Things in the Sky

Occasionally, there’s a nice bit of exciting news to come along with an earnings release. Yesterday, American reported earnings along with Delta, and announced a 787 order! First, to the financial stuff, though. Including special items, the airline made $45 million, or $0.17/share. But I think it is more important to look at the figured excluding special items, considering one of those items (which PlaneBuzz pointed out earlier):

The results for the third quarter of 2008 include the impact of several special items. The Company recorded a $432 million gain from the sale of American Beacon Advisors.

Excluding special items, the airline lost $360 million or $1.39/share, compared to a profit of $175 million ($0.61/share) for the third quarter of 2007.

Now to the good stuff – the 787-9 order. American has ordered 42 of them with options for 58 more, with the first ones getting delivered in 2012. I wasn’t surprised that it was the 787, but the fact that American went with the 787-9 over the 787-8 surprised me a little bit. The 787-9 is more towards the capacity of American’s 777s, I figured they would go with the 787-8 as that seems to be a more adequate replacement for American’s older 767-300s. But, as the press release says:

American has yet to decide on a specific cabin configuration or engine type for its 787s and is in the process of determining the specific wide-body aircraft in its fleet that the 787 would replace.

Cranky beat me to mentioning something else I was thinking about…since the 787 has a composite fuselage, what will happen to American’s metallic paint scheme. Personally I hope it might mean a change in livery. I don’t dislike the current one, it’s just that it’s been around…forever it seems.

In other earnings news…Continental and Southwest reported earnings today. Continental recorded a loss, and Southwest reported a profit (excluding special items, with them it was a loss). More on them later or tomorrow!