AirTran Reports Net Income of $41.5 Million

[meanstreak]

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070726/nyth003.html?.v=84

Press ReleaseSource: AirTran Holdings, Inc.

AirTran Holdings, Inc., Reports Net Income of $41.5 Million
Thursday July 26, 6:50 am ET - Record Revenue of $614.1 Million - - Record 6.3 Million Passengers - - Record $69.7 Million Operating Profit; Operating Margin 11.4 Percent - - Non-Fuel Unit Costs Decline 6.0 Percent -
ORLANDO, Fla., July 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AirTran Holdings, Inc., (NYSE: AAI - News), the parent company of AirTran Airways, Inc., today reported net income of $41.5 million, or $0.41 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2007.
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During the second quarter AirTran Airways served a record 6.3 million passengers and achieved an all-time record load factor of 78.8 percent. Included in the second-quarter results is a $4.5 million after-tax gain on the sale of two 737-700 aircraft or $0.04 per diluted share.
Commenting on the quarter, Joe Leonard, AirTran's chairman and chief executive officer, said, "I am extremely proud of our second-quarter performance. AirTran Airways served a record number of passengers, and we also set a new operating profit record of $69.7 million. Clearly, the customers appreciate the quality and value of our product as demonstrated by these results."
Revenue for the quarter was a record $614.1 million. Capacity, as measured in available seat miles, increased 21.3 percent over the same period last year and reflects the addition of 18 new Boeing 737-700s. Traffic, or revenue passenger miles, increased 22.3 percent resulting in the record 78.8 percent load factor, up 0.7 percentage points compared to second quarter 2006.
"AirTran Airways' Crew Members continued to deliver great customer service which resulted in the airline serving a record number of passengers this quarter," said Bob Fornaro, AirTran's president and chief operating officer. "I want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our Crew Members and thank them for their industry-leading operating performance."
AirTran Airways ranked first among major carriers for baggage delivery and on-time performance of 85.5 percent and had the second lowest rate of involuntary denied boardings and complaints, according to the most recent DOT Air Travel Consumer Report.
"Looking forward, passenger demand appears strong," said Fornaro. "With the delivery on July 16th of our last Boeing 737-700 for 2007, we expect to see improving trends in unit revenue and costs during the second half."
AirTran achieved a reduction in non-fuel unit costs on a year-over-year basis for the fourth consecutive quarter. Non-fuel costs per available seat mile (CASM) declined 6.0 percent year-over-year to 5.92 cents, an all-time record.
"We are seeing the benefits of our investment in the 737, an expanding route network, and a company-wide focus on productivity and costs. In a time of high fuel prices, we continue to reduce costs in order to keep fares low and profitably grow the airline," said Stan Gadek, AirTran's senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer.
Highlights of AirTran Airways' accomplishments during the second quarter and year to date include:
-- Delivery of the 50th new Boeing 737-700 aircraft. -- Launched more than a dozen new nonstop routes, including service to St. Louis, Mo.; San Diego, Calif.; Charleston, S.C. and Portland, Maine. -- Created over 500 new jobs, including the hiring of the company's 2,000th flight attendant. -- Entered into an $82 million deposit financing agreement for 18 aircraft to be delivered in 2009 and 2010. -- Ordered 15 new Boeing 737-700 aircraft for delivery in 2011 and 2012. -- Awarded two additional slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. -- Honored as the 2007 Airline Strategy Award recipient for Low Cost and Regional Leadership by Airline Business magazine. -- Debuted four new Get Up and "Go" television spots. -- Became the official airline of America's 400th Anniversary at Jamestown, VA.
AirTran Holdings, Inc., will conduct a conference call to discuss quarterly results today at 10:00 a.m. EDT. A live broadcast of the conference call will be available via the Internet in the investor relations section at http://www.airtran.com. Editor's note: Statements regarding the Company's operational and financial success, business model, expectation about future success, improved operational performance and our ability to maintain or improve our low costs are forward-looking statements and are not historical facts. Instead, they are estimates or projections involving numerous risks or uncertainties, including but not limited to, consumer demand and acceptance of services offered by the Company, the Company's ability to maintain current cost levels, fare levels and actions by competitors, regulatory matters and general economic conditions. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained from time to time in the Company's SEC filings, including but not limited to the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006. The Company disclaims any obligation or duty to update or correct any of its forward-looking statements.

 

[meanstreak]

Lets go ahead and vote in a concessionary contract since were not making money.

 

[RIDETHELIGHTING]

recall now!!

