skyangelnflight
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- Aug 22, 2002
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Aug. 21 — Delta is the latest airline to ease restrictions on non-refundable tickets. The carrier will allow passengers with non-refundable tickets to reschedule their trip for up to one year from the date of the original flight. American and Continental announced similar changes earlier this week — a week that saw the industry getting good news for a change.
THIS HAS probably been the best of week of news out of the airline industry in the last year or so. That doesn’t mean the carriers are out of the woods, but they are enjoying some good news for a change.
For example, July revenue per available seat mile was up 8.1 percent. That was well above the estimates of an increase of 4 to 6 percent.
One reason for the increase is that domestic demand is approaching pre-war levels — in part because there was pent-up demand, but also because of the summer travel season and the improving economy.
And pricing is also firming up, although some of the firming comes from the fact that the airlines have been given a break from charging the $2.50 security surcharge.
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As a whole, the industry is reaping the benefits of cutting its costs with restructured labor contracts, cutting capacity, and shifting more flights from bigger, more expensive airliners to smaller, less expensive regional jets.
All of this is encouraging news for an industry esperately trying to turn things around.
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North America blackout to hit airline bottom lines
Reuters, 08.18.03, 6:12 PM ET
By David Bailey
CHICAGO, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The large airlines hardest hit by the North American power blackout will likely suffer a blow to their financial bottom lines similar to the losses caused by blizzards and may be forced furlough more workers, analysts said on Monday.
The massive blackout that stopped traffic from airports in the New York metro area, Detroit, Cleveland and eastern Canada could not have come at a worse time for an industry still reeling from the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacking attacks against the United States.
The most severely affected airlines may see third-quarter earnings per share drop roughly 5 cents to 10 cents, Blaylock & Partners airline analyst Ray Neidl said.
The airlines that cut the most flights included Air Canada <AC.TO>, under bankruptcy protection, which cut hundreds of flights after a backup failure at a control center in Toronto.
American Airlines (nyse: AMR - news - people), which narrowly averted bankruptcy earlier in 2003, canceled nearly 500 flights, mostly into and out of New York. Northwest Airlines (nasdaq: AMR - news - people) canceled 405 flights, mainly around its Detroit hub.
Total losses for U.S. airlines on blackout-related flight disruptions are likely to run tens of millions of dollars, said John Heimlich, managing director of economics at the Air Transport Association, an industry lobbying group.
THIS HAS probably been the best of week of news out of the airline industry in the last year or so. That doesn’t mean the carriers are out of the woods, but they are enjoying some good news for a change.
For example, July revenue per available seat mile was up 8.1 percent. That was well above the estimates of an increase of 4 to 6 percent.
One reason for the increase is that domestic demand is approaching pre-war levels — in part because there was pent-up demand, but also because of the summer travel season and the improving economy.
And pricing is also firming up, although some of the firming comes from the fact that the airlines have been given a break from charging the $2.50 security surcharge.
Advertisement
As a whole, the industry is reaping the benefits of cutting its costs with restructured labor contracts, cutting capacity, and shifting more flights from bigger, more expensive airliners to smaller, less expensive regional jets.
All of this is encouraging news for an industry esperately trying to turn things around.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
North America blackout to hit airline bottom lines
Reuters, 08.18.03, 6:12 PM ET
By David Bailey
CHICAGO, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The large airlines hardest hit by the North American power blackout will likely suffer a blow to their financial bottom lines similar to the losses caused by blizzards and may be forced furlough more workers, analysts said on Monday.
The massive blackout that stopped traffic from airports in the New York metro area, Detroit, Cleveland and eastern Canada could not have come at a worse time for an industry still reeling from the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacking attacks against the United States.
The most severely affected airlines may see third-quarter earnings per share drop roughly 5 cents to 10 cents, Blaylock & Partners airline analyst Ray Neidl said.
The airlines that cut the most flights included Air Canada <AC.TO>, under bankruptcy protection, which cut hundreds of flights after a backup failure at a control center in Toronto.
American Airlines (nyse: AMR - news - people), which narrowly averted bankruptcy earlier in 2003, canceled nearly 500 flights, mostly into and out of New York. Northwest Airlines (nasdaq: AMR - news - people) canceled 405 flights, mainly around its Detroit hub.
Total losses for U.S. airlines on blackout-related flight disruptions are likely to run tens of millions of dollars, said John Heimlich, managing director of economics at the Air Transport Association, an industry lobbying group.
