Southwest Line on Credit?

[Cobraair75drvr]

Y'all have gone from a nimble rapidly growing company to one of us. Reality is your airline always had a large cost advantage. Up through the last 5-8 years it was labor(both in pay, benefits and productivity), then fuel costs. Now you don't and GK is trying to find some advantage over the rest of us. You always will be more efficient because of having one type, however you don't have the large advantage of yester year and that is a major problem. It will be interesting to watch. The days of rapid growth are over and my guess is GK has a limited time to get his objectives (from the board) accomplished and then he's toast. The new guy maybe from the outside and you will be the target. Every dog has his day, and yours may be behind. Only time will tell. Good luck.

PCL,

It is easy to make money when you come out of bankruptcy. You start with a clean slate.

 

[fam62c]

No, wave, I just don't believe that any of that is going to lead to 15% ROIC. You know what would? Ancillary fees. Gary is leaving tons of money on the table by not charging for bags. And it's costing shareholders a lot of money. I finally sold all of my shares a couple of weeks ago because I was tired of sitting around and waiting for someone to wake up and care about shareholder value.

If you are interested in shareholder value there are far better places to look than the airline industry. Airlines are capital investment and labor intensive as well as being highly economically sensitive. Airlines are forced to make huge capital commitments that go out many years while having almost no visibility where it comes to their number one cost item, fuel. When the economy gets a cold the airlines get pneumonia.

A Buffett/Graham value investing disciple like yourself would normally be putting their money almost anywhere else

 

[PCL_128]

If you are interested in shareholder value there are far better places to look than the airline industry. Airlines are capital investment and labor intensive as well as being highly economically sensitive. Airlines are forced to make huge capital commitments that go out many years while having almost no visibility where it comes to their number one cost item, fuel. When the economy gets a cold the airlines get pneumonia.

No disagreement there. The only airline I've ever owned stock in was AirTran, which converted to SWA shares after the merger. A lot of AirTran employees owned company stock because you got a 10% discount in the ESPP. Being a Graham/Buffett disciple, it's difficult for me to pass up a 10% return as soon as the purchase is made.

A Buffett/Graham value investing disciple like yourself would normally be putting their money almost anywhere else

I'm proud to say that I own no airline stock today! But, to be honest, I am looking at Copa and Allegiant. They do have some good value indicators right now. Just need some more time to research and watch them before I make a purchase.

 

[slaquer5]

I like how you just ignore the fact that he hasn't generated shareholder value for years. All will be ok in 18 months! Riiiiiight.

And the other airlines did?

I am guessing you shorted AMR,DAL, UAL.

Now that would be a true value. I grand slam.

 

[ATLplt]

Not as good of a record during the 2009 economic crisis though eh Ty?

In 2009 we made a record profit of $135 million dollars.

 

[waveflyer]

In 2009 we made a record profit of $135 million dollars.

And still furloughed?

 

[HowardBorden]

You're comparing apples to coconuts, of course, because the CEOs of those carriers today are not the CEOs of those carriers then. By going back to 2004, you can measure Gary's effectiveness, or lack thereof, but not someone like Richard Anderson, because he wasn't running Delta at the time.

No, in 2004 Anderson wasn't running Delta, he was running Northwest racking up losses to the tune of $2 billion and 14,000 jobs lost. Kelly however has been at SWA since 1986. He has acted as controller, executive VP of finance and C.F.O. before becoming CEO. If you don't believe he was helping navigate the company during his tenure before becoming CEO, you don't understand what a CFO does. The CFO is responsible for the company's financial condition, so he must decide how to invest the company's money. A good CFO is able to project the long-term financial picture of the company and the company thrives or perishes based on his analyses.

Yes, that Richard Anderson. The one who bailed out for UHC because he didn't feel that bankruptcy was the right move.
You can "luv" your airline without feeling the need to defend the poor performance of your CEO. He's not your best buddy, you know.

Are you really that naive? You don't think that Northwest and Delta entering bankruptcy literally within hours of each other was not a coordinated move. You don't think it was all in the plan that Anderson would cut out prior to bankruptcy so as not to get his hands dirty during the process only to join the Delta Board of Directors as the sole outside director with previous day-to-day experience as an airline manager before being named as CEO? Your powers of deduction are stunning!

Of course Kelly is not my buddy, other than a passing handshake, I haven't even met the man. I don't need to defend him or chastise him because his record steering the largest domestic airline speaks for itself.

 

[DUBLINFLYER]

I thought the thread was Southwest Line of Credit - how did it develop into a rant on AT pilots and how terrible they got treated - there is nothing like feeding the appetites of the SWA detractors and airing the views of a few disgruntled pilots

 

[jhill]

I heard SWA just got a one billion dollar line of credit!

 

[texman]

In 2009 we made a record profit of $135 million dollars.

You wouldn't of made that money if your contract passed in 2010. Don't forget that little 2 billion of debt that SWA absorbed too.

 

[RLAblows]

And still furloughed?

Furlough was 2008. Arguably the dumbest decision our BMT made. It lasted about 5 months.

 

[SWA/FO]

PCL = please don't come to Southwest. I would be very happy if you found something else to do. I wish you good luck with your Real Estate career.

 

[waveflyer]

Furlough was 2008. Arguably the dumbest decision our BMT made. It lasted about 5 months.

Ok- I got the year wrong- your company took hostages that your pilot group was powerless to stop, didn't have the relationship to stop, and then you come here and criticize SWA for how they treat you??

My point is not diminished.

 

[humveedriver]

Ok- I got the year wrong- your company took hostages that your pilot group was powerless to stop, didn't have the relationship to stop, and then you come here and criticize SWA for how they treat you??

My point is not diminished.

So.... it's The AT pilots fault that their management was draconian and abusive. Do you volunteer at a women's shelter by chance?

(Also to be fair; not all AT management was bad. Basically just the VP's involved with labor. SK, LB and JT . We had some very talented folks too and most of them found good jobs after the SWA/AT deal.)

 

[Ty Webb]

PCL = please don't come to Southwest. I would be very happy if you found something else to do. I wish you good luck with your Real Estate career.

Don't knock Real Estate . . . I probably made more in Real Estate last year than half of your pilots made flying airplanes. . . . Although much of that work was done by the charming and delightful Mrs. Webb.

Hell, I'd do it full time, if I didn't enjoy flying airplanes and telling lies on the radio so much. . . . . plus swilling beers with y'all on the layovers.