Archive: July, 2010
Tom Belden
Please note I put "study" in quotes, because this is a story about what the Department of Transportation has to say about a study of one month's statistics of the effect of the new tarmac-delay rules. DOT fired back after two consultants concluded that airlines canceled far more flights in May than they did in May 2009 because of the new rules, which call for heavy fines if a plane is stranded on an airport ramp for more than three hours. This was just the kind of unintended consequence critics of the new regulations (i.e. airlines) warned us about -- it it's true, of course.
But DOT retorted with a statement, pointing out that one month's record for flight cancellations is not a good measure of the effect of the rules on airline operations. The consultants may be right, but they can't prove it -- yet. Wait for the end of the summer, and into the fall, and a serious analysis can be done. Read more about this here.
Tom Belden
Today's airline industry second-quarter earnings reports start with US Airways, which had its second-highest quarterly profit since 2005, and American, which lost just a little, a big improvement compared with a year ago. Here is the preview of the industy's earnings season from today's Inquirer. Staffer Linda Loyd's story on US Airways is here. It includes mentions toward the end of earnings of AMR Corp. and AirTran's parent AirTran Holdings.
In the first full story on the wires, here's a report on how AMR, American's parent., narrowed its loss.
Tom Belden
Here is another story from late last week that is likely to influence the cost of trans-Atlantic air travel. The European Union, after a long study period, approved the partnership of American Airlines and British Airways, allowing them to set schedules and fares jointly and share revenue -- a good thing for their bottom lines, perhaps a helpful thing for frequent long-haul travelers, and an uncertain thing for the prices the rest of us will pay as long as airlines in this and other alliances with antitrust immunity exist. Read more from a British publication about the "tie-up."
UPDATE: The U.S. Department of Transportation approved the partnership on Tuesday. Here's that story.
Tom Belden
This is an important news story from last week, when I was on vacation. Congress and its Government Accountability Office are taking a close look at how fees charged by airlines are a serious source of customers' complaints. Read on here ...
Tom Belden
In the airline business, what the economy taketh away, management decisions made during the recession and the ever-present need to travel, giveth back. We're seeing that in heaps in the U.S. airlines' second-quarter earnings reports, which began this week and will proceed through next week.
Delta was the first major carrier to report a hefty profit, a much-needed turnaround from a year ago. United followed this morning, reporting its best quarterly profit in three years. Airline consultant Bob Herbst of www.AirlineFinancials.com, estimates that when all reports are in for the nine largest U.S. carriers, their 2Q profits will be about $1.77 billion. Yes that's billion with a B. US Airways reports Wednesday and Southwest next week.
In another development, United and Continental said their pilots reached a transition agreement for the planned merger of the two carriers.
Tom Belden
Posting on the Winging It blog resumes today after a week off. First up, today's column that appeared in print this morning looks at a topic that's fascinated me for years: How should business travelers (and vacationers, too) behave in other countries if they want to go beyond being simply observers? Start with knowing basics of etiquette and cultural habits of the country or countries where you're doing business, as explained by the Philadelphia-area authors of the leading guide on the topic. Read the full column here.
Tom Belden
The Winging It column today explores the public-private nature of the airline business and looks at why some regulation of the industry is good for us all. Read it here.
You also will find at the end of the column a note about its future. My last column will be published by The Inquirer Aug. 2. I don't know yet what the future holds for this blog, so stay tuned.
Tom Belden
The FAA today ordered airlines to inspect or replace cockpit windows on Boeing 757s that have been involved in 11 fires. More detail here ....
Tom Belden
Last month, I posted an item in this space wondering if tarmac delays of three hours or more were likely to go down now that airlines face heavy fines for them. Yesterday's report from the Department of Transportation on May airline on-time performance provides some of the answer: In fact, long delays are becoming even more rare than they were in recent months, with only five of them reported during May. A full report can be found in a USA Today story.
