I want this airline to succeed and be profitable since I work here but anyone who wishes ill will on their company to fail needs to reevaluate their lifes plan. With that being said everything being sent down to us illustrates zero hope that this place can and will succeed. Given how large our competitiors are it’s not even possible even using the standard mgmt reaponse of we need to cut pay to compete. We could earn a 1/4 of our current rates and we couldn’t break even with the legacies and Southwest just due to their economies of scale.

 

Well, I can see you are all really pilots. On the whining scale, you all are in the top 2%. On the financial scale, bottom 10% or clueless zone. Alaska's Quarter 2 looks pretty good, and Q3 looks even better. Maybe your 4 year upgrade will be delayed by 4 years but the company is doing well, the big hurdles are in the rearview. Your economics of scale rhetoric shows your lack of economic intellect. Alaska is a strong, smart, well run company. It’s not about size, it’s about bottom line, profit margins, and shareholders ROI. The only danger of scale is consumption not viability. Stick to mutual funds would be my advice!

Have any of you looked at the current liabilities of AAL or UAL? Those numbers are terrifying, unless you believe recessions are fairytales, existing only in the legends of days gone by.

 

Latest financials 6/14/18
Form 8-k
https://fintel.io/s/us/alk

Added 136 million in cash since end of March, bought back another 96k of shares; a total of $21 million shares bought back ytd.

 

Alaska has always been a fraction of the size of most other airlines. Alaska has always paid less then most other airlines.
Alaska has always had a niche market.
Alaska has always grown and retracted with relation to the ups and downs of the economy.
Alaska’s highs have never been as high as the larger airlines but the lows haven’t been as low either.
Alaska has been in existence longer than most other airlines and....
Alaska has survived as Alaska Airlines for nearly a century.
Love the place, hate the place, we’re gonna be just fine and all have jobs, should you choose to work here.

 

You are correcto on AAL and UAL, time will tell, let’s see how that one goes.

 

as a viable airline Alaska has existed since their merger with JetAmerica. Prior to that it was a train wreck on any given day, week, month. They grew up a little at that point and had to act like a scheduled passenger carrier. All of the BS about being an old established carrier is just that. With this merger they need to grow up again. Move past their regional airline structure and mindset. So far they are clinging to what they know. However they have drawn the attention of for big well run powerful airlines. Something they have never done before. No question as a botique investment firm they have exceeded expectations. Remains to be seen whether they can do that running an airline.

 

You’re kidding, right? UAL’s Annual capital obligation for long-term debt payments are between $1.1B and $1.4B each year for the next 4 years. Just in the 1st quarter of 2018 alone UAL had a Net Cash Flow of $1.7B! They have so much cash they’ve bought back over $9B of shares just in the last 3 years. The current liability numbers are bigger because they do $37B a year of revenue, vs. Alaska’s $7.9B of revenue. Adjusted for revenue, UAL’s debt is less than Alaska’s as a percentage of revenue.

 

Shhhhh. Don’t go messing with a good rant! Who cares about facts!

 

No not kidding.

However, like fellow major airline American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL), United is spending beyond its means on buybacks. This move could be dangerous for investors in the long run.


This means that United Continental has borrowed every dollar it has returned to shareholders this year. Free cash flow may improve somewhat next year, as capex is set to decline after peaking at $4.6 billion-$4.8 billion in 2017. Still, free cash flow is likely to remain far below the peak levels of 2015 and 2016.

It's also far from clear that the stock is undervalued. While United Continental recently raised its fourth-quarter revenue outlook, it still expects unit revenue to decline 0%-2% year over year. In the long run, it is likely to face higher competition from low-fare carriers in many markets. The company hopes to offset these headwinds through better segmentation and revenue management, but those efforts aren't guaranteed to succeed.

Moreover, jet fuel prices have moved significantly higher in the past few months. As a result, United Continental may need full-year unit revenue growth of 3%-4% in 2018 just to keep its profit margin stable.

If United's profitability will continue to fall in 2018, 10 times earnings might be a very generous valuation. Meanwhile, adding debt to fund share buybacks boosts EPS, but it could also get the company into trouble during the next recession. United Continental shareholders may eventually come to regret management's current love affair with share buybacks.

 

Wow you are a financial guru. This coming from the same guy: