Virgin America 2Q loss $31.7 million

[ackattacker]

Kind of old news, not sure why it never got posted.

This brings their total loss for the first half of the year to over $100 million, on operating revenue of around $600 million, despite the cost of fuel going down vs 2011. That's just plain bad, although the spin in the press release is priceless as they try to find good things to say.

I hate to predict bad things happening to good pilots, but at this point their total debt must me threating to swallow them up. They are paying roughly $300,000 per day just to service their debt and have shown no signs of profitability.

http://www.virginamerica.com/press-release/2012/virgin-america-2012-second-quarter-results.html

 

[N1atEcon]

Sir Richard will just write another check. It is like reading RJET's financials: Frontier is doing great and is the only part of our holdings that are making money, did we mention it is for sale?

 

[freightdogfred]

The age old secret of making a small fortune in the airline biz- start out with a large one

 

[ackattacker]

Sir Richard will just write another check. It is like reading RJET's financials: Frontier is doing great and is the only part of our holdings that are making money, did we mention it is for sale?

I dunno, Sir Richard might be distracted by his other sinking ship right now.

 

[redflyer65]

I thought they started the quarter with less than 100 million left in the bank. How many more negative quarters can they have?

Doesn't look too good for that IPO.

 

[tzskipper]

I thought they started the quarter with less than 100 million left in the bank. How many more negative quarters can they have?

Doesn't look too good for that IPO.

They ended Q2 with $82m in unrestricted cash. The folks I know there feel Q3 will be shown to be profitable and Q4 should be breakeven to profitable.

Probably a rhetorical question, but what the F drives certain individuals to sound like they would look forward to dancing on the graves of lost jobs, given the chance?

S

 

[Ex737Driver]

They ended Q2 with $82m in unrestricted cash. The folks I know there feel Q3 will be shown to be profitable and Q4 should be breakeven to profitable.

Probably a rhetorical question, but what the F drives certain individuals to sound like they would look forward to dancing on the graves of lost jobs, given the chance?

S

Nobody wants to dance on any pilots grave, except maybe for scabs. I think the point is a large number of us are quite tired of seeing another start-up paying lower than an established carrier, sub-standard benefits, and job protections and career expectations that add up to zilch. Point in case, People Express is attempting to resurface on the East coast again. Why? Not because it will provide good pilot jobs but because some schmo thinks he/they can make some money doing it.

 

[bluefin]

Branson is waiting for some sort of cabotage relaxation in the future and then viola! he has a network inside the US, just like Virgin Australia!

 

[Flyer1015]

Nobody wants to dance on any pilots grave, except maybe for scabs. I think the point is a large number of us are quite tired of seeing another start-up paying lower than an established carrier, sub-standard benefits, and job protections and career expectations that add up to zilch. Point in case, People Express is attempting to resurface on the East coast again. Why? Not because it will provide good pilot jobs but because some schmo thinks he/they can make some money doing it.

VA's pay and benefit package is better than several other A320 operators out there, including legacies.

 

[Eagle757shark]

Nobody wants to dance on any pilots grave, except maybe for scabs. I think the point is a large number of us are quite tired of seeing another start-up paying lower than an established carrier, sub-standard benefits, and job protections and career expectations that add up to zilch. Point in case, People Express is attempting to resurface on the East coast again. Why? Not because it will provide good pilot jobs but because some schmo thinks he/they can make some money doing it.

It's called Captialism! People don't start airlines to "Provide good pilot Jobs". You really believe that? It's a business that hopefully can compete and become profitable. They pay what the market will allow. They charge what the customer is willing to pay. That's what American Captialism in a free market society is all about.

 

[Lear70]

branson is waiting for some sort of cabotage relaxation in the future and then viola! He has a network inside the us, just like virgin australia!

^^^ this ^^^

 

[BILL LUMBERG]

It's called Captialism! People don't start airlines to "Provide good pilot Jobs". You really believe that? It's a business that hopefully can compete and become profitable. They pay what the market will allow. They charge what the customer is willing to pay. That's what American Captialism in a free market society is all about.

Wow! And I thought I heard it all when the Supreme Court said that Corporations have First Amendment rights....

Yep! Good old Capitalism....

 

[jonjuan]

They ended Q2 with $82m in unrestricted cash. The folks I know there feel Q3 will be shown to be profitable and Q4 should be breakeven to profitable.

Probably a rhetorical question, but what the F drives certain individuals to sound like they would look forward to dancing on the graves of lost jobs, given the chance?

S

Getting rid of the walmarts of the industry will mean better jobs for those that remain. I assume you don't support the undercutting?

 

[Juniority]

Branson is waiting for some sort of cabotage relaxation in the future and then viola! he has a network inside the US, just like Virgin Australia!

Yes, it's a waiting game being played by a man with a lot of money.

...and the other reason nobody bothers to talk about Virgin America losses any more is the statement that "Virgin America wasn't supposed to make money until it gets up to 'X' number of aircraft" (So far as I can tell the number represented by 'X' will always be 20 to 25 aircraft more than their present fleet size). In other words, the subject of Virgin America losses isn't up for discussion.

 

[rjfo]

They ended Q2 with $82m in unrestricted cash. The folks I know there feel Q3 will be shown to be profitable and Q4 should be breakeven to profitable.

Probably a rhetorical question, but what the F drives certain individuals to sound like they would look forward to dancing on the graves of lost jobs, given the chance?

S

Pretend there are a finite number of passenger...my company would like to fly them all, but we can't because your company has some of them. Now let's say you go out of business...are you following me so far?

 

[ImbracableCrunk]

Capitalism would work a lot better if slavery were still around. Market forces Yada Yada Yada. Let's at least bring back child labor. Slacker children. Get a job - you're seven years old for chrissakes!

 

[bri5150]

Getting rid of the walmarts of the industry will mean better jobs for those that remain. I assume you don't support the undercutting?

Hmmmm, calling VA Walmart obviously shows you know nothing about this company.

 

[jonjuan]

Hmmmm, calling VA Walmart obviously shows you know nothing about this company.

You're right. Walmart makes is profitable and has a sustainable business model.

 

[bri5150]

You're right. Walmart makes is profitable and has a sustainable business model.

Oooooh, ziiiinnnggg...couldn't have called that comeback! :crying: What I am actually referring to is the level of service provided to their customers as well as the way they treat their employees. Pretty much every aspect of Virgin America is the opposite of Walmart. In fact, in my opinion, that is one of the reasons we are having a tough time making money. There is very little compromise on spending money to make this an enjoyable place to work, providing extrodinary customer service, and having the best technology implemented in many areas of this company. That's fine though. I didn't know a whole lot about this place before I came here either.

 

[regionaltard]

....Probably a rhetorical question, but what the F drives certain individuals to sound like they would look forward to dancing on the graves of lost jobs, given the chance?

S

It's probably got a little to do with the "they'll work for peanuts, why won't you?" thing. Spare us the "lost jobs" B.S. Everyone who whored themselves out to Sir Dick had a job when they bent over for a bigger jet.