As I get ready to head off to Tampa tomorrow night, I ponder the week of airline news.
This week in bankruptcy and shuttered:
- Aloha Airlines
- ATA
- Champion Air (end of May)
A lot of people going to/from Hawaii screwed at the same time since ATA was a big flier there with it’s tie-in to Southwest Airlines
On the ropes and bleeding:
- Sun Country (cutting a third of its pilots, with translates to a third of its flights)
Bleeding and grabbing for bandages:
- Frontier (selling planes)
- Skybus (cutting schedules — like dropping Bellingham to Columbus)
- Spirit (diversifying into the Caribbean)
- AirTran (running out of cash)
Hopeless causes:
Aitalia — better bring back Mussolini to make that one not slip into bankruptcy and liquidation. When KLM backed out because it wouldn’t pander to the overstaffed union — that was the airlines last hope.
The truth is that Northwest, Delta, United, American, all have announced plans to reduce their US route structure — as have all the new boys on the block such as JetBlue and VirginAmerica. It’s not going to be cheap to fly anywhere, anything soon.
Here is a great link to Fox with real numbers about cash reserves, etc.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/transportation/article/cashstrapped-airlines-whos-fail_548111_8.html
I”ll give you a report on how Delta’s First Class cabin is holding up in a couple of days. Then, in two weeks, a report on how Northwest’s Economy Class (assuming I don’t get upgraded) is faring.
Tonight’s entertainment is the R. Crumb Exhibit at the Frye Museum on First Hill after a steak salad here at the house while watching the news for more airline flaming out.
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