SkyWest Airlines

US airlines to report increasing revenue and strong demand

The distressing economic news this summer made September important in signaling how the US airline industry is performance. Judging from the early operational reports and 3Q2011 guidance issued, traffic and demand are defying the gloom offered by Wall Street and Washington. Indeed, air travel demand is expected to remain strong, which bodes well for the industry's bottom line given the fact capacity continues to tighten.

Still, US airlines are not sanguine about the state of the industry, with most not only pulling capacity in the fourth quarter but signaling the same for 2012 when a number of carriers will be taking delivery of new aircraft but keeping capacity flat. That capacity discipline, in evidence since early Spring when fuel continued its climb, meant the USD6-10 fare hike imposed in mid-September stuck and will likely segue into future hikes as demand remains strong on increasingly tight capacity. For now the hike applies to last minute tickets.

So you think you know your airline market capitalisation: Part 3

The first part of this three-part report on airline market capitalisations described how Air China is valued more on the stock exchange than US carriers United-Continental, JetBlue, Hawaiian Air, AirTran, US Airways, American Airlines, Republic Airways and Skywest combined. In this final section, CAPA reviews some further interesting facts from the equity investment world.

Airbus decision deferred on the A320 NEO, Ryanair and Southwest pushing the debate

The much-anticipated decision by Airbus on whether it will proceed with fitting new engines to the A320 has been delayed until the end of the year. With the company still sorting out A380 production issues and in full-swing developing the A350 XWB, the question of engineering resources has forced Airbus’ executive committee to defer the decision.

ExpressJet widens losses, focused on cost reduction before merger

The very last North American airline to report its second quarter results, ExpressJet said it lost USD18.6 million including special items, a 42% increase from the USD13 million loss posted in the year-ago period. Excluding special items, the loss totaled USD5 million. However, it followed its other regional counterparts in reporting increasing block hours in its Continental and United express agreements. CEO Tom Hanley reported the 18% increase in block hours over the year-ago period, adding that during the quarter it expanded its United Express operation to 32 aircraft. It is now trying to extend 10 short-term aircraft (scheduled to expire at the end of the year) into 2011.

SkyWest to acquire ExpressJet in continued US regional consolidation

It takes a lot to overshadow Republic Airways Holdings, but SkyWest managed to do just that yesterday as it literally stepped on RJET’s second quarter conference call when it announced not only its second quarter profits but its acquisition of ExpressJet Airlines (XJT). SkyWest Inc Executive Vice President and CFO Brad Rich said the acquisition and merger with SkyWest subsidiary Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) means SkyWest Inc will be the largest provider to the nation’s two largest carriers – Delta and the combined United-Continental entity.