I agree. If I read correctly(and that's IF) CAL and AA posted a NET LOSS, as opposed to our NET PROFIT. Could have been MUCH worse.

 

Talking about domestic capacity, Glen said they are shedding a lot of 50 seaters, "they are our least efficient airplane", that Delta has "way too many 50 seat aircraft" and DAL is essentially not using 50 seat aircraft on routes more than 750 miles.

 

Yeah, and did you hear the caller personally thank them for pulling 50 seaters of long haul flying? LOL

 

Thank you, now I can concentrate this weekend on shooting ring-neck feathery aviators and not be worrying about the viability of plan b and c.

 

Well, the Bombardier product is not as comfortable as the Embraer product. We are starting to get it. People have been voting with their dollars.

 

Yeah, that might be a bit hyperbolic.

Depending on how you slice it, DAL lost $161 million last quarter. Or $130 million. But what DAL didn't do was turn a profit. They lost WAY more this year than they did last year at this same time.

I realize there are plenty of valid reasons for this, but ultimately, a loss is a loss, and to imply otherwise seems a bit deceptive.

 

And even that is not so great. CAL still flies them YYZ-IAH, and I think that's just mean.

 

Ha - that got a chuckle out of me. I think our passengers put up with the 50 seaters vs enjoying a ride on them.

 

I don't think you read it correctly...... Here's the "scoop". The sad part though is that CAL stock litterly got demolished yesterday. It was down around 16%. So......show a little profit and get hammered.....go figure.

By Deepa Seetharaman Deepa Seetharaman – Wed Oct 21, 7:53 am ET
DALLAS (Reuters) – Continental Airlines Inc (CAL.N) posted a quarterly profit before one-time charges on Wednesday, beating analysts' expectations of a loss, as it benefited from reduced capacity and a drop in costs.

The world's fifth-largest airline said its third-quarter net loss narrowed to $18 million, or 14 cents per share, from $230 million or $2.09 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding $20 million in special charges, the carrier posted a profit of 2 cents per share.

Analysts on average had expected a loss of 6 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue fell 20.2 percent to $3.3 billion while mainline unit costs fell 21 percent.

The airline offset weak revenues from softer demand and took full advantage of a 51 percent decline in fuel expenses compared with the same period last year. Jet fuel prices were lower and capacity was cut during the period.

Mainline capacity fell 4.1 percent but load factor, a measure of how full planes were during the quarter, was up 2.9 points to a record 85 percent.

Continental's performance is in line with that of other carriers reporting narrower losses or small profits this quarter on strong cost performance -- signs analysts say the industry may be starting to pull out of its slump.

"We are well positioned to take full advantage of improvement in the economic environment," Continental's chief executive officer, Larry Kellner, said in a statement.

Continental ended the quarter with $2.54 billion in unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments.

The company anticipates new benefits when it joins the Star Alliance with United Airlines, a unit of UAL Corp (UAUA.O), by month's end.

UAL posted a loss on Tuesday that was half of what Wall Street had expected, also helped by lower costs and easing revenue pressures.

AirTran Holdings Inc (AAI.N), the parent of AirTran Airways, reported a quarterly profit on Wednesday against a year-earlier loss.

(Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Gerald E. McCormick)

 

Well accountants are tricky people.