 

[RadioClash]

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070726/nyth003.html?.v=84


"AirTran Airways' Crew Members continued to deliver great customer service which resulted in the airline serving a record number of passengers this quarter," said Bob Fornaro, AirTran's president and chief operating officer. "I want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our Crew Members and thank them for their industry-leading operating performance."

Meanwhile the NPA allows another opportunity to go by...of course they have screwed around so long I'm not sure how they can use this to our advantage or if they even know how.

 

[EMBATP]

shop lift the pooty

show me the money....

 

[Lear70]

Yeah, I'd have to say they can take their concessionary contract with 2nd-12th year F/O rates at or near the bottom of the industry with upgrades only getting further and further away and shove it somewhere not-sunny.

Faxed in my page of recall signatures today, looking for the guys at the BoD meeting to put it to vote ASAP, since that IS what the pilots obviously want.

 

[Max Eaper]

Beg your Pardon? Concessions? No, Thanks!

 

[BR715]

I remember in the Fall last year I had recurrent and Kolski came in and was saying how Airtran was in its worst operating environment since the founding of the company. Looking back on those comments it is obvious the only reason he made those remarks to a bunck of pilots is that he knew we wanted raises in the new contract. They cannot hide from what the facts are anymore. Our airline and the rest of the industry is now on the upswing. If they were smart which we know they are not when it comes to labor relations they would of given us a contract on the amendable date.

 

[maxblast72]

Good to have a decent profit this quarter as a seniority integration is just around the corner. Correct me if I am wrong, but the arbitrator in the USAir/America West and American/TWA integrations used company financial stregth just prior to the merger in making his final decision.

Our good performance during the first 6 months of this year and Midwest's lack of substantial earnings should good for our pilots down the road especially for our FO's looking to upgrade on one of our 63 new 737 coming over the next 5 years.

 

[CitationLover]

Good to have a decent profit this quarter as a seniority integration is just around the corner. Correct me if I am wrong, but the arbitrator in the USAir/America West and American/TWA integrations used company financial stregth just prior to the merger in making his final decision.

Our good performance during the first 6 months of this year and Midwest's lack of substantial earnings should good for our pilots down the road especially for our FO's looking to upgrade on one of our 63 new 737 coming over the next 5 years.

you should worry about your TA first. MEH pilots aren't the ones selling you on concessions with record revenue.

what good is a MEH staple (which it appears you desire) if you're still going to be an Emb 190 FO if the TA passes?

 

[75M]

Correct me if I am wrong, but the arbitrator in the USAir/America West and American/TWA integrations used company financial stregth just prior to the merger in making his final decision.

You're wrong. There was no arbitration in the TWA/AA seniority "integration". Just a cram down from the APA that AMR signed off on.

As far as the USAir/AWA deal goes, I believe it had more to do with who was on the property and who was on furlough at the time of the deal. i.e., if you were on furlough, than you could not be "integrated" with guys who were actively employed.

Please don't try to use our current financial well being as a reason to $crew the MEH guys. This merger has nothing to do with the pilots of MEH. Management wants the merger to go through, it's our job (Labor) to make sure that a single, unified pilot group emerges from this ordeal. A pilot group that is not divided along old company lines. A pilot group that can stand up as one to management when they come looking for concessions again. This management group (like all of them) would love to see us divided against ourselves. We should not afford them that luxury.

We need to treat the MEH guys with the dignity and respect that they deserve as Airline Pilots instead of alienating them. Our future bargaining power requires this.

 

[PCL_128]

We need to treat the MEH guys with the dignity and respect that they deserve as Airline Pilots instead of alienating them. Our future bargaining power requires this.

Exactly!!!

 

[bestpilot]

We need to treat the MEH guys with the dignity and respect that they deserve as Airline Pilots instead of alienating them. Our future bargaining power requires this.

Duuuude! Wahtz we be needin ta doo wit da Middies iz ta be gettinn 41 Mill of ole Swill!!! Now datz da kindza luvvin dat I bee tawkin boutz.


Hey ole Lear dude, my brother dat been gettin no love fer all da werk hee bee doin fer da Trannies, do ya thinkz dees cats at dat ole N Peeee Ayyyy evver gunna be lissnen to da peeps on da streets or iz Allen in Wunderland gunna be on da TeeeVeee summ more?

Duude, eether AP gotza beee 'Changin da rhettrick' or da trannies dun bee needin ta getz a neww admrill ta runz da ship.

How boutz ole Ty Guy? Duuude, ya gotz summa dat freee time on yer hands, or izz yer hands tooo busy wit da hunnies from Veggazzzz?


AWWWWW YEAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!

 

[maxblast72]

I agreed with you guys, 75M and PCL128, until the Midwest MEC stabbed our union in the back.

