Southwest Ends Supermajority Voting Req't

[RollinOnMy22sYo]

If SW starts missing targets this year, which is almost guaranteed, Gary and Colleen will be out of a job.

I nominate YPF and Lowcur to replace them. All in favor?

 

[slaquer5]

Mainly, I lost money on the stock. Instead of raising fares like the company should have done, it lowered costs and fares which subsequently hurt the industry including SW.

First it has not hurt us. Second you are correct on the rest, it called doing business.

 

[YourPilotFriend]

SWA rose fares 5 times in 2006. Something like.........."It's better to look stupid than open your mouth and remove doubt." Colleen and Kelly are definetly out of a job this year. LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!! By the way, SWA is worried about SWA, not the industry and helping other carriers.

It still missed projections by 50%. Since GK has taken the helm, the company has had a -11% ROI. In contrast Herb saw many thousands of percent. These have been the best 5 years in terms of productivity, and a negative return on investment???

 

[Bake]

Sorry, but you pulled those numbers out of your rabbits ass. You might have lost 11% on your investment but SWA has returned between 7 and 11 percent each year he has had the helm. Not as good as we would like but better than your ass numbers. Go back to managing inflight at NWA.

 

[YourPilotFriend]

Sorry, but you pulled those numbers out of your rabbits ass. You might have lost 11% on your investment but SWA has returned between 7 and 11 percent each year he has had the helm. Not as good as we would like but better than your ass numbers. Go back to managing inflight at NWA.

To who, it certainly wasn't the shareholders?

 

[Schiphol]

Dude I have to concur. The only way I can see YOU personally having a neg 11% ROI is if you bought in at the beginning of 2001.

And before you start throwing stones...WHY THE HELL have you holding a US airline transportation stock for the last 5 years???

I don't think they have missed projections by that much, maybe ever...except Q4 2001.

 

[YourPilotFriend]

Dude I have to concur. The only way I can see YOU personally having a neg 11% ROI is if you bought in at the beginning of 2001.

And before you start throwing stones...WHY THE HELL have you holding a US airline transportation stock for the last 5 years???

I don't think they have missed projections by that much, maybe ever...except Q4 2001.

Fall of '03 actually.

 

[Bake]

The companies ROI bunny butt. You wanna talk stock price it depends on the DAY and TIME you purchased the stock. All your telling us is that you bought high and sold low. What's new for an airline junkie. It's OK to work at an airline, but to invest in one you have to be seriously ill or really freaking good at trading. Most pilots or managers such as yourself suck at being good at trading so you must be seriously ill. That I don't find hard to believe.

 

[Whine Lover]

The man has an abused Bunny dressed in a Bee costume for an avatar...I'm going with seriously ill for a Thousand Bob.


YKW

 

[YourPilotFriend]

The companies ROI bunny butt. You wanna talk stock price it depends on the DAY and TIME you purchased the stock. All your telling us is that you bought high and sold low. What's new for an airline junkie. It's OK to work at an airline, but to invest in one you have to be seriously ill or really freaking good at trading. Most pilots or managers such as yourself suck at being good at trading so you must be seriously ill. That I don't find hard to believe.

Had they not missed targets by a huge percent I would have made money. Management said they could get it done, and they couldn't. The investors have reflected that statement. The growing shareholder discontent is a problem that SW has to deal with. If they miss earnings this year again, the shareholders will start the ball rolling to replace the management.

 

[Jim Smyth]

A purchase of about 40 787s would place them in the perfect expansion/debt position to start low cost international point to point as well as avoid an LBO. How they are going to get the routes is another story though.

Ah, our resident Southwest Expert sounds off again! This weeks conspirecy theory, 787's!

I see your bone with us is that you lost money on our airline stock. Heres a tip for ya, "DONT BUY AIRLINE STOCK!"

I can hardly wait for next weeks view into the ole YPF's crystal ball!

 

[Schiphol]

Bad Idea Jeans:

1. I was going to wear a condom, but I figured; Hey, when am I going to be in Haiti again?

2. I know he is an ex-con, be we have the new baby and some extra space; and he needed a place to stay!

3. "Yes Emperor Bonaparte, we shall dispatch our troops to the Eastern Front immediately; without our supply chain, we should win by winter."

4. Hey, I know the industry has never made any money; but I figured if any airline stock was going to make money after Sep 11th, it would be the only one that DIDN't file for bankruptcy protection and reorganize its cost structures. I'm sure I'll make money.

