Monthly Archive for December, 2009Page 2 of 5

Virgin America’s CEO is “Cautiously Optimistic About 2010″

Published
by
Dan Webb
on December 21, 2009
in Virgin America
. 0 Comments

Virgin America began service when it was especially tough to be an airline start-up, first with high fuel, and now with a recession. So, many were surprised when the San Francisco-based airline recently announced that it had turned its first operating profit ($5.1 million) in the third quarter. That compares to a $54 million operating loss for the same quarter a year ago. The carrier did post a net loss of $5.9 million, however.


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Photo Credit: Chris Weyer.

Revenue growth was strong with a 38.3% year-over-year increase. Of course, a lot of that comes from the addition of new service – revenue per available seat mile (RASM) was up only 0.7%, but that still looks good considering the RASM declines that other carriers have reported.

One remaining concern is cash – Virgin’s cash balance decreased nearly $5 million during the quarter – but the declines in this area have slowed, and the airline might be adding new U.S. investors. Basically, this is good news for Virgin – there’s still much progress to be made but an operating profit is a great first step . The third quarter is usually the best for airlines, so operating profits might not happen again in the fourth and first quarters, though.

When Virgin announced their financial results, they asked if I would be interested in sending a few questions over to their CEO, David Cush, and I obviously was! Based on David’s answers, 2010 could be a very exciting year for Virgin with new destinations and international partnerships. You can check it my interview below:

Continue reading ‘Virgin America’s CEO is “Cautiously Optimistic About 2010″’

The Battle of Key West Begins

Published
by
Dan Webb
on December 21, 2009
in AirTran and Delta
. 4 Comments

Back in September, AirTran announced it would begin nonstop service to Key West from Orlando with 737-700s – though Orlando is only an intermediate stop as the flights originate or terminate in Atlanta. Then, shockingly ( ;) ), Delta decided soon after that it would add mainline service (also 737-700s) to Atlanta in addition to pre-existing service operated with CRJ-700s.

Funnily enough, both carriers started service on the same day. My friend Chris Weyer was able to snap pictures of both inaugural flights receiving water cannon salutes:

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Sunday Video #52

Published
by
Dan Webb
on December 20, 2009
in Sunday Video
. 0 Comments

I haven’t posted a safety video in awhile, so here’s one from Northwest from 1987:

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Saturday Links #72

Published
by
Dan Webb
on December 19, 2009
in Saturday Links
. 1 Comment
  1. Ryanair is going the way of many American carriers and placing advertisements on boarding passes. Who knew airlines on this side of the pond beat Ryanair to a source of ancillary revenue? :D
  2. The British Airways cabin crew strike was ruled illegal, which is obviously great for passengers, but only delays the inevitable if Unite and BA can’t come to an agreement.
  3. In an incredibly generous move, British Airways passengers traveling during the would-be strike period are being given bonus miles – up to 25,000 for those in premium cabins!
  4. Continental has signed up to have Aircels Gogo service installed on 21 757-300 aircraft. But, interestingly, it will still be testing out LiveTV’s Kitline service on 737-900ERs. Hmm. Of course, Mary Kirby has all of the details!
  5. A Japanese newspaper is reported that JAL is most likely going to go with Delta and join SkyTeam…but nothing’s final yet.

November ATA Yield Data Shows Continued Improvement

Published
by
Dan Webb
on December 18, 2009
in Finance
. 0 Comments

Yesterday, the monthly ATA yield data was released with data for November, and the numbers actually look half-decent. Year-over-year comparisons continue to improve, though a big reason for that is comparisons are becoming more favorable – November 2008 was the first month where we saw a decline in yields. Plus, Thanksgiving was earlier in 2009 than 2008, so more holiday travel took place in November this year (Thanksgiving was late last year so some travel took place in early December). But still, it’s improvement:

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A 12-month moving average of the data still shows declines, but like November, the decline was less than that of the prior month.

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As you can see from the graph – it really looks like things are bottoming out. Hopefully the trend will continue, and we can see some kind of growth in the coming months.

Anyway, my last final is this afternoon, so I will be back to a regular posting schedule tomorrow.

Virgin Atlantic’s Response to the BA Strike

Published
by
Dan Webb
on December 16, 2009
in Virgin Atlantic
. 0 Comments

Yesterday, I mentioned that I was surprised that Virgin Atlantic hadn’t responded to the looming British Airways strike (there are some talks going on today), but a few hours after I wrote that the airline announced that during the strike period, some flights that are usually operated with A340-300s will be operated with A340-600s instead, providing an additional 68 seats. A full list of cities getting the extra capacity wasn’t provided in the press release, but Newark, Boston, Washington, and Delhi will be four of them.

Virgin said that the additional seats “will go on sale over the next 24 hours.” That was sent out late in the afternoon yesterday, so everything should be loaded in a few hours from now.

She Flies!

Published
by
Dan Webb
on December 16, 2009
in Boeing
. 0 Comments

Thanks to a project being due and a final exam today, I didn’t have any time to write. Conveniently, this video of the first 787 test flight speaks for itself.

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Tip of the hat to my friend Mark.

EasyJet’s Clever Response to the BA Strike

Published
by
Dan Webb
on December 15, 2009
in bmi, British Airways and easyJet
. 1 Comment

British Airways’ cabin crew are planning to strike from December 22 to January 4, which obviously is the absolute worst timing for many passengers (the airline is attempting legal action to prevent the strike, though). A couple of companies have decided to turn the strike into an opportunity – the best effort I have seen so far is from EasyJet, who would stand to gain from the strike as passengers flying short-hauls out of London try to adjust travel plans. So, they tweeted this yesterday:

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Sure, it’s an offer that’s only available to a small number of passengers, but it’s still a nice gesture to try to win customers.

Some other companies have stepped up. Virgin Trains, for example, is increasing service between London and Glasgow. (I’m kind of surprised that Virgin Atlantic hasn’t said anything about long-haul service yet.) Meanwhile, bmi said in a press release that the airline “will do all we can to assist passengers who have been caught up in the dispute,” though no specific details are given.

Southwest Responds to Air New Zealand

Published
by
Dan Webb
on December 15, 2009
in Air New Zealand and Southwest
. 2 Comments

A couple of months ago, Air New Zealand issued this challenge to Southwest as part of its “Nothing to Hide Campaign”:

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Well, now Southwest has released its response – no body paint, but very entertaining!

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It’s just nice to see two carriers have fun.

British Airways Appears More Optmistic on Premium Travel

Published
by
Dan Webb
on December 14, 2009
in British Airways
. 1 Comment

Well, there’s some bad news for British Airways, as its cabin crew are planning to strike from December 22 to January 2, which would obviously be a big blow to the airline. So, hopefully a deal can be reached before that happens.

But, I was thinking about the positive stuff over the weekend, so I’ll stick with that. :D

First off, BA reported a 1.5% decline in premium travel last month, which is about the same as October’s decline, but still an improvement over the double-digit declines that we were seeing a year ago. What’s very interesting, though, is where the decreases are occurring – premium trafic on long-haul flights (Club World), was up 1.5%, while traffic on the shorter flights (Club Europe) was down 20%.

But some other British Airways news seems to suggest that the airline is seeing some potential in terms of premium traffic. First of all, it was reported last week that the its new Club World London City service is already profitable. So, it appears that business travelers are enjoying the convenience of London City Airport and the immigration stop in Shannon, which means the flight is treated like any other domestic flight at JFK. Of course, we’re only talking about two flights in each direction, so we’ll have to see what British Airways does with it over time.

More interesting is some recent news about British Airways’ OpenSkies subsidiary – it was reported that BA wanted to sell off the all-premium carrier, but apparently now BA wants to keep it going and invest in it, though no specific plans have been announced. Right now, the airline only flies to Paris (Orly) from JFK and Newark after flights to Amsterdam were cut. BA was originally going to transfer more 757s to OpenSkies this year, but then decided against it and said it would sell off the rest of the fleet, though I would guess that the decision to continue to invest in OpenSkies might change those plans.

Anyway – back to the books to study for finals. :D Sorry for no second post today – I will hopefully have a post on Virgin America’s surprisingly good third quarter results tomorrow.