SWA takes a hit & DL is flat for Dec

[lowecur]

Maynard!!!!!!!!

There is your answer...Nuf said from this guy...

Last Call!!!!!!

If you hurry, you can have one more before your next flight. Let me ask you Maynard, will you apply for the 175 when it comes to LUV? They have a great auto-pilot so you can sleep it off. At $50 per hour you'll have to BYO.

 

[lowecur]

Snoopy - King Parrot

As for the lower December LF, it's no surprise at all: in December 2002, the Sunday after Thanksgiving fell in December, boosting that month's numbers. This year, the entire Thanksgiving weekend fell in November, boosting that month's numbers but not December's, so the 12/03 to 12/02 comparision looked worse for that one month.

But at any rate, so what? As noted above, the quarter (which included all the same holidays & heavy travel days in both years) and the full year showed improvements. For someone as involved in "the airline industry" as lowecur's writings indicate that he is, to miss such an obvious explanation for the lower December #s, as well as to miss the clear report of better performance quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year, suggests to me an agenda.

Conspiracy!!!!!!!

I guess the fact that all the other carriers faced the same situation and didn't have a 2 pt drop in LF is of no consequence? Wait till B6 starts siphoning pax from Manchester and Providence out of BOS. Those 1st Q numbers aren't gonna look too great. But I'm probably wrong, and this is all a bad dream.

 

[General Lee]

Lowecur,

It has been stated in many articles (some that I can't find at this time of night) that the yields have increased since last year, and with a 74% load factor--would translate into better revenue than last year. That is obvious. As far as that Unysis article, there was some good info in there, but a lot of it was guess work---in the future. We don't know much about what WILL happen, but things are trending---like a better economy. That will help all of the airlines. There are also other things out there--like a weaker dollar currently. That may hurt some travel to more expensive Europe, but people who usually travel over there can afford it. With a better economy also, more people who do benefit will probably use some of that extra discretionary money to play and travel, and the Carribean and Europe will be their playgrounds. With a stronger economy also comes more business travel---to reach those customers you haven't seen face to face lately. We will also benefit from that---and more and more business passengers will fly on regular or business fares to just get to where they have to be. When the economy was tanking, many businesses chose to avoid higher fares, but now they will not be as conservative. That will help us too. Not everything is bad here in ATL.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[walleyevision]

E-170/190

I'm more of a lurker than a poster but I've got to chime in on this one...probably to my detriment.

The week before Christmas we had a jumpseater from the training dept. Evidently they had a meeting with Jim P. and the question of the E-190 came up. According to this jumpseater - and unknowingly verified by a senior Capt. who works at HQ's - SWA has seriously considered it to the point of sending people down to fly it/study it (the 170) and run all the possible numbers on it (the 170/190) to the Nth degree. To lowecur's credit, SWA has serously considered this aircraft. However - according to the jumpseater - the "wink, wink, nod, nod" from the CEO was that we know exactly what the costs and performances for this aircraft are and, after intense analysis, study and flight testing, what the competition's costs will truly be with this aircraft. As a result, we are not going to change our growth plans from those already announced anytime soon.

WEV