Hawaii/Mainland service

[Dan Roman]

Did you notice that there is a period after OAK?

I don't thinking reading comprehension is his strong suit!

 

[Dan Roman]

I guess it's our imagination that AS is flying a 737 from oak to Hawaii as did Aloha and ATA in the day. With Hawaiian's profit margin as thin as it is with a monopoly interisland, you better hope SWA doesn't fly to HI and perform tags interisland. Those tiny profits would wilt away

This wasn't meant to start a "my airline makes more than yours deal" but since you seem to be so inclined....Hawaiian is doing fine, in the last 5 years we have generated over $400 million in unrestricted cash, established 10 new International routes and some qtrs have actually had some of the highest operating margin in the industry (we actually beat SWA for a couple qtrs) This 3rd qtr was actually one of the best in the airlines history. Simply put, for years Hawaiian did in fact, barely hang in there. That is no longer the case, they have spent millions investing in the airline, cutting edge technology and a modern fleet while still generating millions of dollars of cash.
Also you clearly don't understand the inter-island market with your comment about SWA flying "tags".
Nice try, you failed and not just in your reading comprehension about OAK vs the cities that are out of range to operate a 737 from.

 

[HighSpeedClimb]

I don't thinking reading comprehension is his strong suit!

Ok ok, you got me on the period after OAK, I'll give you that after posting when consuming a few beers. Note to self.... But ur stock dumped from 8.20 to 7.70 after ur 3Q results. Yields are thin, even with 90% of the interisland market share. What would ur profits have been had you not charged for bags? I think your other markets in Asia are keeping you just above losing money. I think HA has a great product but someone else with a great feed network can do it cheaper while making money, that's all. Relax, as long as you are happy.
Ciao

 

[Dan Roman]

Ok ok, you got me on the period after OAK, I'll give you that after posting when consuming a few beers. Note to self.... But ur stock dumped from 8.20 to 7.70 after ur 3Q results. Yields are thin, even with 90% of the interisland market share. What would ur profits have been had you not charged for bags? I think your other markets in Asia are keeping you just above losing money. I think HA has a great product but someone else with a great feed network can do it cheaper while making money, that's all. Relax, as long as you are happy.
Ciao

Rule of three....No posting for 3 hours after consuming 3 beers or 3 Starbucks....

$40 million profit on $600 mil revenue is very good. Not sure what the bag charge has to do with it? It's a part of revenue just like the actual ticket is a part of revenue. The airline industry has morphed into what, oddly enough, PeopleExpress started. Only charging for what you use. Ticket only is cheapest. Bags, a little more, etc. Interesting enough, Hawaiian still serves free meals in coach. Kind of their own version of marketing along the line of SWA's free bags. Most perceive HA as the "generous" airline because of our enhanced cabin service, but we still collect millions in bag fees without any harm to our competitiveness. Our stock had run up to to a 52 week high prior to the qtr results (it was no secret it was going to be good) what you are describing is normal profit taking.
Hawaiian has strong code share in Asia with ANA and Korean. Virgin Blue in Australia. Virgin Atlantic. Virgin America and JetBlue on the mainland and others. We are not in any alliance because I'm told it's too limiting, they like the flexibility of being able to code share with whoever fits our route structure. Less limiting that way apparently. Whatever success Hawaiian has is a result of being "Hawaiian". Merged into anyone else and it would be worth a lot less.

The bottom line is though, Hawaiian went through years and years of barely hanging on. In the 90's Aloha was in MUCH better financial shape than HA. The Chapter 7 bankruptcy of airlines music has stopped playing and those of us left all have chairs is my take and Hawaiian is nothing like what it was. They spend millions in investing in the infrastructure of the airline and they have generated $100's of millions in cash while expanding faster than any other airline currently is (five years to Captain, some widebody). Back to the original point you made, we would hardly be vulnerable to SWA entering the market, There will always be numerous airlines that fly between the west coast and Hawaii and Hawaiian will always be the big dog in that market. Bur competition does drive down yields, hence we do in fact make our largest profits on some of the International routes, we also are losing on some as they have yet to mature. We have finally gotten to the point were we are diversified enough to not be dependent on any one market.

Sorry if I sound so long winded, but there is a lot of ignorance about Hawaiian based on our past struggles that are no longer relevant (no offense but you perception that SWA could fly "tags" on transpac is grossly naive and just not possible with an ETOPS 737, nor could it put a dent in our inter-island flying)
:beer:

 

[Dan Roman]

And again, sorry about the long winded reply. Some folks have an interest in Hawaiian and that's who it's for. If you like living in Hawaii there is no better job, but Hawaii and Hawaiian is not for everyone.

 

[SWA Bubba]

......
Our stock had run up to to a 52 week high prior to the qtr results (it was no secret it was going to be good) what you are describing is normal profit taking.:beer:
......

Dan's right about this. This is fairly common, and happens to Southwest all the damn time. The stock price will creep up and up, leading to the day when quarterly results are announced, and then when we announce a profit, the stock drops a bit. Our stock has been climbing a lot lately (as have most airline stocks), and has been pushing its 52 week high up and up for the last month or two. However, today's the day when we announce our Q3 results, so you might look for that later today.

Bubba

Bubba