Transportation Industry

Airline Finance News - North America

AirGuide Business, June 30, 2008

Northwest Airlines

Northwest Airlines President and CEO Doug Steenland testified before a US House of Representatives subcommittee yesterday that US airlines are expected to spend $61.2 billion on jet fuel in 2008, $20 billion more than in 2007, and are projected to incur losses totaling close to $10 billion for the year. Jun 24, 2008

Northwest Airlines

Oil speculation is threatening the airline industry, Northwest Airlines CEO Doug Steenland told lawmakers Monday. He urged them to boost regulation of commodities trading. "Supply and demand fundamentals alone do not explain the price increases and volatility experienced in the energy markets," said Steenland, who also serves as chairman of the Air Transport Association. Jun 24, 2008

Northwest Airlines

Testifying before Congress today, Northwest Airlines CEO Doug Steenland urged Congress to increase regulation of commodities trading and close loopholes in trading. Steenland noted that fuel is nearly 40% of airlines' operating cost. "If the current pricing dynamic does not change, our industry will be severely challenged and will continue shrinking -- to the detriment of customers, employees and the communities we serve," said Steenland. Jun 23, 2008

SkyWest Airlines

SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines flew a combined 1.49 billion RPMs in May, down 5% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 2.9% to 1.89 billion ASMs and load factor dropped 1.7 points to 78.9%. Jun 26, 2008

United Airlines

United Airlines flew 9.8 billion RPMs in May, down 4.1% year-over-year, against a 1.7% decline in capacity to 11.87 billion ASMs. Load factor slipped 2 points to 82.6%. Jun 26, 2008

United Airlines

United Airlines on Monday said it plans to furlough 950 pilots by the end of 2009, which are in addition to 1,400-1,600 salaried and management positions that it also has said it will cut. The cuts are the result of the airline's plan to reduce its fleet by 100 jetliners. Soaring fuel prices have forced other carriers to take similar steps. "We must take the difficult but necessary steps to reduce the number of people we have to run our business," United said. Jun 24, 2008

Virgin America

US Dept. of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics Office of Airline Information yesterday rejected a request by Virgin America for confidential treatment of financial, traffic and O&D survey data filed with BTS. The airline, which commenced service last August, had withheld filing financial and traffic information for the fourth quarter of 2007 and first quarter of 2008 pending the decision. It has 10 days to appeal. Jun 27, 2008

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