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<\/figure>\nUnited\u2019s Q1 Saw Good Lead the Way<\/h3>\n
And we are back! It was a strong first three months of 2025<\/a> for United Airlines as the carrier saw its best Q1 since prior to the pandemic, earning a $478 million profit on $13.2 billion gross revenue. Its 3.6% pre-tax margin outpaced industry expectations and that\u2019s before accounting for the emotional losses it takes by operating a hub in Newark.<\/p>\n As with Delta, it was premium cabin revenue that led the charge for UA, as those flying in the pointy-end of the plane led to a 9.2% jump in revenue. Basic economy was also up 7.6%, but United would prefer no one acknowledge that \u2014 going as far as the refer to the money from the poors as something \u201cwe will take, but only to mess with the ULCCs and put them out of business.\u201d<\/p>\n UA will reduce domestic capacity by as much as 4% beginning with Q3 and will retire 21 planes earlier than expected \u2014 but not so early that it won\u2019t let them complete the flights they\u2019re operating right now. Cash flow was a highlight for UA as well, as it generated $3.7 billion in operating cash flow for the quarter. It repurchased $451 million worth of its own stock while cleverly announcing two sets of Q2 guidance<\/a> \u2014 one if the economy is just sorta bad and one if it all goes to hell. Stay tuned.<\/p>\n Prior to Thursday, Dave Davis was the President and CFO at Sun Country, but he will now need to pack suntan lotion and warm-weather clothes as he took his airline\u2019s name too literally and will move from Minneapolis to sun country \u2014 aka South Florida \u2014 after being named CEO of Spirit<\/a>.<\/p>\n Davis will take the role officially on Monday \u2014 he has the weekend to fill out HR paperwork and pay the appropriate fees \u2014 replacing Ted Christie who was let go last week by the carrier. Davis is already fitting in as he used Spirit\u2019s trademark capital \u201cG\u201d in \u201cGuests\u201d in his quote discussing his excitement for the new role.<\/p>\n He will be joined at Trey Urbahn as Senior Commercial Advisor at Spirit. Urbahn, who is a known fan of both downtown areas and German rapid transit. Urbahn, who will oversee network planning, pricing, yield management, onboard offerings, and yellow paint procurement is a veteran of Azul, Breeze, JetBlue and TAP, not that those four airlines have anything in common. <\/p>\n As the trade war between the United States and China continues to gain steam, China is (or is at least threatening) to get out of the Boeing business for the time being. The story broke earlier this week with a story in Bloomberg<\/a>, with other outlets supporting the assertion. Despite the reports, neither Boeing nor the Chinese government \u2014 both known for their adept communication skills \u2014 have confirmed or denied that there is a ban in place.<\/p>\n Boeing sent three 737 MAX aircraft from Seattle to Zhoushan in China where it finishes the interior and liveries before final delivery to Chinese customers late last month. Those aircraft were flown to Guam earlier today \u2014 part of the journey back to the mainland United States \u2014 instead of being delivered to enter service. <\/p>\n Boeing shipped 130 airplanes \u2014 mostly 737s \u2014 in Q1. It didn\u2019t breakout exactly how many of them went to China, but it\u2019s likely a good chunk. The Chinese tariffs already have a carve-out for electronics including phones, so airplanes ending up on an exemption list seem like a logical resolution to this, but what fun would that be?<\/p>\n Better late than never, right? American Airlines will follow rivals Delta and United \u2014 and JetBlue \u2014 and become the latest carrier to offer free WiFi aboard<\/a> most of its fleet, with the service expected to begin next year.<\/p>\n The offering will be sponsored by the good, caring folks at AT&T, and one must be an AAdvantage member to partake. The carrier has been testing the service on limited routes in anticipation of this rollout and says its worked flawlessly when tested. \u2018Trust us,\u201d AA said, \u201cnot one issue. Ever.\u201d The new service will be available on about 90% of AA\u2019s mainline fleet \u2014 which means the flight you take will surely be in the 10% minority \u2014 with it expanding to its regional fleet by the end of Once American gets its free connectivity going, it will leave Southwest as the only one of the largest U.S. carriers as a holdout on free WiFi \u2014 rumors that Elliott plans to up the price onboard WN flights to $99.99\/minute for connectivity have not been confirmed as of press time.<\/p>\n Silver entered bankruptcy protection late last year and although the carrier continues to fly a reduced schedule, its future took a hit this week after the trustee appointed to oversee it bankruptcy case recommended to the court<\/a> that the airline be shutdown.<\/p>\n Silver says its financial recovery plan is going well \u2014 which is about what you\u2019d expect it to say \u2014 and despite its golden outlook, the trustee says the airline\u2019s revenue projections are wildly misguided based on its current operational capability. Cranky Weekly Review was able glimpse at the plans and saw Silver\u2019s projection that it would make into the mid-eight figures by flying its fleet of ATR 42-600s on the highly profitable Nassau \u2013 Tokyo\/Narita and Fort Lauderdale \u2013 Seoul\/ICN routes, only needing to stop for fuel about 45 times in each direction.<\/p>\n Silver has about $90 million in assets which doesn\u2019t sound so bad until you realize it has $400 million of debt \u2014 that\u2019s\u2026that\u2019s not a good ratio. It lost almost $500,000 in February, and another $1.2 million in the first two weeks of March so things are not trending in the right direction. A hearing is scheduled for May 7 which is currently the over\/under for how much longer Silver will be in business.<\/p>\n Whenever I think of the \u201980s, I picture a boombox in my mind.<\/p>\n Maybe that\u2019s just a stereotype.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" United\u2019s Q1 Saw Good Lead the Way And we are back! It was a strong first three months of 2025 for United Airlines as the carrier saw its best Q1 since prior to the pandemic, earning a $478 million profit on $13.2 billion gross revenue. Its 3.6% pre-tax margin outpaced industry expectations and that\u2019s before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12028],"tags":[11527,17845,46171,17846,4125,3989,457,46023],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-191534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-airline","tag-ceo","tag-cranky","tag-financials","tag-flier","tag-names","tag-spirit","tag-strong","tag-uniteds"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s6331.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/cwr2-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nSpirit Poaches CEO from Sun Country<\/h3>\n
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<\/figure>\nChina (Maybe) Institutes Boeing Ban<\/h3>\n
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<\/figure>\nAmerican AAds Free Wi-Fi<\/h3>\n
2026<\/s> 2025.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s6331.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/cwr5-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nSilver Continues to Tarnish<\/h3>\n
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