...........................

Too harsh?

 

[YourPilotFriend]

Airline stocks are not that bad. I dumped money into stocks in fall of 03 AA, CAL, and LUV. So far I've made a 100% return on CAL and an 95% return on AMR. That offset the 11% loss of LUV. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=5y&s=LUV&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=xal,amr,cal

Wow more than a 100% ROI, I must be a $hitty investor.

 

[Schiphol]

Bad idea comment retracted.

But still funny.

 

[YourPilotFriend]

Another issue, take for instance NWA and the 787. That plane will be flying international point-to-point. It offers a 40% cost reduction from the plane we were currently flying on that route, and a 20% advantage over the competition. However, instead of lowering fares on those routes, we are actually going to raise them. The 787 will offer such a better ride to customers than the competition that it will fill itself up on that alone. Great product is what this industry should have, since SW entered it, there has been consistently worse product. That's why we are treated like bus drives, because SW has made this the Bus route of the sky.

 

[slaquer5]

Great product is what this industry should have, since SW entered it, there has been consistently worse product. That's why we are treated like bus drives, because SW has made this the Bus route of the sky.

There you go I for one living in MI hear all the time what a GREAT airline NWA is and what great service they give. Well I need to go back sniffing my glue...

 

[YourPilotFriend]

There you go I for one living in MI hear all the time what a GREAT airline NWA is and what great service they give. Well I need to go back sniffing my glue...

NWA has the worst domestic product, international is not bad right now.

 

[FlyBoeingJets]

Mainly, I lost money on the stock. Instead of raising fares like the company should have done, it lowered costs and fares which subsequently hurt the industry including SW.

Folks are piling on you YPF. Not me. I welcome the opposing opinion.

SWA's low fares led to fleet reductions accross the legacies. That helped SWA gain gates and market share. The question now is "How will SWA go forward with lower fuel prices?"

Don't you think its odd that fares are still going up as fuel has come down? The fares are sticking quite nicely too. I think SWA will keep making a profit. Missing targets? I don't know about that. If any profit is there with their huge CAPEX budget in-place, it's really not that bad. Somebody tell me how many times AA, UAL and DAL have put off new airplane orders.

Empty seats would be much worse. SWA sets the prices in the markets they serve. You underestimate that power.

Lowcur,

As far as the cost per employee thing--SWA doesn't have to have fewer employees per aircraft to make it work. They are killing the competition BECAUSE they NEED fewer employees per airplane in the business model. A model that is greatly enhanced by only one type of airplane. This solid advantage gives SWA the freedom to pay the employees more and still have lower costs. The legacies are as lean as they are going to get on employees. Good luck with hoping they tighten further. AA is training a bunch of check airman, that can't be cheap. I don't see costs going down until newhires start coming in. The legacies NEED to pay less per employee because they have inefficient operations, loads of debt, mixed fleets requiring lost of training and spend lots of cash for those "industry leading" management stock options and bonuses.

It seems so silly when you guys say "IF SWA didn't have ______ they would be screwed!"

Well...they do have those advantages, so they aren't. If they legacies could do the same thing why haven't they figured it out and made it happen already??

 

[Whine Lover]

Main Entry: leg·a·cy
Pronunciation: 'le-g&-sE
Function: noun

- something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past.

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

They can't make it happen because they are mired in the Business Model of a Bygone Era...Hence, their newest name: "The Legacy Carriers."


YKW

 

[FlyBoeingJets]

Back to the subject...

I'm thinking the elimination of the poison pill and no supermajority is meant to enhance stockholder value. Why else eliminate them? Could the BOD want to send a message to the CEO? Could be nothing happens at all. But those two provisions were originally in place to protect the company from outside interests.

The future may be very interesting.

 

[Whine Lover]

- SWA needs and wants International expansion/revenues.

- They are gaining market share via proxy for now (ATA).

- They will need to take the codeshare and it's assets to gain full revenue/profit potential.

- They will need aircraft, crews, etc. to do so.

- Simple Majority voting will allow an asset acquisition of the codeshare, ATA's routes, aircraft, etc.

- SWA inserted a Management team at ATA 2 years ago to structure the above. The CEO came directly from SWA Senior Management.




YKW

 

[atafan]

Simple Majority Voting will allow SWA to make an acquisition quickly, quietly and without advance warning.

Brilliant, Simply Brilliant!

 

[YourPilotFriend]

The most interesting thing will be when SW has a lower payrate on the widebody because it will be less productive than the 737.

