Originally Posted by
EdGrimley
Julie Yates - Credit Suisse
Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. This is a question for Paul. How should we think about 2015 non-fuel unit costs, taking into account the recent wage increase and if a pilot deal work to get done sooner than later? How comfortable do you feel you can still achieve the less than 2% growth in non-fuel CASM again after such strong cost performance over the last five quarters?
Paul Jacobson - CFO
Good morning, Julie. Well, heading into 2015 as we’re developing our operating plan right now, we still have the benefit of further increases in operating leverages as we continue to re-fleet and upgauge the airline, so that’s providing a lot of tailwind. We do have some cost pressures in 2015 but we have those every year. So we feel confident about our ability to keep it below 2% again next year.
Well I'm sure someone is going to spin this to say we can expect 2% or less pay raises in our new contract. The two aren't connected.
Obviously in 2015 the company has a 3% raise for the pilots already in the contract and a 3-4% raise for most everyone else. If they are going to keep non-fuel costs below 2% there are other areas of the company where they'll reduce increasing costs.