“Very challenging times.”
That statement, or some variation of it, was made by one airline after another – as we listened in on the 2nd quarter earnings conference calls from AirTran, Alaska, Allegiant, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, United and US Airways.
All sounded somewhat optimistic – cautiously, as they say – but all seem to feel that recovery will take time. As one United executive put it, “Courage doesn’t pay right now, in terms of making your business decisions on optimistic assumptions.”
And an Allegiant exec mentioned some concern that customers are getting “conditioned” to expect low airfares, especially in an overall retail environment where everything is perpetually “on sale”.
Last week, I blogged about American Airlines’ loss – and now, some nuggets from the other airlines. Keep reading…
- AirTran: higher-than-expected 2nd quarter profit -partly due to its youthful, fuel efficient fleet
- Alaska: also made money, but may have to cut more jobs
- Allegiant: good quarter, cites expansion in Los Angeles, “excellent future growth prospects”
- Continental: reports loss, will cut 1,700 employees – what they call, “right-sizing”
- Delta: reports loss, does not expect to be profitable this year
- JetBlue: bright earnings outlook, still no first checked-bag fee or TV fee
- United: smaller loss than expected, examining all cost components – “no sacred cows” including further capacity cuts
- US Airways: profit, very proud of improvements in lost baggage and complaint stats, expects to generate $400 million in bag fees, etc. this year
I noticed that three of the carriers used the term “right-sizing” as a euphemism for “down-sizing”. At the same time, virtually all the airlines thanked employees for their hard work. It’s just too bad so many of them will have to be — or have been — “right-sized”.
