Now imagine the profit if we were in a boom cycle?

And owned the refinery because with a boom cycle we'll surely have higher energy demand and prices.

-------------------------------

Ya think?

Okay it's $9.38, where is it at noon, where is it at the end of the day? :)

I think peak at $13 and settles at $11. But I'm pulling that out of thin air but that's how NCAA brackets are won so I'm fine with that.

Good news on the profit. Wall Street has been buying on anticipation and selling on news, so who knows what the market will do with our stock. The news will contrast with American's story, so it will be interesting and broadcast as such.

Going forwards we (as investors) should consider that the increases in revenue came on the backs of our customers and in many cases they are not happy about it. One of my three jobs requires last minute travel, which of course is expensive. We have to go when the client calls and mostly we use our own small fleet of aircraft. When we use Delta it is rarely less than $1,100 to travel, even on < 400 mile trips. Unfortunately Delta's myriad fees make it difficult to complete an expense report without a revision, which in our case drives a revision of the bill to a client. Often the fees are billed separately and about half the time I was either told no fee would be charged, or was told nothing and the charge was a surprise that came with the credit card statement.

Point being, an airline that does not charge these fees is coming to town. Delta's treatment of my business partners drove them to Air Tran for what they perceived to be better service. They are excited about Southwest coming to town.

My point only being that Southwest will show the love at Delta's largest hub. Yes, we have a better product. But, often we offend those who coughed up the extra 4.2 Billion. Delta needs to work on being more "honest" and less "offensive" to our customers.

Bloomberg: Delta Profit Tops Estimates as Fares Outpace Rising Fuel Costs
By Mary Jane Credeur
January 25, 2012 7:39 AM EST

Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL)’s fourth- quarter profit topped analysts’ estimates as higher fares outpaced rising jet-fuel costs.

Earnings excluding some items more than doubled to $379 million, or 45 a share, the Atlanta-based carrier said today in a statement. That exceeded the 38-cent average of 15 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Profit on that basis a year earlier was $158 million.

Delta, the world’s second-largest carrier, benefited from planes that were more than 80 percent full, which gave it more pricing power to raise fares and helped overcome increased jet- fuel expenses. Delta also reduced flying on trans-Atlantic routes in response to plummeting demand for travel to Europe, which lowered costs.

In the coming year, Delta will focus on “sustained profitability and superior returns by growing and diversifying our revenues, while taking a disciplined approach to capacity, costs and capital spending,” Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson said in the statement.
Net income surged to $425 million, or 50 cents a share, from 19 million, or 2 cents, a year earlier. Fuel costs rose about 5 percent to $2 billion.
Delta and US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) release results today, becoming the second and third major U.S. carriers to give fourth-quarter figures. Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) posted a profit last week.

Southwest’s earnings excluding benefits on fuel-purchase contracts fell 43 percent to $66 million, or 9 cents a share, which beat the 8-cent average of 14 analysts’ estimates. The Dallas-based carrier also said it may delay any expansion to as late as 2014 because $100-a-barrel oil is eroding profit growth.

At my last job I bought tickets primarily on AirTran, but not because of price. The prices were the same, I just preferred a 717 flown by AirTran to an RJ flown by... not Delta. Two reasons, the 717 was more comfortable and more likely to be on time. I bought DAL if there was a mainline or an Ejet. But when it came to ATL-CVG I bought ATL-IND and drove.

AirTran has offered a lot of things that SWA is ending in exchange supposedly for lower prices. I have a feeling, may turn out to be wrong, SWA and DAL are going to find a happy place on ticket prices together and the battle will be over amenities.

Btw, my brother in VA and uncle in BNA are million miler types, guess who is winning their business? UsAir. In fact my uncle says SWA is too expensive out of BNA. Sadly for some reason DAL has never won his business. Don't know why.

Parker is "very happy" with these numbers which beat street estimates of 13 cents a share:Delta conference call in 47 minutes:

http://www.delta.com/about_delta/inv...asts/index.jsp

Forward looking Q&A should be interesting since we should start seeing some positive movement here in a little under 12 months. Also, I'll be looking for their prognostications on SkyTeam as it relates to our AF-KLM allocations in the joint venture. That has got to start turning if the Company has any intent of being in compliance with the spirit of our PWA.

We need a positive bid!

I bet it goes up 5-7% today. I think the longer term outlook is >$13, around $16.

Already up 6% in per-market action.

They lost another one at the Alpena County Regional Airport that day too.

No injuries when small plane slides off Alpena runway | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

I actually feel a little bad for the guys. They have to fly CRJ-200's into airports that were meant for Beech 1900's and Dash-8's.