1st Q Numbers look great!

[WorldTraveler]

Where in the title of the article does it state the word Delta?

it says in the article that what's his face cited, that's where.

If you don't want to see the comparisons of how well or not WN does to the rest of the industry, don't cite statistics that show that truth and certainly don't quote articles that specifically note a very large 10 point gap between DL and WN's performance.

and tell swamt the same thing.

When WN is back at the top of the heap of the industry, then you can crow about what they have done with no fear that their accomplishments will look a lot less meaningful alongside someone else's.

BTW, can you tell us when was the last time that a legacy carrier posted an OT percentage as low as WN's 63%?

"Per FlightView stats, 73.0 percent of all Southwest flights arrived on time in August, up almost 10 percentage points from the airline's lousy 63.02 percent on-time arrival result in July. An on-time arrival is defined as a flight that arrives at the gate within 14 minutes of its scheduled arrival time."

 

[does this plane go to paris]

It's very possible that Delta is doing so well on their On Time because their boarding numbers in the SEA Asia markets are so awful.  That would certainly explain why Delta is underrperforming in their PRASM for 3 straight months.

 

[WorldTraveler]

complete nonsense.

DL's mainline operation in SEA is a tiny fraction of their total size.

further, DL's LF on a system basis is far higher than WN's - and likely so to/from SEA as well.

Nice try with the RASM slap but DL's domestic RASM - the same as what WN competes in - has been superior to other carriers.

DL's repeated warnings about RASM have been in the int'l markets.

WN might find that all of the RASM growth they are looking for in Latin America might not be quite as great as the domestic market - which again, is largely driven by stronger pricing because of WN's elimination of FL's pricing structure and AA/US' merger which eliminated a major pricing strategy that undercut the big 3 in their largest markets.

and it is noteworthy that DL is repeatedly the first carrier to report RASM, some carriers don't even report it on a monthly basis, and if they do it comes a week or more after DL reports.

DL has become the bellwether for industry analysts to use to understand trends in the market.

finally, DL hasn't missed any estimates. It has narrowed the range of its forecast.

we can turn this into an industry finance discussion if you want or you can just admit that WN's OT may have improved a great deal but it is still well below industry average and there are other carriers that perform far better than WN is doing right now.

Despite WN's operational performance, WN is generating healthy profits - but on several measures, other carriers are still performing better than WN.

good for WN for what it is doing... but if you or anyone else wants to talk about statistics for one carrier, then be prepared to hear those statistics in the context of the entire industry.

 

[swamt]

Some more great numbers.  Great improvement from last month.  Looks like the new initiatives are working very well.  BTW congrats to Delta and US for a much better ontime performance:
 
Southwest Airlines shows dramatic on-time improvement in August

 
 

from the article:



"But among major domestic carriers, Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) remains the standout. Delta had an 82.9 percent on-time arrival performance in August, followed closely by U.S. Airways with 81.2 percent."

 
 

an accurate reading of the article and the facts would have to include congratulations to the DL and US folks for running a better operation.

Ok folks.  Now you all know why I have been posting these articles.  Sorry to most of you for the constant barrage of postings but it has more than proven my point of what others are doing out here on purpose and as a mission, it speaks volumes about their character and motives out here in forum land.   Although I completely gave the praise where the praise was deserved (read last para in first post above)  and it was bluntly very clearly available in the article I posted, and I gave praise.  Still someone has to pipe in to say their company did better and I didn't recognize it.  The second post just after my original is indicating that all of us missed that in the article.  Just pathetic.   The third posting above just cements everything said above and also cements the kind of person and direction he is only concerned with.    Almost every single time I posted positive numbers or info about SWA he has made it his mission to come into and either boost his airline over the current one or slam SWA and others for their poor performance.    Just my way of pointing how what kind of a person he really is.  Take this as you want folks, but maybe now he might get a clue, but I doubt he will as these type of people NEVER do...

 

[WorldTraveler]

I'm quoting from the very article you posted

Did you not bother to read it?

 

[blue collar]

 
Ok folks.  Now you all know why I have been posting these articles.  Sorry to most of you for the constant barrage of postings but it has more than proven my point of what others are doing out here on purpose and as a mission, it speaks volumes about their character and motives out here in forum land.   Although I completely gave the praise where the praise was deserved (read last para in first post above)  and it was bluntly very clearly available in the article I posted, and I gave praise.  Still someone has to pipe in to say their company did better and I didn't recognize it.  The second post just after my original is indicating that all of us missed that in the article.  Just pathetic.   The third posting above just cements everything said above and also cements the kind of person and direction he is only concerned with.    Almost every single time I posted positive numbers or info about SWA he has made it his mission to come into and either boost his airline over the current one or slam SWA and others for their poor performance.    Just my way of pointing how what kind of a person he really is.  Take this as you want folks, but maybe now he might get a clue, but I doubt he will as these type of people NEVER do...

