Airlines 3rd Quarter 2011

B-787 Dreamliner was delivered last month

Delta = $549 million

United = $653 million

U.S. Airways = $95 million

American = -$162 million

Alaska = $77 million

Southwest = -$140 million

JetBlue = $35 million

Skywest = $0.1 million

The big news this quarter is the loss for Southwest.  It has been a very long time since they reported a quarterly loss.  The reason they have done so well in the past was their strategy with fuel hedging.  They bought years worth of gas and cheaper prices in the 1990s that really helped them when fuel skyrocketed.  Well this quarter that strategy finally bit them.  Their major fuel hedging ran out last year so when they placed their new hedges they actually ended up paying too much.  I wouldn't worry about Southwest though.  They have a lot of cash and are well run.

The rest of the results are what was expected for the 3rd quarter.  American has been flirting with bankruptcy but somehow finds ways to avoid it.  Skywest Inc. just barely turned a profit but at least it is not a loss.  I am worried though that we will suffer another loss in the 4th quarter this year.  Hopefully passenger demand stays hight through the holidays.

Now lastly.  I posted on facebook awhile back about the new tax President Obama wants to hit the airlines and private jet aviation with.  Basically he wants to triple the security tax over time and present a new tax of $100 for every flight powered by a jet engine be it commercial or private.  This will again cripple this industry and I cannot believe that he is serious about this idea.  This cost will only get passed on to the consumer in the form of fair increases and additional fees and for the industry thousands of job losses would occur pushing aviation back solidly into the red while it is just figuring out how to stay in the black.  Please tell your representatives to reject these new taxes!  http://stopairtaxnow.com/