![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s6331.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024CWRPBSFBOIAlogonew.png\")
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On this week\u2019s episode, Brian and I butt heads. I\u2019ve been watching Spirit\u2019s network moves, and I see an opportunity for Spirit to cozy up to Sun Country. Brian thinks I\u2019m insane. Come on in and listen for yourself and then decide why Brian is wrong\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n Listen on Spotify<\/a> American\u2019s Q1 reporting<\/a> would have made Dennis Green<\/a> proud \u2014 they were what we thought they were. AA posted a net loss of $473 million on $12.6 billion in gross revenue. That compares to a year ago in Q1 when the carrier posted a similar gross revenue figure of about $12.6 billion and lost only $312 million on that number.<\/p>\n As is the case with everyone else, premium demand was up, with everything else staying the same or going backwards. More than half of its costs came in the form of fuel ($2.6 billion) and salaries ($4.2 billion) \u2014 so if it could figure out a way to fly its planes without gas and not have to pay employees, everything would be just fine. The carrier did say that AAdvantage sign ups were up 6% YoY and corporate demand continues to improve after the airline\u2019s ill-advised sales and distribution debacle last year, so it\u2019s not all bad news.<\/p>\n More notably, the airline removed its forward-looking guidance due to the uncertainty in the economy. It says it\u2019ll issue a new guidance when the economic outlook becomes clearer. Ok, so January 2029. Got it. <\/p>\n Southwest Airlines Q1 earnings featured a loss of $149 million<\/a> \u2014 better than was expected, although that figure didn\u2019t account for the airline also losing its soul during the year\u2019s first three months.<\/p>\n Southwest earned a gross revenue figure of $6.4 billion, a 1.6% increase from \u201924. The $6.43 billion in revenue was higher than the $6.4 that was predicted, so score one for Elliott. The loss of $0.13 per share was significantly better than the $0.18 loss which was expected \u2014 and bag fees haven\u2019t even gone into effect yet. Q2 should start to see the benefits, when we also expect Southwest to cut baggage handlers and have people load their own luggage into the hold, making the \u201cexperience\u201d part of the new bag fees.<\/p>\n Going forward, Southwest says it will reduce capacity in the second half of the year. It expects Q2 revenues to be somewhere between even and down 4% from last year while claiming it hasn\u2019t seen any evidence of customers taking their business elsewhere in the wake of their policy changes. Which, for the record, is exactly what one would say if the people who instituted the new policies were standing there as the earnings report was crafted.<\/p>\n Next up for Earnings Week is Alaska<\/a> and its warm-weather brother Hawaiian. Alaska joined American in declining to update its full-year forecast due to concerns over the economy, but it does still expect to turn a profit for the full year. As far as Q2 is concerned, Alaska thinks that its revenue will finish somewhere between even and down as much as 6%.<\/p>\n Alaska posted a Q1 net loss of $166 million on $3.14 billion in revenue, just missing its expected output of $3.17 billion. The loss is worse than Q1 last year when the airline lost just $132 million to in the first three months of the year. Alaska did see a 5% uptick in unit revenue \u2014 saying it led the industry in domestic unit revenue.<\/p>\n Alaska and its subsidiaries grew capacity by almost 4% in the quarter, and revenue grew 9% YoY. It saw premium revenue jump 10%, again showing that the pointy end of the plane is going to continue to be resilient in the yo-yo that is this economy, while those behind the curtain will be far more price sensitive. The carrier finished the quarter with $2.5 billion in unrestricted cash, marketable securities, and a heap of POG juice and ukulele futures.<\/p>\n It took 10 years, but Thai aviation is back in the good graces of the U.S. government after the FAA upgraded Thailand\u2019s aviation safety back to Category 1<\/a> and out of the purgatory that is Category 2.<\/p>\n The (complimentary?) upgrade will again permit nonstop service between the two countries, potentially paving the way for Thai to resume services to the west coast if it is worried that it\u2019s not losing enough money. It also allows for codeshare agreements to resume and could be an impetus for increased travel between the two countries, provided Thai citizens are not required to visit Newark.<\/p>\n Category 1 status was officially instituted this past Tuesday following a reassessment process that began last November. <\/p>\n WestJet said \u201cnevermind\u201d to its plan to hire pilots<\/a> through Canada\u2019s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TWFP), claiming \u201cbroader economic turbulence\u201d as its reasoning, although that may have just been a typo and it actually meant \u201cborder economic turbulence,\u201d which would have also been correct.<\/p>\n The program was established in the early \u201970s to allow Canadian companies to bring temporary foreign workers into the country (that\u2019s where it got the clever name), especially around important times of the year such as hockey season and maple syrup gathering time. ALPA, unsurprisingly opposed this move on several levels, one of which was the idea that the TWFP was not designed for pilots, which, seems like something ALPA would say.<\/p>\n Canada is in the midst of a federal election season that will conclude on Monday, and labor groups including ALPA plan to lobby the new government to review the TFWP and institute more protectionist policies \u2014 something likely learned about by turning on Fox News.<\/p>\n We had a guy in a friend group in grad school who\u2019s name was Hunter, but after graduating college he became a vegan. So we all called him Gatherer instead.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On this week\u2019s episode, Brian and I butt heads. I\u2019ve been watching Spirit\u2019s network moves, and I see an opportunity for Spirit to cozy up to Sun Country. Brian thinks I\u2019m insane. Come on in and listen for yourself and then decide why Brian is wrong\u2026 Listen on SpotifyListen on Apple PodcastsListen on AmazonListen on […]<\/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":[17845,12829,17846,1619],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-206310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-airline","tag-cranky","tag-earnings","tag-flier","tag-week"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankyflier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/TheAirShowLogo.png?resize=1000%2C1000&ssl=1\")
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Listen on Apple Podcasts<\/a>
Listen on Amazon<\/a>
Listen on Pocket Casts<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s6331.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/cwr1-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nAmerican\u2019s WaywAArd Q1 Fiscal Results<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s6331.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/cwr2-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nSouthwest Exceeds Expectations<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s6331.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/cwr3-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nAlaska Posts Loss, but Still Expects Full-Year Profit<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s6331.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/cwr4-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nFAA Welcomes Thailand Back to the Cool Kids Table<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s6331.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/cwr5-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nWestJet Rolls Back Controversial Pilot Hiring<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s6331.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/cwrpotpourri-1.jpg\")
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two Mexican destinations<\/s> Mexico City and Punta Cana from Denver.<\/li>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s6331.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/cwrandrewlevitynew-1.jpg\")
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