I don't think anyone cares what he has to say. Im sure he's the most ignored poster.

 

[swamt]

35.00  Now that would be sweeeeeet...
 
Southwest Airlines PT Raised to $35.00 (LUV)

 

[swamt]

Southwest Airlines Reports August Traffic
 
Another record month going towards the 3rdQ totals.  With more and more growth coming thru rest of this year and thru 2015.  All sounds great to me...

 

[WorldTraveler]

WN is indeed benefitting from the strong performance in the US.

to be clear, WN's capacity is basically unchanged. They have increased their load factor but are operating fewer flights.

The domestic market is the strongest performer for the big 4 airlines and WN is well-positioned because it has a small int'l presence right now.

 

[swamt]

Could Canada Be the Next Growth Market for Southwest Airlines?
 
Great White North!!!
Didn't we have, or maybe still do, an agreement for code sharing with WJ?   
Once we can get into Canada and bounce all over the place up there, in Alaska, as well as Hawaii etc. the next 10 years look very promising...

 

[WorldTraveler]

WN could get into Canada if it wanted to... your leadership just said that WN might be interested in Canada but high taxes and user fees are a big disincentive to the growth air travel in Canada - and that is absolutely correct.

WN will grow but they could have done a lot of the stuff you suggest they should now years ago if they had thought there was a market that WN could penetrate.... but they didn't.

Just because they now have a res system that can now handle all of the strange taxes that are different from within the lower 48 doesn't mean they will start flying to all of the places they could.

It is far more significant that WN hasn't said word one about confirming a presence to Hawaii.

Hawaii has far greater growth potential and strategic benefit than Canada or Alaska.

 

[700UW]

Hawaii is over saturated. Alliegant is cutting flights and its a low yield leisure market.

 

[swamt]

Airline Stock Roundup: Aug Traffic Results, Southwest Airlines Facelift in News
 
Does anyone think the stock will split this time?  Very interesting how much stock has grown already and the W/A isn't even gone yet.  The chart comparison shows a greater picture of the airline industry as a whole.  Happy reading...

 

[WNMECH]

Read this:

Southwest generated ~$1.30 per passenger in bag and change fees in 2013, compared to $7.25 at JetBlue and ~$15 at Delta Air Lines (DAL) and United Continental (UAL). JetBlues share price increase in recent months from roughly $8 to $12 per share has been driven primarily by estimate increases which assume a first bag fee can allow JetBlue to increase its bag/change fees from $7.25 to ~$15 (equal to roughly $200m in incremental revenue or ~$0.35 in EPS). If Southwest changed its fee strategy and was able to generate $15 per passenger, this equates to roughly $1.5b in revenue and ~$1.45 in EPS, ~$20 using a 14x multiple.



We are leaving $1.5 billion per year out there.

We have already put all the legacies in bankruptcy which caused the consolidation into only three big airlines.
We still carry the most domestic passengers than any of them.
How long do you think WN will wait to charge for bags and cash in on their domestic passenger dominant position?

 

[WorldTraveler]

Hawaii is over saturated. Alliegant is cutting flights and its a low yield leisure market.

WN operates a significantly different type of operation = including being far more reliable - than Allegiant.

Regardless of how saturated the market is, WN has to serve it at some point.

Because it is a leisure market, there will always be carriers who throw capacity into the market esp. since much of it from the west coast can be flown overnight with aircraft that would otherwise sit on the ground on the west coast.

 

Read this:

Southwest generated ~$1.30 per passenger in bag and change fees in 2013, compared to $7.25 at JetBlue and ~$15 at Delta Air Lines (DAL) and United Continental (UAL). JetBlues share price increase in recent months from roughly $8 to $12 per share has been driven primarily by estimate increases which assume a first bag fee can allow JetBlue to increase its bag/change fees from $7.25 to ~$15 (equal to roughly $200m in incremental revenue or ~$0.35 in EPS). If Southwest changed its fee strategy and was able to generate $15 per passenger, this equates to roughly $1.5b in revenue and ~$1.45 in EPS, ~$20 using a 14x multiple.



We are leaving $1.5 billion per year out there.

We have already put all the legacies in bankruptcy which caused the consolidation into only three big airlines.
We still carry the most domestic passengers than any of them.
How long do you think WN will wait to charge for bags and cash in on their domestic passenger dominant position?

The reason why WN should go after bag revenue for at least some passengers is because there is a significant of the traveling public that is accustomed to paying them.

No one knows for sure how many but there are large percentages of legacy carrier customers who are exempt from bag fees.

Further, there is a significant amount of bag revenue that comes from int'l flights and WN's opportunity cost will grow as it carries more and more free bags that are going regardless of the price.

but it also means that WN will not get the level of bag revenue until it flies to some of the same countries where the opportunity to charge bag fees is as great as it is at other carriers.