Travel Industry Archive

Virgin America issued a release this morning previewing its first quarter results before the full data goes public via the government. The results? Terrible on the revenue side but good on the cost side. I’ll dissect those numbers more next week, but for today I just wanted to focus on the most important number of all: cash. The airline’s cash position declined precipitously...

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Sands Bethlehem makes $1 million a day – Sands Bethlehem, Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s latest casino in Bethlehem, Pa., made $10.7 million in slot revenue during its 10-day soft opening, according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. The $743 million casino held its official grand opening on Tuesday. The casino has 4,000 slot machines, four restaurants and two bars. Another 2,000...

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It’s been a good run for the last few months hasn’t it? I mean, the rest of the economy has self-destructed, but airlines were able to hold on to half-decent results thanks to the preparations made when oil spiked late last year. But as they say, the party’s over. It’s time to cut once again. We learned last year that oil prices and demand move together. So when...

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Today’s news of dropped capacity and rising oil costs means only one thing to consumers — get ready to pay through the nose for airline tickets. And the death spiral of low demand and cut flights will only cause more pain for the airline industry. Both Delta Air Lines and American Airlines are cutting capacity because of low demand and meager advanced bookings. US Airways is also...

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It sure took them awhile, but Hawaiian finally had a decent operating month for its mainland flights in April. On-time performance was respectable for the first time in a long time. Let’s hope this actually is a trend and not just luck. When I last wrote about this problem, Hawaiian had just posted a January on-time percentage of 52.8 percent for its mainland flights (excluding San...

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Every time I see that Allegiant has filed another presentation with the SEC, I get excited. There’s always an interesting nugget or two in there. This time, a June management presentation shows the incredible value to Allegiant of having low fixed aircraft costs. As most people know, Allegiant operates a fleet of MD-80s. These may be gas guzzlers, but they’re incredibly cheap to...

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Air France to replace sensors after pilot pressure – After a pilot’s labor union requested its workers not to fly planes without replaced sensors, Air France decided to immediately replace speed sensors on all of its A330 and A340 jets. Air France said it would replace the Pitot tubes, or sensors, in the next few days.  Although investigators have found no cause of Flight...

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The U.S. Department of Transportation reported that American airlines were more on time in April at a rate of 79.1 percent. The airline with the most on-time flights was Hawaiian Airlines with 91.1. percent. The lowest was Delta Air Lines subsidiary, Comair, which had an on-time rate of 68.6 percent. With dropped airline capacity, scrapped flights and routes and fewer passengers,  I’m...

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May traffic numbers are in, and most airlines saw load factor declines for the month. US Airways was the only real exception. (I don’t even count Allegiant anymore since they seem to be competing in a different universe with their stellar results.) This was certainly a tough month for most. Click for definitions. Airline ASMs RPMs Load Factor AirTran (9.6%) (11.1%) -1.3 pts ...

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By now you’ve likely heard that United has sent out a request for proposal to replace its widebody and 757 fleets. (Bryan wrote about it here last week.) For an airline that has refrained from ordering new aircraft for years, often enduring criticism in the press, this is big news. But this plan has already drawn plenty of skepticism, and many aren’t expecting to ever see this...

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