Again folks, I hate to be the wet blanket here, but a lot of folks are just not paying attention to reality. Here is part of a story regarding Southwest Airlines:
"After reporting its first loss in 17 years last week, Southwest announced it is cutting capacity 5% to 6% in early 2009. The ongoing economic crises and volatility in oil prices are creating “an environment where it makes no sense to be growing,” said Southwest CEO Gary Kelly.
In a quarterly filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, Southwest also reported its fuel hedging contracts have lost $2 billion in value, falling from $2.5 billion on Sept. 30 to $550 million as of Oct. 15."
Note Gary's use of the word "crises"...plural for crisis!
One of the big under-reported stories is the amount of loss being experienced by many airlines' fuel hedge portfolios. Yet another hit in a business that is totally economic dependent.
Here's my blunt prediction. DAL, NWA and the new DAL will not grow. They will shrink. They will have to. Every single airline is presently TOO BIG. Gary Kelly is the only one that seems to be admitting it thus far.
Carl