Golden Bear

Nice!

HSLD

Here are some comparisons based on the quarterly and annual reports, what data was WSJ using?

Airline Financial Data

cesnacaptn

Does anyone know how much training costs contribute to the overall cost of a pilot? I've heard different numbers, but I heard that one senior captain at Delta retiring results in something like 7 or 11 (numerous at any rate) training events. One senior captain leaves at a single fleet carrier a la Southwest or Alaska and it results in 2 training events.

OTOH, I've wondered if all of those training events is nullified by the fact that managements can or should put the right size gauge aircraft on each route. Plus, I've wondered if the training costs are also nullified by the fact that training cost are spread over more seats at the legacies since their average aircraft size is so much larger than their low cost competitors.

Boomer

On the other hand, AirTran, Jetblue, SWA, Spirit, etc. really don't have that many types on property.

A Southwest pilot has new hire training, and upgrade training. Plus the type ride before he's hired, so I guess that's three. But only two career training events on the company dime.

Every airline pilot has recurrent so I figure that's a wash.

JamesNoBrakes

Because they are not allowed to fail.

tailendcharlie

According to BTS data for 2Q2011 US Airways is highest @17.8 cents per ASM. Next come United & Delta. American comes in at 15.9. Southwest is down the list at 12.6. Spirit is lowest at 9.9. This is for all the legacy and lcc's.

DBCooper1968

Severin Borenstein Economist: Berkeley: This guy is an an ignorant clown and has no clue about the airline industry. I can't wait to hear what Michael Boyd will say about him in his "Hot Flash" next Monday. Labor is not the problem. The pilots and other employees @ Low Cost Airline Southwest make much more $$ than those at American. This a revenue problem and a management problem.

gipple

"AirlineForecasts analyst Vaughn Cordle says when you adjust labor costs for productivity, American Airlines is one of the worst performers."

VC is a United scab. None of his opinions are valid.

tsquare

Dunno, I didn't write the article.

But with the now plethora of charts and graphs have shown up, I guess it proves that you can prove anything with statistics.

sailingfun

Most of the chapter 11 filings in the 2003 to 2006 time frame can be tied directly to the fuel hedges held by SW. They decided to use those hedges to try and drive 1 or 2 major airlines out of business. In fact that is almost a direct quote from their VP of flight ops at a line check meeting. They would have succeeded completely in their plan except for the collapse in the price of oil in 05. That is all that saved UAL, USAIR and perhaps Delta. Had SW not been hedged for years at under 40 a barrel the industry would look quite different today and average wages might be much higher.
Airline tickets are a commodity, anytime you control 20 percent of a commodity you control pricing. That goes back to Crandel's famous quote that the airline industry is the one business where you are held hostage by your stupidest competitor.