Originally Posted by
WHACKMASTER
IMHO, something is brewing and that’s why the delay in announcing a new base. It could be bidding on NK’s assets, or M&A (doubtful), or negotiating with an airport board like KSAN (most likely).
Perhaps negotiations are ongoing and that’s why the company can’t commit to making an announcement yet.
SWA won’t touch any Spirit aircraft. IF they want anything it would be the delivery slots owned not by Spirit but by Aer Cap and maybe LGA slots. By the way, SWA already has a relationship with AerCap because some of the SWA aircraft leases are owned by them.
Something to think about is SWA just issued some debt in the tune of $1.5 billion. Supposedly to pay the ppp stuff that will convert. Well that is only about a billion in total. That extra money maybe used to fund more deliveries next year. Contractual commitments for 2026(mostly airplanes) is $2.0 Billion according to 10K. Boeing CFO stated this week they plan on delivering a lot airplanes next year. Most of the time cash flow funds those deliveries. They may just slow retirements down a little to grow. If they get more airplanes next year cap ex will really explode. Interesting to see if all these initiatives really do pay off. I have a feeling cash flow from operations is not going to cover it. We’ll know more at the end of January when they report.