From what I heard from one of our union board members (not AP, MS, or RM), the Midwest MEC told our union that they were taking a neutral stance. Then two days later without talking to our guys at all with a heads up, they put out there letter in full support of the Midwest stand alone business plan. That sounds like a backstab to me. If someone has some better information on how it went down, feel free to share it.

 

[TV9Driver]

I wonder if this (huge profit) is the reason that the company suddenly wanted to get a contract done - not the MEH merger. Remember they wanted to implement the new contract on July 1st. hmmmm....

any thoughts?

 

[PCL_128]

Maxblast72, you probably shouldn't trust that source unless you can verify it through some other sources. That doesn't sound like something that Captain Schnedorf (MEH MEC Chairman) would do. But keep in mind that it's asking quite a bit of the MEH MEC to keep in perfect sync with us since we're not members of the same union. If we were also ALPA, then that'd be a different story, but expecting them to coordinate everything with us now is expecting a little much in my opinion.

 

[Lear70]

Actually, that's exactly what the MEH MEC did.

They came down to ATL and had a nice day of talks, went out to dinner, then basically dropped the bomb that they wanted DOH and ALPA on property with their MEC leadership at the helm.

That's from 3 reliable sources.

I can't blame them too much for trying to get as much as they can for their pilots; that's their job.

I also can't blame our guys for telling them they'd be best-suited playing nice and getting a slotted integration with fences to protect our pilots.

The evening was basically over at that point, then the MEH guys went back and said they wanted MEH to stay MEH and put out a support letter for the MEH management's plan.

I still don't think going to war is a good idea, but that IS the way it went down. They're going to spend an awful lot of money trying to fight something that's going to go down in an slotted integration with fences, anyway. Pretty foolish waste of money, but it always seems to work out that way.

Best, I ain't even going there with the whole recall mess; everyone knows where I'm standing on that one. Let everyone vote and rest assured there IS a plan for when the dust settles...

Ty guy can run if he wants. I'll listen if he's buying.

But 'Ole Milwaukee just ain't gonna cut it. Gotsta have some CLASS, man. Try Schlitz, has less of an aftertaste and a softer hangover.

 

[PCL_128]

then basically dropped the bomb that they wanted DOH and ALPA on property with their MEC leadership at the helm.

Well, I could do without the DOH, but the rest sounds dang good to me.

 

[gt1900]

This profit shouldnt come as a suprise to anyone.. You can look at Airtran.com and find the projected earnings anytime you want... The numbers get updated on a regular basis. AAI is forecasting a Q3 profit of 19 million and Q4 profit of 10 million... Next years profit is forecasted to be 94 million for the year.....

BTW.. Citation, you should know that stock price is largely based on speculation.. Do you really thing MEH stock is worth $13 a share right now??? Hell no its not, but, it could be with the right managment team and business plan... BUT, right now MEH stock isn't worth that. The only reason its trading that high is because of speculation that AAI is going to buy the shares for $15.... So, Citation, using that as an argument doesn't work..... Citation... Any bets on weather AAI pilots will be flying EMB190's or not? You seem to think its going to happen, BUT, JL has stated several times that if he was CEO when AAI purchased the 717's, the 717's wouldn't be here.. Mabye you haven't seen the projected traffic increase for the next 10 years... Pax traffic is going to go way up and there is going to be a big need for aircraft that can carry more pax in order to keep delays and congestion down... Expect AAI to be one of the launch customers for the 737 replacement...

 

[CitationLover]

This profit shouldnt come as a suprise to anyone.. You can look at Airtran.com and find the projected earnings anytime you want... The numbers get updated on a regular basis. AAI is forecasting a Q3 profit of 19 million and Q4 profit of 10 million... Next years profit is forecasted to be 94 million for the year.....

BTW.. Citation, you should know that stock price is largely based on speculation.. Do you really thing MEH stock is worth $13 a share right now??? Hell no its not, but, it could be with the right managment team and business plan... BUT, right now MEH stock isn't worth that. The only reason its trading that high is because of speculation that AAI is going to buy the shares for $15.... So, Citation, using that as an argument doesn't work..... Citation... Any bets on weather AAI pilots will be flying EMB190's or not? You seem to think its going to happen, BUT, JL has stated several times that if he was CEO when AAI purchased the 717's, the 717's wouldn't be here.. Mabye you haven't seen the projected traffic increase for the next 10 years... Pax traffic is going to go way up and there is going to be a big need for aircraft that can carry more pax in order to keep delays and congestion down... Expect AAI to be one of the launch customers for the 737 replacement...

and when is that (737 replacement)? 2015? what about aai's stock price being low? if you are so confident of your statement, then keep the scope clause the way it is on the TA. you are right, i might be wrong regarding aai pilots flying rj's, it might be republic or skywest. you also seem to be JL #1 fan.

