Virgin America down to 22 million in unrestricted cash

[hoover84]

Operating results: The airline reported a $10 million operating loss on revenues of $153 million, an improvement of 51 percent over the fourth quarter of 2008.
Record load factors: The airline reported an 84.3 percent load factor in the fourth quarter of 2009 – a 3.1 point improvement over the fourth quarter of 2008, despite a 47 percent increase in scheduled service capacity for the quarter. Including charter operations, total capacity increased by 42 percent. The airline consistently outperformed the industry in the fourth quarter, with an 84.6 percent load factor in October; 83.2 percent load factor in November; and an 85.0 percent load factor in December.
Significant top line progress: Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2009 was up by 29 percent versus the fourth quarter of 2008. Virgin America's stage-length adjusted guest unit revenue was essentially flat (down 1.0 percent) versus the fourth quarter of 2008, during a period in which the industry's unit revenue declined by four percent overall.
Exceptional cost control: Unit costs (CASM) dropped by 18 percent while ex-fuel CASM dropped by 24 percent, as the airline was able to increase capacity at a very low marginal cost.
Cash: The airline ended the fourth quarter of 2009 with $22 million in unrestricted cash and $129 million in total liquidity.

 

[ultrarunner]

What's the minimum cash-on-hand required to restructure?

 

[FDJ2]

Did I read that right? Revenue up 29% on a 47% increase in capacity. That doesn't sound too good. You would think that increases in revenue might be somewhat close to increases in capacity, but certainly not upside down.

 

[ultrarunner]

It's all about yield.

Virgin is adding more seats and giving them away.

 

[Hamburger]

No Worries, Sir Richard..............I mean some Hedge Fund that can't vote will dig up some more cash from somewhere.

No need to look any further, the guys who used to work for Board Member Sam Skinner when he was Transportation Secretary gave the them thumbs up. Sure they had to make some changes to be 'legal', which is evidence that they were operating illegally up until that point........

Nothing to see here. It's not a thinly veiled Cabotage scam.
It has 'America' right there in the name!

 

[ACL65PILOT]

Well, time will tell. There is nothing against Sir Richard buying all of the seats

 

[clickclickboom]

dont go there bud. Cramden and that guy with the decathalon will go ape

 

[General Lee]

Sir Richard sure does have a lot of cash, oh wait, that Volcano deal sure didn't help. That darn Iceland! First they destroy Europe's economy, then they destroy the airlines......


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[ualdriver]

http://www.virginamerica.com/va/pre... Quarter and Full Year 2009 Financial Results

If you want to read more. No SEC filing...

10M operating loss on 153M for their 4th quarter ended March 31.

48M loss on 548M for their fiscal year.

No info on net losses. I was surprised their unrestricted cash balance was that low and they didn't comment on that.

 

[whymeworry?]

Virgin, or any airline who gives away seats, is a cancer to this industry. It it is corporate irresponsibility that has wrecked our profession and left the industry drowning in debt. Nothing against Virgin pilots but their demise would be beneficial to the overall industry. Their model is simply not sustainable and the dumping of capacity on to the marketplace serves to undermine the long-term viability of our business.

 

[AA717driver]

Word from a friend on the inside is that their Flt. Ops. management is a disaster--Amateur Hour.

More politics than happy hour in D.C.

People with high flight time and anything bigger than an RJ on the resume need not apply.

TC

ETA: I'll be the first on to admit that I had high hopes for this company. They had a great concept and got exactly the wrong people for the job from the get go.

 

[jonjuan]

Virgin, or any airline who gives away seats, is a cancer to this industry. It it is corporate irresponsibility that has wrecked our profession and left the industry drowning in debt. Nothing against Virgin pilots but their demise would be beneficial to the overall industry. Their model is simply not sustainable and the dumping of capacity on to the marketplace serves to undermine the long-term viability of our business.

So any airline that "gives away seats" is a "cancer to the industry?" If so, EVERY airline is culpable.
http://www.jetblue.com/UBF/flights/flights.asp

Jetblue is constantly giving away seats for nada, therefore they are a "cancer to the industry."
http://travel.southwest.com/specialoffers/topOffers.html?int=GNAVSPCLOFFR

Check out the deals from WN.

Checking out a Virgin flight, I see a NYC-LAX-NYC RT next Mon-Fri in F going for $2,850 RT. It appears that they are selling most of their F seats into the major business markets and getting premium fares.
To add to your comment, the demise of a number of airlines would be beneficial to the overall industry. Heck, if there were one airline, they could have a pricing premium. The question is, which airline/s should decide to close up shop to benefit the others?

