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Opening Salvo AS vs DL

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eskimopilot said:
Well there you go. No wonder RA doesn't like Emirates. They are the top of the evolutionary chain that is the free market. They don't get any protection in order to survive. Wait, isn't it the anti competitive benefits that Emirates receives what he hates? So confused.
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Really? Trying to compare the two? State sponsored is different than using the BK code, at least with airlines (not GM and AIG). Going BK affects credit ratings and affects stock prices. State sponsored airlines can somehow order 100 777s and 100 A380s, and somehow pay for it. Wouldn't orders for 200 plus widebodies involve crushing debt? (oh wait, they took advantage of the EXIM Bank special financing USUALLY used by poor nations....) Yeah, no protections whatsoever....... Riiiiight. Who backs them for the loans for 100 plus A380s and 100 plus 777s? Can you see DL buying 100 A380s? How about AK? Could they afford it?


Bye Bye---General Lee
 
State sponsored or using BK makes no difference to your competitors. Either way they are at a competitive disadvantage.
The sad reality is that a fundamentally sound business (Alaska) will more than likely be
driven out of the market by a failed one. (Don't take it personally I'm not just referring to Delta).
It will be a sad day when we are gone, not just for the brand but for the market. If and when a former BK carrier pulls the trigger i sure hope they don't bring the attitude that we should be thankful.
 
Alaska buys JetBlue !! We need the other coast !! And if we don't get them then we drive the other airlines into a bidding war and then the heat is off us .. Either way we win !! ;)
 
eskimopilot said:
State sponsored or using BK makes no difference to your competitors. Either way they are at a competitive disadvantage.
The sad reality is that a fundamentally sound business (Alaska) will more than likely be
driven out of the market by a failed one. (Don't take it personally I'm not just referring to Delta).
It will be a sad day when we are gone, not just for the brand but for the market. If and when a former BK carrier pulls the trigger i sure hope they don't bring the attitude that we should be thankful.
Click to expand...

No, I think you are upset that you may actually have some competition in your corner of the Country. Most of the DL employees (except the pilots) kept their pensions (most of the senior NWA pilots kept frozen pensions). DL is still paying down debt (it was at $17 Billion a few years ago after the BK, and according to the conference call it is now down to $9.9 Billion, with the new aim to bring it to $7 billion within a couple more years). DL pilot wages aren't at the same level as before, but they are the highest of any Legacy, and higher than yours, with the next contract openers coming soon. The other employees are pretty close to their former wages, and the addition of profit sharing sure has helped bring up the overall average.

So, you might want to change your opinion of these "BK carriers", they may offer a lot more than your own. Your airline is dumping 734s and 73Gs for larger and fewer 738s and 739s. You have no scope clause, and Dash-8s are slowly going to take your AK flying, while SKW may take a bunch of your West Coast flying. At DL, more mainline planes, 5000 retirements, 150 fewer 50 seat RJs in the next two years, higher pay, a DC fund in the pilot's name, and management that seems to really know how to compete.

I actually really like your airline. I've flown on it a few times, and I've always been treated well. You have a great niche up there in SEA and PDX, along with a great ANC operation. But, if your people step on the wrong toes and can't compete with the big guys, expect some real competition.


Bye Bye---General Lee
 
American/US Airways merger falls through, Alaska purchases US Airways. I always fly Alaska out west and would love to be able to do the same on the east coast. Probably would never happen, but it would protect Alaska from a future takeover.
 
I think we actually are shrinking.....according to Mngmnt dude at recurrent....We are planned to have more seats but fewer tails......we cornered him and he fessed up.....But who cares....same as it ever was here.....Our brief moment in the sun is very near over....Talk is further reduction in Hawaii.....That mine is playing out.....Same way the Alaska mine is already played out.....Lots less Fed spending in the north....Margins are way down in the inter Alaska market....Q400's are an attempt to balance that......FAI is a ghost town as is ADQ......Lots of hard work in the future for Alaska.....No real room to grow....The four musketeers that run the show are interested only in their personal financial growth.....but they have managed to hoodwink the masses......pretty sure Delta would not buy us..... Nothing but bluesky for sale at The Alaska Air Group
 
tico said:
I think we actually are shrinking.....according to Mngmnt dude at recurrent....We are planned to have more seats but fewer tails......we cornered him and he fessed up.....But who cares....same as it ever was here.....Our brief moment in the sun is very near over....Talk is further reduction in Hawaii.....That mine is playing out.....Same way the Alaska mine is already played out.....Lots less Fed spending in the north....Margins are way down in the inter Alaska market....Q400's are an attempt to balance that......FAI is a ghost town as is ADQ......Lots of hard work in the future for Alaska.....No real room to grow....The four musketeers that run the show are interested only in their personal financial growth.....but they have managed to hoodwink the masses......pretty sure Delta would not buy us..... Nothing but bluesky for sale at The Alaska Air Group
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I'm not that worried .. Another record profit today !! Too bad we didn't fight for a bigger share of it ...
 
RNP.15 said:
I like the buy jet blue idea. Rule both coasts! Have the size to fight off the mega carriers.
Click to expand...

And nothing in between, with very little INTL flying except codesharing with Emirates! Yes! You guys could have the call sign "Blue Ice."


