Hmmm get rid of a higher payrate aircraft and replace it with the 737. Same work, less pay... Can i get a guiness "brilliant"!

 

The TPA states that 737's would be flown by legacy CAL unless they are replacement aircraft for ones being retired which I think is the case here.

 

What aircraft is that? The 737 pays the same as the 757. How is CAL's pay lower than UAL's? What am I missing? I don't have the UAL contract, is it than much better?

These will not be short 737's. They like the 900ER's.

 

If we don't have a contract by the delivery date of 2015-16, L-UAL.

T&PA says otherwise, these are replacement A/C for L-UAL 757's and will be flown by L-UAL Pilots

True, replacement aircraft so flown by L-UAL.

As a side note, if we don't have a contract by 2015 this place will probably be shut down anyway.

 

Airlines make record $22.6 billion from fees, report finds - USATODAY.com

U.S. airlines bring in more revenue from fees for bags and other products and services than do the world's other carriers, a new report released today reveals.

"It's clear that airlines recognize the importance of ancillary revenue and are developing increasingly innovative ways to generate it," says IdeaWorks President Jay Sorensen.

Many airline passengers, though, are annoyed at buying a ticket and paying extra for services and products that once were free. The extra fees initially were charged by low-fare carriers but have now become a priority for all airlines — and essential for their profitability.

United Airlines, which merged with Continental Airlines in 2010, generated more ancillary revenue — $5.2 billion — than any other carrier last year, according to the IdeaWorks report, sponsored by Amadeus, a travel technology company with a computer reservation system used by travel agents and airlines.

 

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is for profit of $1.70 per share, a rise of 14.1% from the company’s actual earnings for the year-ago quarter. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from $1.89. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It has risen from $1.62 during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 29.8% compared to last year’s $4.53.

Past Earnings Performance: The company is looking to top estimates for the third straight quarter. Last quarter, it reported a loss of 87 cents per share against a mean estimate of net loss of $1.11, and the quarter before, the company exceeded forecasts by 16 cents with net income of 30 cents versus a mean estimate of profit of 14 cents.

A Look Back: In the first quarter, the company’s loss widened to a loss of a $448 million ($1.36 a share) from a loss of $213 million (65 cents) a year earlier, but beat analyst expectations. Revenue rose 4.9% to $8.6 billion from $8.2 billion.

Stock Price Performance: Between July 16, 2012 and July 20, 2012, the stock price dropped $2.68 (-11.1%), from $24.23 to $21.55. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between November 23, 2011 and December 7, 2011, when shares rose for 10 straight days, increasing 33.2% (+$5.16) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between February 16, 2012 and February 27, 2012 when shares fell for seven straight days, dropping 15.2% (-$3.61) over that span.

Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts are projecting a rise of 3.5% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $10.04 billion.

Key Stats:

On the top line, the company is looking to build on four-straight revenue increases heading into this earnings announcement. Revenue rose 90.1% in the second quarter of the last fiscal year, 88.6% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year and 5.9% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year before increasing again in the first quarter.

Balance Sheet Analysis: The company’s current ratio of assets to liabilities came in at 0.9 last quarter. The current ratio is an indication of a firm’s liquidity and ability to meet creditor demands and generally, a ratio less than one could indicate a company may have difficulty meeting current obligations. The company regressed in this liquidity measure from 0.97 in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year to the last quarter driven in part by an increase in liabilities. Current liabilities increased 9.6% to $12.49 billion while assets rose 2.4% to $11.26 billion.

Analyst Ratings: With 10 analysts rating the stock a buy, none rating it a sell and two rating the stock a hold, there are indications of a bullish stance by analysts.

United Continental Holdings Second Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek | Wall St. Cheat Sheet

 

United Airlines led the latest price increase late last week. JetBlue Airways and Virgin America started raising fares Thursday. Southwest followed over the weekend.

Typically, when Southwest goes along with a fare increase, travelers can expect it to stick. And it didn't take long for network carriers Delta, American and US Airways to follow its lead.

The latest increase comes even as airlines have moved up fall fare sales that traditionally weren't available until the beginning of the school year. Starting Aug. 20, many airlines are planning to slash fares on their cheapest domestic seats by 10% to 20% on some routes for the fall, typically the slowest time of the year for air travel.

"Airlines only raise fares when the competition does the same and they feel consumers won't balk," says Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare.com. "They attempt from time to time to test both competitors and consumers. (It) appears for now they are comfortable with forward-looking bookings."

This is the fourth increase this year. Last year, airlines raised fares nine times.

