SWA SEC 8-K 19Sep07 . . . thoughts?

[airlinepilot]

Got to do something with the cash

We're just "dirtying up" the balance sheet a bit to reduce the LBO threat.

Gup

Is is true that $500,000,000 in debt does put some dirt on the balance sheet but you have to use the cash for something....can't have it just sitting in the bank!

 

[radarlove]

You use it to buy back shares, hence returning cash to the shareholders, which is what corporations are supposed to do.

 

[Falcon Jet 1]

Reading this post reminds me why never to take financial advice from a pilot. What company in the world would mortgage aircraft to buy stock(even their own). We are going to buy some tangible asset(Airtran)IMO.

 

[TristarPilot]

Is is true that $500,000,000 in debt does put some dirt on the balance sheet but you have to use the cash for something....can't have it just sitting in the bank!

Just give it my wife, she is an expert in the art of negative cashflow planning.

 

[klr1395]

This makes us in the pool scared. I hope nothing happens until I start class in Dec or Jan.

I sincerely hope this turns out to be wrong, but I was physically in the PD offices last Wednesday and as of then there are no plans for classes after Oct 3rd for the rest of 2007. Also FYI they only firm up dates when the training center makes up its mind between 21-30 days ahead of the respective class date. Again the more the better and I would love it to be true but don't count on any Nov or Dec classes at this point. Cheers, klr

 

[8vATE]

USAIR has alot of cash on hand. As soon as they finalize the contract which should be very soon they will start building the empire. Southwest empiracle leaders are raising cash to fight off the onslaught. Grab some popcorn, this will be the AVIATION Battle of the BULGE!

Two points..

There is NO airline named USAir.
A callsign yes.. but no airline.

And you're smoking something good if you think there will be a "contract" anytime soon!

 

[CF34-3B1]

Does anyone know what some of these rumored 'targets' are worth? What's the market cap on say, AirTran, Alaska, WestJet, or whoever else people are speculating we're about to buy. Seems like we oughtta figure out if we're even in the ball park with 1/2 a billion plus what ever our cash on hand was.

 

[Lear70]

AirTran - $949.18 Million

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?d=t&s=aai

------------

Alaska Air Group - $979.14 Million

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ALK

 

[NewmanF16]

Reading this post reminds me why never to take financial advice from a pilot. What company in the world would mortgage aircraft to buy stock(even their own). We are going to buy some tangible asset(Airtran)IMO.

I've read that when interest rates are low enough, it is can be cheaper for a corporation to take a loan and buy back stock than pay dividends.

...I'm not a financial guru, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

 

[CF34-3B1]

AirTran - $949.18 Million

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?d=t&s=aai

------------

Alaska Air Group - $979.14 Million

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ALK

Thanks.

So for less than 2 Bil, we can buy both.

 

[Lear70]

Or, for $1 Billion, part-cash, part-stock, you could buy either one...

Or neither. I didn't stay at a HIE last night, so WTH do I know?

 

[atafan]

Think Internationally...

Not AirTran or Alaska. I think the purchase will be Global Aero Logistics (GAL) and operated as a separate subsidiary.

Of course I'm almost always wrong.

One thing for sure.

Whatever happens, it will not be anything we can come up here on any bulletin board.

 

[TOGA]

As of 31 March '07, Frontier's "Net Tangible Assets" total just under $210m. Plus, Mexico routes in/out of Denver and several SWA-heavy cities (MDW, MCI, BNA, etc.). Hmmmm.

 

[HalinTexas]

Think Internationally...

Not AirTran or Alaska. I think the purchase will be Global Aero Logistics (GAL) and operated as a separate subsidiary.

Of course I'm almost always wrong.

One thing for sure.

Whatever happens, it will not be anything we can come up here on any bulletin board.

More likely only part of GAL. I don't think SWA wants anything to do with DC10's and L10's.

The legacies that are making money are doing it with Int'l ops. There is still too much domestic capacity, so buying a domestic only (FL) or domestic/near Int'l (AK) doesn't make a whole lot of sense (cents). If SWA is going to increase revenue they need to go Int'l. Near and far. And they need to do it cheaply. So buying a small carrier that has all the authorizations needed makes the mose sense.

I believe that it might just be NAA with some orders for whatever 767-300's they can find. (NAA has 5 plus 5 757's) Not to mention that NAA pilots will willingly be stapled to the bottom of SWAPA's list.

I could be wrong as well. Frequently, that's the case.

Then again, SWA may go a completely different direction with all this "credit." Like no where in particular.

 

[mdf]

United. DEN, IAD, and now SFO. Especially for Int'l ops. They have a few of them over there.