 

[jonjuan]

ETA: I'll be the first on to admit that I had high hopes for this company. They had a great concept and got exactly the wrong people for the job from the get go.

They'll be around the block a bit longer than you will, FWIW.

 

[waveflyer]

Virgin, or any airline who gives away seats, is a cancer to this industry. It it is corporate irresponsibility that has wrecked our profession and left the industry drowning in debt. Nothing against Virgin pilots but their demise would be beneficial to the overall industry. Their model is simply not sustainable and the dumping of capacity on to the marketplace serves to undermine the long-term viability of our business.

Not commenting on your political beliefs bc I have no idea. But this post's sentiment is widely held in our industry. A good majority of pilots are also conservative so called capitalists.

Pilots are walking contradictions. Competition is great, for everyone else...

That said- I have heard that VA flt ops has devolved from not a very high place

 

[comrcap]

I believe they have Salvagio over there. He was useless at Comair and was the designer of Delta's failed Song. Great leadership!

 

[jayme]

Never heard of Sylvagio. What is he supposed to be doing for us?

 

[NEDude]

http://industry.bnet.com/travel/100...ings-still-losing-money-but-less-than-before/

This blogger/reporter (clearly the lines are blurred these days) mentions that VA now has a 107 million dollar line of credit available on five days notice and ends the article with the following quote:

"Not a great quarter for the airline, but it was certainly better than last year. That breathing room in terms of cash position must be nice, and with industry revenue trends looking up, it could end up being a much better year for Virgin America in 2010."

Clearly this guy thinks things are looking up, not down for VA.

Also VA is not acting like an airline that is desperate - two new destinations confirmed, three more to be announced by the end of the year, six new airplanes the remainder of this year and one per month next year.

Too bad many on this board gleefully wish for the demise of a new carrier that provides a high quality product, while at the same time accepting the growth of regional carriers that take take away the entry level narrow body jobs at the majors and pay significantly less than VA. Republic, Mesa, Skywest, Comair, Expressjet and the entire lot of them have done far more damage to pay and career advancement in this profession than VA could ever have. And they all did it long before VA took to the skies. Yet they all get a near free pass on this board. Well except for Mesa.

PS- According to the San Francisco Business Times, total liquidity in the present quarter is now $129 million (22 cash - 107 credit) compared to $57.6 million in the previous quarter. So even better news. Looks like we will be around a little bit longer.

 

[NEDude]

Never heard of Sylvagio. What is he supposed to be doing for us?

Nobody by that name in the company directory.

 

[mach none]

If United or USAir have not failed yet, I cannot find a reason why VA would fail either.

 

[waveflyer]

http:// Too bad many on this boar...tail? I agree too. VA isn't going anywhere.

 

[Scope out RJ's]

Winner winner.

Loser loser!

Legacy pilots can't stand that they have been the scourge and source of the industry's problems and ultimately their own paycuts. They didn't have the guts to stand up to outsourcing and the long term affects have been devastating to their own career.

Outsourcing is only part of it junior. Having to compete with scumbag outfits that were pay for training and brought the industry down to low pay and benefits were the other part of it. How many people had southwest as their number 1 choice in the 90's? It was a place where people went that couldn't get on at the legacies, who by the way paid much better.

As long as there are disenfranchised very capable regional pilots in the country- VA will be able to attract pilots at their crappy payrates. The price point VA execs hire pilots at comes from being able to attract pilots away from the regionals that legacy pilots helped create.

Same thing with the pay for training companies!

I wonder how much VA would have to pay if "regional" pilots were actually part of the seniority list whose logo is on their tail?

Probably not much better than their pay now.

I agree too. VA isn't going anywhere.

unfortunately, I have to agree too.

 

[ualdriver]

http://industry.bnet.com/travel/100...ings-still-losing-money-but-less-than-before/

This blogger/reporter (clearly the lines are blurred these days) mentions that VA now has a 107 million dollar line of credit available on five days notice and ends the article with the following quote:

"Not a great quarter for the airline, but it was certainly better than last year. That breathing room in terms of cash position must be nice, and with industry revenue trends looking up, it could end up being a much better year for Virgin America in 2010."

Clearly this guy thinks things are looking up, not down for VA.

Also VA is not acting like an airline that is desperate - two new destinations confirmed, three more to be announced by the end of the year, six new airplanes the remainder of this year and one per month next year.

