Now United may want to buy a refinery

[General Lee]

United Airlines will study Delta's refinery bid

CEO says United Airlines will watch how Delta does with refinery, could buy one too


NEW YORK (AP) -- The CEO of United Airlines' parent company says he will watch to see if Delta benefits from buying an oil refinery and could imitate its rival.

"If it works for Delta it can work for us, and it's completely reproducible," United Continental Holdings Inc. CEO Jeff Smisek said Friday on CNBC.

Delta Air Lines Inc. took a novel approach to dealing with the high cost of jet fuel — it bought an idled ConocoPhillips refinery near Philadelphia in June. Delta spent $11.8 billion on fuel in 2011 and hopes to cut its fuel bill by $300 million per year.

United is taking a more conventional airline approach to saving fuel. It just took delivery of its first Boeing 787, a long-haul jet made largely of composite materials that is designed to be lighter and more fuel-efficient than the planes it will replace. It's the first U.S. airline to get the 787, which Boeing calls the Dreamliner. United will show off the new plane around the United States before using it mostly on long international routes.
Shares of United Continental rose 3 cents to $19.39 in afternoon trading. Its shares are down 25 percent since hitting a 52-week high of $25.84 in early February. That traded as low as $15.51 last November.



Who said it was a stupid idea again? What about the guy on here who said his dad was in the oil business and thought it was dumb? Riiiiiiight.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[airgator]

If you watched the interview he certainly didn't say it was a smart idea. All he said was that UAL has a "front row seat" and would watch from the sidelines and see if it turns out to be a good investment.

 

[General Lee]

If you watched the interview he certainly didn't say it was a smart idea. All he said was that UAL has a "front row seat" and would watch from the sidelines and see if it turns out to be a good investment.

Of course he won't admit it was smart, he didn't think of it first. But, waiting and watching will increase the prices for any refineries up for sale near IAH. Enjoy that!


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Shag McNasty]

Of course Southwest will just buy all the pipelines and charge Delta an inflated flowage fee for shipping.

 

[General Lee]

Of course Southwest will just buy all the pipelines and charge Delta an inflated flowage fee for shipping.

Southwest couldn't afford 30 737-800s recently, and had to defer them to save money. Doubt it.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Shag McNasty]

Southwest couldn't afford 30 737-800s recently, and had to defer them to save money. Doubt it.


Bye Bye---General Lee

Cuz they're buying pipelines dummy.

 

[General Lee]

Cuz they're buying pipelines dummy.

Ummmmm, riiiiiight???? Btw, Comedy Central called, they cancelled your show. Zero ratings.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[JetMonkey]

Dayuuuuuuuuuuuuuum!

 

[Flopgut]

Hopefully UAL doesn't buy a refinery in Houston. Southwest will have the Mayor force UAL to give them free fuel.

 

[Shag McNasty]

Ummmmm, riiiiiight???? Btw, Comedy Central called, they cancelled your show. Zero ratings.


Bye Bye---General Lee

Apparently you're not very good at debating.

 

[Whine Lover]

I remember a few Great Airlines... Industry Leaders for decades.

Innovative beyond belief. Diversified into different areas like nobody's business.

Showed others how it was done.

Came up with ideas others thought foolish or impossible.

History makers.

One of them had a great a building in New York ....Although, it's since been renamed.

The other once owned Hotels.

Thinking outside of the Box is great.

But, whatever happened to making sure the Box you were in wasn't a House of Cards ?

I heard Southwest was looking at buying a Peanut Processing facility....

NOT.





Grasping at straws is no way to run a business. Running a business is the best way to run a business.

" Orville Redenbacher ... was a master at popping popcorn. His saying was, "Do one thing and do it well ".


JMHO,

Whiner

 

[Ops check good]

Delta buys a refinery to help fuel its gas guzzlers, United is buying A/C that guzzle less and may buy a refinery to help fuel them...... I like United's approach better.

 

[General Lee]

Delta buys a refinery to help fuel its gas guzzlers, United is buying A/C that guzzle less and may buy a refinery to help fuel them...... I like United's approach better.

Sure you do. Ever look at the Contracts? DAL pays their employees well, while UAL tells pilots they have "an Agreement in Principle" for their contract, but it's nowhere in sight. Over two years and no joint contract. Nowhere close to an SLI. Which management position do you have there? Get a new contract that pays your employees a descent wage increase, and then you too will be looking for a refinery.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[General Lee]

I remember a few Great Airlines... Industry Leaders for decades.

Innovative beyond belief. Diversified into different areas like nobody's business.

Showed others how it was done.

Came up with ideas others thought foolish or impossible.

History makers.

One of them had a great a building in New York ....Although, it's since been renamed.

The other once owned Hotels.

Thinking outside of the Box is great.

But, whatever happened to making sure the Box you were in wasn't a House of Cards ?

I heard Southwest was looking at buying a Peanut Processing facility....

NOT.





Grasping at straws is no way to run a business. Running a business is the best way to run a business.

" Orville Redenbacher ... was a master at popping popcorn. His saying was, "Do one thing and do it well ".


JMHO,

Whiner

Your opinion is based off of airline people running the refinery. What if it were oil people hired by the airline people? What if your largest cost was something you could reduce while competitors could not? Would you use that? What if you are just grasping for straws because someone actually was thinking out of the box and you couldn't think of it first? You just go with the flow, not thinking of other ways to solve problems like your biggest costs. You probably would take it out on the employees, right? It's their fault you can't lower costs to pay for higher oil costs? Bingo.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Chairman]

What if it were oil people hired by the airline people?
Bye Bye---General Lee

Think that is what every though when Glen Tilton was hired....

 

[General Lee]

Think that is what every though when Glen Tilton was hired....

Maybe Tilton was mad he missed the oil market takeoff, along with his bonuses at Texaco? Why didn't he suggest buying a refinery for cheap and taking out the middleman for lower Jet A prices? I guess up to $300 million per year in potential savings wasn't enough for him?

Your example has an oil guy running an airline. I am talking about airline people hiring oil people to run an oil subsidiary. No cross over.



Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Shag McNasty]

Maybe Tilton was mad he missed the oil market takeoff, along with his bonuses at Texaco? Why didn't he suggest buying a refinery for cheap and taking out the middleman for lower Jet A prices?



Bye Bye---General Lee

Maybe he knew it was a stupid idea?

 

[Diesel-9]

The $300 million annual savings Delta projects are VERY conservative. They will likely be $500-$700 annual savings or more. Plus, they bought a refinery for what, $180 mil plus upgrades that was for sale for over a Billion $$$ less than a decade ago. No air line will find a deal like that now. History will show this was a great move on R.A.'s part.

 

[Dash Power]

Until it blows up. Then you have a BIG problem not being diversified in the oil industry.

 

[B727FA]

Delta buys a refinery to help fuel its gas guzzlers, United is buying A/C that guzzle less and may buy a refinery to help fuel them...... I like United's approach better.

That's ok. We'll still have 80% of our domestic fuel covered...and revenue off the rest. How's that JCBA going for your work groups?