The business model is flawed. The way they are running the airline is horrible. Everything is don east to west and all flight hub out of SFO or LAX.

There is so much wrong with the route structure.

 

They seem to go into saturated markets like L.A. or New York where everyone and their brother already operate with little net profits. I wish them luck but it doesn't look good from a financial standpoint.

 

And Continental's contract has been a bankruptcy worthy drag on others for the last 25+ years. Every contract cycle I have been through at NWA now Delta they point to cal pay and workrules(or lack there of)

 

Totally agree.

 

NK is an entirely different business model with 178 seats in a A320 and 145 in an A319. Lot more seats than their competition on the same plane allows them to sell more seats at a very low ticket price, filling up almost every seat. Plus, I'm sure you're aware of their industry leading onboard and bag charges. 33% of NK revenue is from ancillary fees.

UA has beefed up the competition more this year than any years prior with VA. Also not helping is the fuel cost. Flying a significant amount of transcontinental flying means less room to recover from high gas prices that you could from shorter hops.

VA has continuously expanded year over year with lots of aircraft and markets. Now, for the first time, VA sill slow its growth. They get just 1 airplane in the next 12 months, and are focusing on getting the most out of our destinations and letting markets mature. The upcoming quarters should be better year over year.

 

https://centreforaviation.com/analys...tability-84013

 

And reality sinks in....

 

The slow/stopped growth was planned ahead of time. The new aircraft order won't start until Fall 2013. One more aircraft comes in March 2013. What they initially planned to do was stop growth for one year so they could announce profits, and then go public IPO. So far they haven't announced a profitable quarter this year, so that IPO timeline will have to be re-set. I don't see why there's a rush to get a IPO launched. Spirit didn't do one until just a couple years ago, and that was after they had been well established for over two decades. Branson is a patient investor, and it seems the American investors are also committed long term, so I don't think the IPO needs to happen within the next year.

 

Burning through cash while losses continue to widen may have something to do with it.

 

Says the guy whose company lost a net of 8.4 Billion since 2008.

(Don't get me worng... I think Delta is a strong company, but this is aviation... and Delta did post a huge 2Q loss this year and is at a net loss so far -- yeah, bought a refinery, and while at best guess that's gonna pan out, it's a gamble, just like the rest of this biz).