Originally Posted by
Flytolive
It's January 11th. If you think a week of market declines determines our bargaining environment that is ridiculously short-sighted.
Oil is $31/barrel. UAL is still buying back $4B in stock, 82% of the US market is controlled by four airline networks. UAL will make $4-5B this year and cash flow is through the roof. The company has come to us for FDP extension relief three times in the last twelve months and FRMS relief twice in the past eight months. The pilot/pay shortage will only get worse.
Those are objective facts.
More facts:
United Expects Steeper Decline in Key Revenue Metric
Airline cites reduced travel by corporate customers in the oil industry and impact of Paris attacks
By MARIA ARMENTAL
Jan. 11, 2016 7:12 p.m. ET
United Continental Holdings Inc. is projecting a larger decline in a key passenger-revenue metric, citing travel cuts from oil-patch corporate customers, the impact of Paris terror attacks along with softening domestic yields.
Yield is the average price a person pays to fly one mile, excluding taxes and fees.
On Monday, the carrier said unit revenue, or how much it makes for each passenger flown a mile, would decline 4.4% to 4.5% for the year ended Dec. 31, compared with its previous view of a 3.9% to 4.4% decline.
Traffic, however, rose 1.5% for the year, bolstered by a 3.1% increase in the fourth quarter, the carrier said.
Meanwhile, capacity rose 1.6% in 2015, led by a 2.9% increase from international flights.
The load factor, or percentage of seats filled, edged down 0.2 percentage point for the year to 83.4% despite a 1 percentage point improvement in the fourth quarter.
The company expects to report a fourth-quarter hedge loss of $285 million, but it said fourth-quarter unit costs excluding fuel were better than originally projected.
Shares, down 21% over the past 12 months, rose 0.25% to $51.75 in late trading.