Kevin Schorr of Campbell-Hill Aviation Group, a Virginia consulting firm, says airlines haven't been able to raise fares in recent months because of the economic uncertainty surrounding the presidential election and Europe.

He says airlines are cutting the number of flights they're making available. "By doing that, they're able to raise fares if there's less supply," he says.

That doesn't mean travelers should expect to see sales go away. "There's still times of the year when they have more capacity than they need, and they need to fill planes," Schorr says.

Paul Flaningan, a spokesman for Southwest, says the airline raised fares on non-sale tickets and excluded routes shorter than 500 miles.

"It continues to be a very competitive market," Flaningan said. "With costs rising and continued fuel cost fluctuation, the decision was made to match on all non-sale fares, excluding short-haul markets."

Jet fuel prices have gone down from their peaks, taking away one justification for higher prices. George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com, points out, however, that some airlines already locked in their fuel buys at higher prices. "Lower prices don't help them," he says.

Seaney doesn't expect many more fare increases.

"Given the slower fall season, starting at the end of August, it is unlikely we will see another hike in the next few months," he says.

 

The money is there.

"On July 26, we reported a $545 million profit for the second quarter, or $1.41 per diluted share, excluding $206 million of net special charges. Including special charges, we reported second-quarter net income of $339 million, or $0.89 per diluted share."

 

"a large amount of money" and "a great deal of money"

It's there.

1. Director meeting: Following my two weeks vacation I attended a series of meetings in ORD. One being a Chief Pilot Meeting and the other being a meeting with all Director Level leadership. I thought I would share with you some of the information that was shared with me. Getting the operation running correctly was the major theme of both meetings. I know I am not telling you anything that you don't already know when I tell you that our operation has suffered greatly recently and we are certainly are not running the type of airline that we could be and should be running. I know many of you have spoken to me and asked if upper management is aware of the state of our operation and do they have a plan to fix it. After these meetings, I can tell you the answer to both questions is YES. I don't want to dwell on how we got to where we are, because we need to focus on how we go from here, not on how we got here. But I think we need to look at the past to see how to alter our course in the future. In very simple terms, we put our desire to capture revenue synergies from the merger ahead of our ability to support those plans. We have flown more hours than we should to capture revenue, stressing the aircraft and crew. Our parts inventories and down line maintenance plans for supporting our redeployment has suffered as well. The problems are understood and there is a plan in place to get us back to being the kind of airline we all want to be. We have determined that with our fleet there is a maximum number of flights we can operate effectively. This summer we were significantly above that level. We are reducing our flying to a maintainable level, and have already made some reductions this week, there are two more reductions to made between now and the middle of September. This allows for more spare aircraft, more down time for the aircraft for maintenance and perhaps dearest to your hearts, more reasonable levels of flying for the crews. We are delaying some of our redeployment plans and are opening crew bases in ORD and DEN which will improve the quality of the pairings. We are increasing the connect time for passengers by leaving the aircraft on the ground longer. We have invested a large amount of money to reposition aircraft parts to the locations they are flying out of. Our redeployment flights out of IAD for us and EWR for s-UAL had been run like outstations in terms of support. We now are focusing on supporting these flights with parts as hub flying and not down line flying. With more aircraft available we are able to follow through on our plans to match aircraft, parts and mechanics to certain cities where the work needs to be done. All of this requires a great deal of money and the company is committed to make it happen. It is a cost of doing business and from Jeff on down we are committed to make this happen. I know our poor operational performance has been a large frustration for many of you. I am out flying as well and see the same problems you do. We as pilots, have our careers tied the closest to the success of this airline. We don't have the option of going to another company and enter at the same level we left behind. That is why running a good airline, one we all can be proud of, is important to all of us. I know it is easy to be frustrated want to give up when you feel that everyone around you is failing to support you. I ask that you do not give up. I ask that you continue to focus on doing your job to the best of your ability and control the things that you have control of to help turn this ship around. Continue to let us know when you feel that you are not being supported by the groups that you have no control over. I want to know about those cases. Don't give up and think that nothing happens when you bring this to our attention. This airline is like a super tanker at sea. It has a huge amount of momentum and can not be turned on a dime. We will fix our problems, we are focused at all levels to make it happen. The same energy that allowed us to reap the financial benefits of this merger are now focused on the operation. Hang in there. I know it has been tough. It will get better.

 

"In very simple terms, we put our desire to capture revenue synergies from the merger ahead of our ability to support those plans."

Sounds like what they've tried to do to the pilots as well, putting the synergy cart before the labor horse. They'll figure it out when the TA is voted down by 90% or so. Then regarding what is owed these two pilot groups they might finally conclude "from Jeff on down we are committed to make this happen."