United may ground 757-300 and 767-200 to curb fuel cost

[Jetjockey]

ATA Smart Brief (13Mar11) wrote:
United may ground 44 aircraft as oil prices rise

United Continental may ground its fleet of Boeing 737-500 and 767-200ER aircraft in an attempt to offset rising oil prices, CEO Jeff Smisek said Friday. The company has 34 of the narrow-body planes and 10 of the wide-bodies, with an average age of 15 and 9.8 years, respectively. Regarding high oil prices, Smisek said, "I feel a bit like a pinata at a 10-year-old's birthday party." Grounding fuel-inefficient aircraft would be a step in fighting oil costs for United Continental, which announced March 7 that capacity will remain flat for 2011; earlier plans had called for a 1% to 2% capacity increase

That was author's speculation, not the company word. I'm not saying that couldn't happen but a big assumption at this point. I still speculate that since over 50% of the domestic reduction will come from regional flying, the 50 seaters with the highest CASM will depart first.

 

[Skippy]

Enjoy your beechjet. Besides slinging mud at ALPA, what's your point?

You also though Spirit pilots would cave on their strike and management would fail.

Actually i said on 5/13/10. Guess i was wrong--- but please dont compare the size and power of the two completely different airlines. And if you want to take it further--- what did spirit accomplish after the strike-- IE what did they gain-- their contract is pretty schitty anyway-- so let me answer not much-- trust me that week off or so has already been made up in profit-- they have they highest profit margin in the airline business. what to know why they dont publish the before and after? BC after the strike people cant come back and say " we've been striking for a week and this is all we've gained? Only has to pass by 51%


05-13-2010, 02:05 #3 Skippy
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Well pilots rejected proffer may 5. So soundS more like a 37 day coolong off period.
Spirit mgmnt will cave at the 12 th hour





SLINGING MUD AT ALPA? sorry being an elected rep for 6 years i think i've earned the right to judge the performance of things alpa related

 

[nimtz]

Gee Skippy I don't know WTF that last post was exactly, but try to avoid the bottle before tearing into Unical ALPA as a weak structure.

 

[FLYLOW22]

Or UAL could just raise ticket prices.

 

[Uncle Bort]

Give up more domestic UAL. SWA, Virgin America, and Spirit would welcome the news. If UAL can't compete, maybe they should hire those managers, they seem to know how to make it work.

Exactly! Jeff needs an intership at SWA.

 

[Skippy]

exclusive footage of jeffy meeting glen for the very first time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygd4qAZ_Jo0&feature=related

 

[SoCentralRain]

Or UAL could just raise ticket prices.

They already did that, John.

SCR

 

[Jetjockey]

They already did that, John.

SCR

Actually there have been 7 airfare bumps this year already. Then again, my job is to fly the plane. We have Ivy league geniuses to make the big decisions and they get paid 100's of millions of dollars to do so, even if they are dead wrong.

The longer I'm in this industry the more I believe it's a giant pyramid scheme.

 

[sstearns2]

That was author's speculation, not the company word. I'm not saying that couldn't happen but a big assumption at this point. I still speculate that since over 50% of the domestic reduction will come from regional flying, the 50 seaters with the highest CASM will depart first.

Wouldn't the airlines all be fly A380s if CASM is what really mattered?

The RJs are everywhere because their cost to revenue per seat is better than a larger airplane. You can keep the ticket prices pretty high when you only have to sell 50 seats.

Scott

 

[bluechunks]

Wouldn't the airlines all be fly A380s if CASM is what really mattered?

The RJs are everywhere because their cost to revenue per seat is better than a larger airplane. You can keep the ticket prices pretty high when you only have to sell 50 seats.

Sort of.

The original economic justification for RJ's was based upon $25-$30 oil. At $100 it's pretty hard not get upside down on the RASM/CASM curve with the mighty RJ. There will always be certain markets (or time of day frequencies) where 50-70 seats is the perfect size but there is a very good reason why every single major airline is in the process of downsizing their "express" fleets.

Besides, as the domestic market matures any capacity-limited RASM advantage vaporizes when somebody else parks a 737 at the next gate.

 

[Yuppyguppy]

Did you say 737...you mean the 70 seat guppy killer can't finish the job?

 

[bluechunks]

Did you say 737...you mean the 70 seat guppy killer can't finish the job?

Everybody knows you can't make money flying a 737 domestically. Especially 737-300/500's.

Oh wait...

 

[Jetjockey]

Southwest loves RJs, (painted in competitor's colors). Like printing money. Not hard to compete against a low quality, high CASM regional operator. If given the choice with me paying, I'd fly Southwest versus sitting on an RJ. Over 50% of domsetic flying is being outsourced to regional airlines,. Southwest is kicking legacy airline butt domestically. Coincidence? You be the judge.

Just look at the Allegiant business model. By pass hubs and capture traffic that would be forced to ride on an RJ to a hub. I saw a map of the USA when they had 9 airplanes, They identified over 300 cities under served by mainline type jets, with only RJ service to hubs. Fast forward to today, 40 plus airframes and growing.