Too bad many on this board gleefully wish for the demise of a new carrier that provides a high quality product, while at the same time accepting the growth of regional carriers that take take away the entry level narrow body jobs at the majors and pay significantly less than VA. Republic, Mesa, Skywest, Comair, Expressjet and the entire lot of them have done far more damage to pay and career advancement in this profession than VA could ever have. And they all did it long before VA took to the skies. Yet they all get a near free pass on this board. Well except for Mesa.

PS- According to the San Francisco Business Times, total liquidity in the present quarter is now $129 million (22 cash - 107 credit) compared to $57.6 million in the previous quarter. So even better news. Looks like we will be around a little bit longer.

I think you're a bit biased, and if that blogger says things are looking up for VA, he probably needs his head examined. I'm not sure how anyone can look at the publicly released data that VA has released and not be gravely concerned. He11, I wouldn't trade places with VA (from a financial standpoint), and I work for United!

They have 22M in cash, which is surprising low. I'd love to see what their cash flow looks like (like you can with any other airlines 10Q), but we don't get to see that. We do know that in their 4th quarter (everyone else's JAN-MAR quarter), they had a net loss of 18.8M and for their full year 2009 (ended MAR 31) they lost 80.8M. I don't think it takes a genius to do the math, so I'm not sure how a blogger or anyone else can imply that things are looking up. Perhaps there are investors out there who are willing to infuse a bunch of cash into VA? If that the case and they can find suckers willing to pony up large sums of money, they can bleed money forever

The other comments rationalizing VA's history of extremely poor VA pilot pay/benefits/retirement have been hashed out over and over.

 

[waveflyer]

So scope- outsourcing jobs to regionals was the only and best option to compete with southwest?

 

[ABUSED PILOT]

Look at UAL/USAIR they lost money forever. A new airline is supposed to lose money.That how it works. You write off everthing and hoard money. With the deep pockets they have, and Virgin quality of service. They will be around for quite some time.

 

[MILPILOT17]

Look at UAL/USAIR they lost money forever. A new airline is supposed to lose money.That how it works. You write off everthing and hoard money. With the deep pockets they have, and Virgin quality of service. They will be around for quite some time.

Now that's one hell of a business model! How about making money and "hoarding" money? I knew those college professors were full of Sh!t.

 

[Moon-dog]

No, it's ScopesinRJ's who is full of sh!t. As usual he is full of ignorance and venom, shame Delta pilots decided to vote on a contract that put them into bankruptcy. How do you think his stupid a$$ voted? (assuming he was not drinking from and driving the SST. (Thats the lav truck RJLover, you fool!)

 

[jayme]

I have never really realized how ********************ty you people are. All it really comes down to is that you want me to lose my ability to provide for my family so that you can provide a little extra to yours. ******************** off.

 

[ualdriver]

I have never really realized how ********************ty you people are. All it really comes down to is that you want me to lose my ability to provide for my family so that you can provide a little extra to yours. ******************** off.

Couldn't the same be said about VA pilots? All the rest of us have been trying to do for almost a decade now is maintain what little we have left. We have families too, right? Just when we thought narrowbody wages, benefits, and working conditions couldn't go any lower, we have airlines like Skybus, VA, etc., come along and under cut the prevailing wage more. And what's worse is that it will probably be years before the VA pilots even do anything about it.

 

[waveflyer]

UAL-
VA is a step up from skywest or any regional.
Look in the mirror before you slam them.

As for you Jayme- competition is a mother ********************er- I wish you the best- but when I'm at work- I'm trying to win

 

[NEDude]

Couldn't the same be said about VA pilots? All the rest of us have been trying to do for almost a decade now is maintain what little we have left. We have families too, right? Just when we thought narrowbody wages, benefits, and working conditions couldn't go any lower, we have airlines like Skybus, VA, etc., come along and under cut the prevailing wage more. And what's worse is that it will probably be years before the VA pilots even do anything about it.

That's it, blame the small new guy for all of the problems that started occurring ten years before they even showed up. Skybus was around for what, a year and a half? Had maybe 20 airplanes. VA has been around for less than 3 years and just took delivery of airplane number 30. These two have had nothing to do with the erosion of pilot pay and destruction of career progression that have occurred over the last ten plus years because they weren't even around!! Skybus, VA, JetBlue, Independence Air, Allegiant and any other start-up over the last ten years have not replaced one mainline carrier job. If you want to find those responsible just go look at thousands of CRJs and ERJs flying around in Delta Connection or United Express colors on former mainline routes by pilots being paid $20,000/year. But I guess those do not count because you fly, or flew, for one of them. Better to blame the small new guy who wasn't around when it happened.