Bye Bye---General Lee
 
Nothing in between? Have you looked at an Alaska route map recently? And you are probably right about the mrj's..but I'm positive about the delta emb's...and crj's..funny hearing scope trash talking from the airline that opened the flood gates on outsourcing....southwest pilots can talk trash on scope..no one else
 
There will be no MRJs... Some more q400's and it would not surprise me if Horizon were sold off in the next 6-12 months. Something is brewing... I sure would love to see the look on the Generals face this spring! He hates it when anyone but Delta announces anything exciting or something that might result in another persons career expectations increasing. Hope 2014 is a great year for us all. It will be very interesting indeed.
 
Mea25000 said:
There will be no MRJs... Some more q400's and it would not surprise me if Horizon were sold off in the next 6-12 months. Something is brewing... I sure would love to see the look on the Generals face this spring! He hates it when anyone but Delta announces anything exciting or something that might result in another persons career expectations increasing. Hope 2014 is a great year for us all. It will be very interesting indeed.
Click to expand...

My face will be smiling thanks to the profit sharing check. Can you believe $1.37 billion in one quarter? FANTASTIC. I hear DL's SEA ops will grow huge too. Great news. And hey, you say something is "brewing", but you don't know what it is. What will your face look like if it isn't good?


Bye Bye----General Lee
 
Just heard we made a deal with BOA to buy Delta .. They love our 13% ROReturn and say why not .. Wow gonna be interesting !!
 
Oh it's GOOD ;)

AS profit sharing for '13 should actually be greater then to equal to that of DAL's... AS's 289mil in Q3 is actually a higher ROR or PM then DAL's 1.37 billion... DAL's Rev of 10.49 billion returned 1.37 billion or $1.41 a share. Huh, poor old ALK GAAP was $ 4.08 share
(2.21 without BofA)... And I forget how does your debt compare to ours... All joking aside I am ecstatic you guys are doing so well. I hope the whole industry continues to thrive. I don't mind making a few more $$ and well a profitable industry pays us all!
 
Last edited:
October 24, 2013

Good morning!

This morning we released financial results for the third quarter. To cut to the bottom line, we earned a profit of $157 million, making this the best quarter in our 81-year history.

That is quite an accomplishment, and I want to thank you for keeping us safe, working together, keeping us on time, delivering our J.D. Power-caliber customer service, and for leading and innovating. It is incredibly gratifying to work with such talented and dedicated people!

As you know, we had much more competition in Anchorage this summer than in previous years, but we were prepared. Because of our recent growth and route diversification, other geographic regions performed well while Anchorage markets were under pressure. Hawaii, in particular, had a very strong third quarter thanks to recent schedule adjustments in our California-Hawaii markets.

I also want to thank those of you who participated in our recent employee meetings in Seattle, Los Angeles and Anchorage. The meetings were very well attended (1,500 of you showed up in Seattle!), and we had a good chance to talk about our performance, our future and your concerns.

One area that many of you asked about was our relationship with Delta. As you probably know, they’ve added flying in some of our key markets, including between Seattle and San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Anchorage. Some of you have asked why Delta is doing this and how we’re going to respond. Alliances are often complicated relationships. Sometimes we cooperate in these relationships and sometimes we compete. For example, it makes sense for us to work with Delta to connect passengers who start in our network and want to connect to their growing number of international flights. In other cases, however, we compete. Much of Delta’s recent growth is in some of our core West Coast markets. In these markets, we plan to aggressively, completely and vigorously defend what we’ve all built together. You may have seen our recent announcements to add frequencies and provide double miles (with the extra miles counting toward MVP/Gold/75k status) in these markets.

There were also several questions during the employee meetings about the status of our negotiations with our flight attendants. As we mentioned at the meetings, our goal in this contract, as it is in every contract, is to recognize the hard work and dedication of our people while ensuring the company’s continued ability to compete and prosper in an increasingly competitive marketplace. The tone at the bargaining table has been positive and I am optimistic that we’re making good progress toward a comprehensive agreement.

I was chatting with a business associate recently and he said something that really resonated with me. It was this: “The best defense is … performance.” This struck me as really good advice for Alaska Air Group at this moment.

Alaska and Horizon are relatively small airlines in the grand scheme of things. Combined, we represent 3.5% of the U.S. airline industry. We could debate about what makes an airline successful, but I think that, at the core, it is acting on things that are in our control – even for a small 3.5% player. This includes putting safety first above all else and performing extremely well when it comes to on-time performance, delivering bags to the carousel on time, and providing our customers with the absolute best service in the industry from employees who are head-and-shoulders above the rest. It also includes having low fares, customer-friendly policies, low costs and excellent returns for our owners. Our Five Focus areas are an excellent road map for us all. We can control our performance in each of these areas and, as we do, we will control our destiny.

The leadership of this company is committed to doing what it takes to win. We want Alaska to thrive as an independent, Northwest-based company. We believe that’s best for you, our employees — as well as for our customers, our communities and our owners.

At our employee meetings we introduced a new 737-900ER with our “Employee-Powered” livery. This aircraft carries the signatures of the Alaska Airlines family and is dedicated to all of you. It's a constant reminder to me of the real power of people — our people — working together.

Thank you for everything you’re doing, and I look forward to seeing you out and about this fall.

Brad
 

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