FWIW I absolutely hate that something like that is even possible. I'm a raging free market capitalist compared to most, but I don't see how that nonsense is ever allowed. LBO's are nuts.

Good point. Also we may be over looking the 777 options. If we applied what we could sell a 777 option for (especially while the sub prime no interest liar loan bubble is still inflating with the dual government subsidized fantasy foreign airlines) and applied that to the 747 they could probably be net free or even paid to take. Offset some of the fuel burn costs with cheaper refinery gas and it could be a real coup.

Especially in this business. The cost of capital is a lot higher than the historic return on that money.

Sailing minimized the Alaska disruption and he's probably right. More, I see this as a reaction to issues in Japan. Are we looking for a strategic fall back from Narita? I hope not.

Alaska runs a very good airline. As a client, their management reminded me of Delta before Ron Allen. There's something about that kind of hospitality that is hard to put a finger on, but behind the scenes it is a rigidly enforced "customer first" sort of strategy. Senior management at Delta is making a great effort to emphasize just this concept. Every pilot I run into is fully on board with the work to make Delta a preferred carrier instead of a simple travel commodity. Further, Delta is executing very well and our passengers, especially our Elites are noticing.

Bankruptcy was a corporate V1 cut and ours had some close in obstacles, some of which were not charted. The commodity price run up followed by a severe recession were not on the map. We've now cleared those hazards and have the terrain clearance to clean up and establish second segment climb. Now the Company's course is more of management's choosing and their choices will be interesting.

I know, its sick. The market cap of AS is something like $3.5B. The market cap of AA is $935M.

Amazing.

Regional head injuries in the regional airline industry. Interesting report.

http://jdasolutions.aero/downloads/r...e-Industry.pdf

I'm just going to throw this out there. SWA is still in the thick of it with the AirTran merger, but does anyone else see them stepping out of left field to make a merger play with Alaska?

The fleets line up relatively well, it helps to get SWA closer to an "international presence", and it would be a huge blow to both AMR and DAL. Logistically, I don't think it will be a walk in the park, especially considering the sluggish rate of the current merger/integration, but I definitely see SWA attempting to make a play for either SWA, or possibly JB in the future. I haven't looked at their financials closely, but I figure they could probably afford to make a play like that.

I've heard that the ALK brand loyalty in the Northwest is unquestionably strong, so whomever decides to merge with them will need to work extremely hard to keep that customer loyalty.

I do. In fact, I was surprised they went for AAI instead of AS. Rumor had it they were in SEA looking at the books and we were just too expensive for them. Perhaps they regret that now. They could have had a turnkey Hawaii operation, a big 737 order book and no 717 headaches.

Unquestionably true. In fact, that loyalty has forced them to pull out of SEA-GEG, SEA-BOI and PDX-GEG.

Are SC <3 & SC => 3 the only short call buckets? Can't find it anywhere. Thanks

SC Buckets are 0-2, 3-5, and 6+

Ah, yes. Anyone disagreeing with ALPA's party manifesto is a "basher" and is declared a member of the lunatic fringe.

I'm not sure who provides the best example of ALPA arrogance: you, alfaromero, or padre2992.

One thing's for sure: none of you are the least interested in what's best for Delta pilots. You're only interested in what's best for ALPA.