BIG loss preview

[Hopeful]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080715/amr_earning...eview.html?.v=1

 

[CubsFanJohn]

I say a $600-750 Million Cash loss, this is just a guess. Assuming the MD-80 fiazol cost around $250 Million. But AMR is lucky to be in the Cash Position they are, too bad they have a huge debt with it.

 

[LGA Fleet Service]

Only in the airline industry is it considered a bad thing to keep paying your bills and not stiff your creditors and retirees by running off to bankruptcy court and hiding behind the robes of a judge to make that mean old debt go away.

Gotta' love it.

 

[limit]

Special jetwire 284 mill not including special items.
Eagle sale on hold.

 

[The Goose]

Only in the airline industry is it considered a bad thing to keep paying your bills and not stiff your creditors and retirees by running off to bankruptcy court and hiding behind the robes of a judge to make that mean old debt go away.

Gotta' love it.

Don't we all wish we could do that?

While I'm wishing, what would happen if all airlines just 'put 'em down' for, say, two days? That is dreaming, of course. Getting two airlines to agree on the shape of the table is like getting two or more mechanics to agree on anything - like impossible.

 

[Hopeful]

Only in the airline industry is it considered a bad thing to keep paying your bills and not stiff your creditors and retirees by running off to bankruptcy court and hiding behind the robes of a judge to make that mean old debt go away.

Gotta' love it.

Wall Street prefers layoffs and employee decimation..Business is about the shareholder..plain and simple....Stock value is the only thing that counts...not service, not safety and certainly not employee morale..

 

[FrequentFlierCA]

Wall Street prefers layoffs and employee decimation..Business is about the shareholder..plain and simple....Stock value is the only thing that counts...not service, not safety and certainly not employee morale..

Do you really think service and safety don't directly affect the stock price? If an airlines isn't safe or offers terrible service, less people will fly it, profits will decline and the stock price will go down. Wall Street types aren't that short-sighted.

 

[eolesen]

True. Safety does play into valuation. IIRC, Valujet and Tower used to trade well in the basement compared to other airline stocks, even when Valujet was making money and before the Everglades crash. But those airlines also had crappy reputations, and weren't all that financially well off, so it all sort of lumps together.

Service? Dunno. Ryanair ADR's & stock seem to do pretty well despite their negative reputation for customer service. But they also make money hand over fist, so as long as it's profitable, the stock will perform.

 

[Hopeful]

Do you really think service and safety don't directly affect the stock price? If an airlines isn't safe or offers terrible service, less people will fly it, profits will decline and the stock price will go down. Wall Street types aren't that short-sighted.

Having been on the "inside" of this industry for a very long time in the aircraft maintenance end of it, I can tell you things have changed for the worse...The overnight checks we used to do on aircraft were more thorough and more problems were found..

But since the past 7 years, they have removed quite a few items from the checks that mechanics were finding problems with...

I could give you a laundry list of things that go unchecked because the company doesn't want "too" much looked at...

But I won't,,,,,as a frequent flier, you seem to have all the answers...

Let's not forget the reduction in reserve fuel....

 

[FrequentFlierCA]

Having been on the "inside" of this industry for a very long time in the aircraft maintenance end of it, I can tell you things have changed for the worse...The overnight checks we used to do on aircraft were more thorough and more problems were found..

But since the past 7 years, they have removed quite a few items from the checks that mechanics were finding problems with...

I could give you a laundry list of things that go unchecked because the company doesn't want "too" much looked at...

But I won't,,,,,as a frequent flier, you seem to have all the answers...

Let's not forget the reduction in reserve fuel....

Never claimed to have all the answers (or even most of them); just offering my opinions, experience and insight as a long-time customer and follower of this industry.

I can't speak to your points (since you chose not to make them) except for reserve fuel, and I don't exactly see planes falling out of the sky because they have run out of gas. Isn't this captain's discretion, anyway? Or is that only at US Airways?

My original point was not that AA couldn't do any better, it was that safety plays a factor in market valuation. Customers and shareholders don't like accidents, so if an airline has one it's stock is going to take a beating. If you can find an exception, I'd love to see it.