 

[Whine Lover]

Widebody? NO. Not gonna' happen.

SWA will ONLY acquire 737-800's, Codeshare Routes, etc.

The ATA Widebody Military Charter Operation will be spun off separately by Matlin-Patterson so that they realize additional R.O.I. on their initial cash buy.



YKW

 

[Saluki Dawg]

Hate to burst your bubble there Whine Lover, but I don't think that an aquisition of ATA is in SWA's immediate future. They would've done it already if it was going to happen IMO.

 

[atafan]

I'm pretty sure that Whine Lover agrees with me.

We would prefer to be left alone and do not want SWA or anyone to buy ATA.

We are quite capable to screw up all by ourselves......

 

[SWA/FO]

The most interesting thing will be when SW has a lower payrate on the widebody because it will be less productive than the 737.

easy there bunny....

 

[HalinTexas]

Widebody? NO. Not gonna' happen.

SWA will ONLY acquire 737-800's, Codeshare Routes, etc.

The ATA Widebody Military Charter Operation will be spun off separately by Matlin-Patterson so that they realize additional R.O.I. on their initial cash buy.



YKW

Well, if they "buy" the -800's that is already a major departure from their modus operendi. They might as well take the B75's. They are much more capable than any 737. You can't operate out of PHX and LAS to HI with a B73. Ain't gonna work. The 757 works quite well and can take a cargo load. As of next month all LAX-HNL flying will be on the B75 until next fall. It was rumored that WN was looking at some B757's somewhere to buy on their own, but the price was too high. I will agree with you on the DC10/widebody issue.

With all the merger talk approaching a frenzy, WN might be wanting to protect their "investment" in the codeshare. I believe WN is "in play" as far as strategy to gain or protect their market share. They won't sit by while the industry consolidates. Last I heard, WN isn't even working on ETOPS, and the assigned seating experiment wasn't going so well. So, to expand to Int'l markets they need assigned seating per DHS and foreign government requirements. They can do all these things, they have the money, but it takes time and effort. You don't say you're going to do it one day, and start it the next, and WN likes to move quickly.

I'll give you an example. Alaska was working on ETOPS for their B737-800's. They've never flown an ETOPS flight. I heard on this site, I believe, that it's been put on hold. Go! is putting a strain on revenues in HI for Aloha and Hawaiian. Aloha has 8 B737-700's with ETOPS. Without a partner Aloha might be feeling more of the pinch than Hawaiian or anyone else. Secondly, ATA has a few gates in terminal 3 right next to Alaska's gates. Alaska might be wanting to protect their markets and grow as well. I believe they are also reluctant to merge or be aquired, but given the choice, they might try to buy someone. ATA has the airplanes and the market and worldwide experience. Fact: beginning this summer ATA will be serving more cities from the mainline than any other airline. Fact: American Samoa is PO'd at Hawaiian about the service they are providing and the governor of AS mentioned ATA as a replacement. Fact: Matlin-Patterson owns ATA and has made a play for Aloha and Varig with arguable success. They are still in play here. My point? Alaska with MP's help could make a play for ATA or Aloha and take some thunder away from WN. WN can do little about this, unless........

So, you see, anything can happen, WN is preparing themselves to play. They're too smart, too good to sit by and watch.

Gonna be an interesting year.

 

[Whine Lover]

Saluki,

"Hate to burst your bubble there Whine Lover..." - That implys I want SWA to acquire assets of ATA. I don't. I love SWA, but I have never really wanted to work there.

" ..but I don't think that an aquisition of ATA is in SWA's immediate future." - I dont either. 1) It wont happen for a few years. 2) It will not be an acquisition of ATA. Only select assets related to the Codeshare.


Hal,

You make some good points. However, SWA is in bed with Matlin-Patterson, and has been for years on many different levels. Anything not mutually beneficial to both parties can most likely be ruled out.

Only time will tell....and you are correct, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN.

In any event, I'll be smoking a doobie in my "Van-Down-By-The-River" when it does so I won't really care.



Party On My Most Excellent Pilot Pals,


YKW

 

[bravodude]

Mainly, I lost money on the stock. Instead of raising fares like the company should have done, it lowered costs and fares which subsequently hurt the industry including SW.

you mean they lowered fares to allow more people to travel and spend time with friends and familly. you bought the stock (!diot) don't hate them because of you stupid mistake. If you wan't to b y stock go watch kramer.