[QUOTE=e6bpilot;3977189]According to market schedule from network planning, peak flights for LAX for the June of 26 base schedule is 87 flights a day. I don’t know if that is more/less from previous but it’s still quite a bit.

 

My bad. Late night posting gone awry. I ment to quote setMCT. The system won't let me fix it, though. Mea culpa.

 

[QUOTE=REF 5;3977265]We will always have enough flights there to keep the gates occupied. Right now we operate 10 gates, so 87 flights is a strong schedule, but we are supposed to have 12. SWA is not going to cede any more space to other carriers. LAX is in a 5 way power struggle and nobody dares give up real estate. JetBlue is squatting on two gates until terminal 5 is done in 2027, and I have a feeling that is just fine. We definitely haven't been fully utilizing the rest. I don't have the data, but it's pretty clear from the way we operated that terminal previously to the way we operate today, SWA would rather use LAX as a maintenance anchor and crew base and spread the flying around to the satellite airports. I think most of the locals would rather have that too. Terminal 0 project has been shelved. LAX is in the midst of a major renovation. There just isn't any growth there outside of margin players like spirit freeing up space and other airlines grabbing it up as a power play.

I am seriously shocked that there hasn't been more push for a rehash of the coterminal stuff for socal and NorCal. The way we operate those regions, it would make serious sense. I know LAX locals would be pretty happy as most drive from where the other socal airports are.

Side note - if you ever want to see how bad the customer experience can be in lax, I invite you to fly out of gate 52. It's not a gate, just a magic portal to American Eagle hell. Right now you have to enter through terminal 4 security, go down 4 stories, walk through a long service tunnel, go up, wait in line, get on a bus, and drive east for about a mile and a half to enter a building with no AC and one tiny "restaurant". That's where the actual stands are. It's brutal.

 

SWA won’t touch any Spirit aircraft. IF they want anything it would be the delivery slots owned not by Spirit but by Aer Cap and maybe LGA slots. By the way, SWA already has a relationship with AerCap because some of the SWA aircraft leases are owned by them.

Something to think about is SWA just issued some debt in the tune of $1.5 billion. Supposedly to pay the ppp stuff that will convert. Well that is only about a billion in total. That extra money maybe used to fund more deliveries next year. Contractual commitments for 2026(mostly airplanes) is $2.0 Billion according to 10K. Boeing CFO stated this week they plan on delivering a lot airplanes next year. Most of the time cash flow funds those deliveries. They may just slow retirements down a little to grow. If they get more airplanes next year cap ex will really explode. Interesting to see if all these initiatives really do pay off. I have a feeling cash flow from operations is not going to cover it. We’ll know more at the end of January when they report.

 

Hate to tell you guys, but we’re getting a new type…the Brazilia! Congrats to all.

 

I'll fly it...for 737 rates.

 

Assigned seats doesn’t go into effect until end of Jan so I’d guess the full picture won’t be realized until April when Q1 earnings are announced? Even then that’s only 2 full months of revenue from seat sales (no idea how much 26 days of open seating matters).

 

Awesome. Bring it. Nice jet!

 

Actually it won’t be fully realized until the fall of 2026 because of the 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2026. Which usually when SWA and other airlines have their best quarters. What I meant was the end January usually is when they lay out the fleet plans, capacity guidance, cap ex plans, etc.

 

Ah. Gotcha.