read this correctly, you're asserting that treating customers like crap equates into higher profit margins? No. That isn't what I asserted. What I asserted was that the "way things used to be" was economically disastrous for pretty much every stakeholder in the airline industry e...
Jump to postI have zero issues with the profit margins...I have issues with airlines maximizing their profit margins while providing progressively crappy customer service (if they even provide it at all). Well I'll again set aside the suggestion that airlines are providing "progressively crappy customer s...
Jump to postQuite the opposite. They were very profitable before the introduction of BE. Again. 7.2%. That was AA's net margin in 2Q17. I consider that an extremely reasonable profit margin. What is happening now is that AA and UA are competing on BE fares on transcons that are as low as $50 one-way. And there...
Jump to postDespite what some people here claim, AA's network out of NYC (JFK+LGA) is very weak. You simply cannot claim that AA can focus on "O&D at JFK" UNLESS you believe that all of the O&D at JFK is to a handful of cities in US, 3 partner hubs in Europe + CDG, MXP, EZE and Brazil. They h...
Jump to postOn a related note, from today's Inquirer : http://www.philly.com/philly/business/transportation/american-airlines-names-first-woman-to-run-its-philly-airport-hub-20171003.html The article is an interview with AA's new VP/GM in PHL, including discussion about the new B/C head house and A/B arrivals f...
Jump to postNothing. Nothing at all. But, what is wrong with just raising your prices to make that "pure profit?" Nothing, nothing at all. The problem is that airlines tried "just raising prices" countless times, and it often doesn't work because of material share shift to competitors with ...
Jump to postIt appears to me that these fares are nothing more than baggage fees disguised in a different wrapper. Besides the extra carry on fee or extra baggage fee the other punitive take-aways really cost the airline nothing. There is no cost to have an advanced seat assigned, or to be eligible for an upgr...
Jump to postAwesome - makes perfect sense. (Relatively) big O&D market, and soon a partner hub. I suspect this will eventually develop into a daily flight, maybe A330 in the summer and 757 in the winter.
Jump to postI wasn't aware of that. Again...if they didn't work back then, why would they work now? I don't know if the past history of USAirways in these PHL transatlantic markets necessarily accurately portends the future performance of hypothetical AA nonstops in these markets - good or bad. But I will say ...
Jump to postNot to be pedantic, but my reply was specifically in response to AA at JFK. I agree that AA are still quite strong at LGA (and NYC metro at large, by extension). I also agree that AA will probably continue to serve long haul O/D markets from JFK (like transcon, LHR, and Southern Cone). I get that, ...
Jump to postFrom AA's standpoint, I think it's a matter of whether their presence is satisfactory for AA's corporate contracts, and I suspect that it is. In general, I think that's AA's approach to NYC. They are catering to O&D corporate travelers in the largest market in the country. As for whether that s...
Jump to postI could see them restarting LAS. I'm kinda surprised they haven't done so already. As for new destinations, I could see MIA and PHL. In the long term, I could eventually see them adding BNA. In terms of the U.S., I agree that both MIA and PHL are quite plausible given the JV connectivity. I also th...
Jump to postI suspect loads on both flights were quite healthy. But, alas, that was to be expected since, of course, it's difficult not to fill an airplane to Europe in peak summer. That said, I was skeptical of yields - particularly on AMS. I'm happy to see both routes, at least as presently scheduled, returni...
Jump to postI can see AA adding NRT and GRU (when the Brazilian economy recovers... who knows how long that'll be, though). I find PHL-GRU implausible anytime in the foreseeable future. PHL-NRT, however, I continue to find a blatantly obvious market opportunity for the AA/JAL JV, linking together the JV's prim...
Jump to postI agree with others that, in the context of Aer Lingus eventually being included in the one world transatlantic JV, Aer Lingus adding a second DUB-PHL, on top of AA's existing daily flight, makes sense. PHL is the second largest hub in the northeast, and Aer Lingus would (will) soon be able to use i...
Jump to postIf airplanes are full, why would UA want to attract more ULCC customers? If the marginal revenue generated by a "ULCC customer" costs more than the marginal cost, why wouldn't the network carriers want to cater to them? Obviously no airline would want to displace a potentially higher-payi...
Jump to postThe problem isn't adding basic economy, but the executives misleading the public when they say basic economy will enable the airline to lower fares One quote. Still waiting for a single quote where any executive at AA or Delta or United said that basic economy would "enable the airline to lowe...
Jump to postAustin787 wrote:On other routes (which no ULCC flies) basic economy will be used to increase regular economy fares.
But, it is a little disingenuous to blame the traveling public for expecting lower prices that the airlines freely offered and then holding it against the traveling public when they start complaining when prices go up. It is not beyond me. To me it's human nature. I never placed "blame" o...
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