Posted in Evan's News and Quick Takes, tagged business, continental, regulation, us airways on March 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
TEMPE — US Airways’ media day program is about to begin, but I wanted to share this non-US related interview by Loren Steffy from the Houston Chronicle:
Larry Kellner served me a cup of coffee with the aplomb of a veteran flight attendant, and then, a few moments later, served up a stunning comment about the [...]
Posted in Evan's Commentary, tagged atsb, business, labor, politics, travel, united on November 17, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I bet you’re thinking, how would a bailout of the “big three” U.S.-based automakers — General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler — affect a bailout of the airline industry? Tellingly, a few observers have compared the situation with the car-makers (Scene: Washington. Detroit: Give us big money money; our bankruptcy is your DOOM. Congress: Sure, always [...]
Posted in Evan's Fiskings, tagged business, energy, environment, fedex on November 13, 2008 | 2 Comments »
An interesting item in the Commercial Appeal of Memphis, my hometown newspaper:
FedEx issued its first Global Citizenship Report Wednesday, touting plans for big cuts in pollution by jets and delivery trucks. . . . On the environmental front, the company aims to cut carbon dioxide emissions by FedEx Express jets by 20 percent within less [...]
Posted in Evan's News and Quick Takes, tagged business, delta, Merger Mania 2008, mergers, northwest, regulation on October 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The Justice Department announced today that its Antitrust Division has found that “the proposed merger between Delta and Northwest is likely to produce substantial and credible efficiencies that will benefit U.S. consumers and is not likely to substantially lessen competition.” This clears the way for Delta and Northwest to merge officially. It was not an [...]
Posted in Evan's News and Quick Takes, tagged airports, budget airlines, business, delta, faa, network airlines, northwest, open skies, southwest, travel, usa on October 1, 2008 | 1 Comment »
DALLAS — Southwest is well-positioned in tricky times for the airline industry and will launch new service to Minneapolis-St. Paul in March 2009, Southwest Airlines chief Gary Kelly said today. The Twin Cities are the first new Southwest market since 2006, and the first planned service will be nonstop to Chicago’s Midway Airport.
The announcement of [...]
Posted in Evan's Commentary, tagged budget airlines, business, consumer advocacy, delays, network airlines, open skies, southwest, travel on October 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
DALLAS — Our lunchtime entertainment here at Southwest headquarters was provided by a panel of five airline industry thought leaders who offered their thoughts on the future of the industry. Rick Seaney of FareCompare.com kicked off the discussion. Some of the trends he noted include a “decline in human interaction” through the increasing utility of [...]
Posted in Evan's News and Quick Takes, tagged business, energy, southwest on October 1, 2008 | 1 Comment »
DALLAS — During the summer, the Air Transport Association and its member airlines launched a campaign to “Stop Oil Speculation Now.” I (and the rest of the aviation blogosphere) commented on it, arguing that limiting “speculation” on oil futures wouldn’t bring down the price of oil. Mark Ashley added that he was surprised about the [...]
Posted in Evan's News and Quick Takes, tagged alitalia, business, europe on September 24, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Alitalia, the feline airline with nine lives, may yet live, according to AP and Financial Times stories. (The FT lede says that the lack of a “Plan B” may keep Alitalia flying. In the real world, the lack of a Plan B means liquidation.) No one wants to buy this basket case of an airline, [...]
Posted in Evan's News and Quick Takes, tagged business, regulation on September 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Interesting op-ed by Andy Kessler on Forbes.com yesterday:
Not to sound harsh, but Lehman Brothers reminds me of Pan Am Airlines. No one (well, beyond their employees) is going to miss them. There are plenty of others to take their place.
In the ’70s and ’80s, a deregulated airline industry grew beyond its means, was stuck with [...]
US Airways’ Doug Parker on challenges for the airline industry
Posted in Evan's Commentary, tagged business, consumer advocacy, labor, mergers, regulation, us airways on March 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
TEMPE — US Airways chairman and CEO Doug Parker opened the airline’s annual media day with remarks on the state of the airline industry, pointing out financial, political, and labor-related challenges in the year ahead and calling on airline managers to change the way they think about industry competition.
Parker has long been an apostle of [...]
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