MEH stock price is completely being driven by AAI stock (since they will receive roughly .58 shares of it) price right now.

nothing is stopping AAI from buying MEH stock TODAY! they simply want a state law negotiated away. the purpose of the state law is there EXACTLY for what is happening (large institutional investors and individuals buying up a company). you can thank JL's fellow CEO club members lorenzo and icahn for this very law.

 

[SkiFishFly]

Please don't try to use our current financial well being as a reason to $crew the MEH guys. This merger has nothing to do with the pilots of MEH. Management wants the merger to go through, it's our job (Labor) to make sure that a single, unified pilot group emerges from this ordeal. A pilot group that is not divided along old company lines. A pilot group that can stand up as one to management when they come looking for concessions again. This management group (like all of them) would love to see us divided against ourselves. We should not afford them that luxury.

We need to treat the MEH guys with the dignity and respect that they deserve as Airline Pilots instead of alienating them. Our future bargaining power requires this.

What he said.

MEH guys - Don't sweat it too much. I think the vast majority of the folks over here want to treat the Midwest pilots fairly. Together, united we will be that much stronger.

 

[CitationLover]

What he said.

MEH guys - Don't sweat it too much. I think the vast majority of the folks over here want to treat the Midwest pilots fairly. Together, united we will be that much stronger.

i do not doubt that, but realistically what happens is BOTH sides look for the best interests of their respective groups, which creates animosity. this then simple rolls downhill from there.

if this does go through, let us hope we can avoid the pitfalls of the past.

 

[Just thinking]

Another Great Day With Sap2... Ready To Throw The Computer Out The Window.... Not An Asterisk In Sight To Save My Life. How Is Your Schedule Philpot? What A Waste Of A Program That Would Make A Line Pilots Life Better.

 

[SkiFishFly]

Actually, that's exactly what the MEH MEC did.

They came down to ATL and had a nice day of talks, went out to dinner, then basically dropped the bomb that they wanted DOH and ALPA on property with their MEC leadership at the helm.

That's from 3 reliable sources.

I can't blame them too much for trying to get as much as they can for their pilots; that's their job.

You don't think they really expect date of hire do ya? I wish they didn't come into this trying to secure a windfall for their pilots - guess you can't blame them for at least having the balls to try it...

 

[SkiFishFly]

i do not doubt that, but realistically what happens is BOTH sides look for the best interests of their respective groups, which creates animosity. this then simple rolls downhill from there.

if this does go through, let us hope we can avoid the pitfalls of the past.

Maybe the membership on both sides needs to make it clear to our leaders that we do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past. We want a united pilot group. Make the integration fair with percentages and fences based on current expectations of pilots at each company.
DO NOT let this go to an arbitrator or mediator. Be man enough to make hard decisions and get the job done in house.

 

[SkiFishFly]

Another Great Day With Sap2... Ready To Throw The Computer Out The Window.... Not An Asterisk In Sight To Save My Life. How Is Your Schedule Philpot? What A Waste Of A Program That Would Make A Line Pilots Life Better.

You got that right.
I still don't understand why we gave up FLICA SAP 2. My requests just get ignored now that we are back to the old system.

 

[RIDETHELIGHTING]

I had to send in the same request 5 times before it got done.

 

[tubelcane]

Did Ty Webb have a coronary? He has been pretty silent lately on these boards!

 

[Lear70]

Ty has a new GF... she won't let him near this website.

Ski, you're absolutely right, I'm certain that the MEH MEC didn't *really* think they'd get super-seniority DOH, but they have a fiduciary and professional responsibility to their own pilots to at least try to get the best deal.

The truth, however, is that the best deal long-term to avoid years and acrimony and strife is to simply do as you said: relative percentage-based integration to protect everyone's relative bidding and career expectations as closely as possible.

Some people will benefit, some people will not, but as long as the majority of the pilots are, after the dust settles, doing the same thing for the same pay with the same outlook of career expectation, then it will have been done right.

I find it interesting the NPA fired the head of the M&A committee last week. Obviously all is not well behind the curtain.

 

[CitationLover]

Ski, you're absolutely right, I'm certain that the MEH MEC didn't *really* think they'd get super-seniority DOH, but they have a fiduciary and professional responsibility to their own pilots to at least try to get the best deal.

don't forget to put into context that our contract is up for renegotiation next year. i'm sure the MEC is simply being politically savvy by backing Tim in case this merger does not go through.