Article says US Airways has thinnest cash position of any major airline

[usa1]

The problems at US Airways are somewhat different. It has struggled since a $1.5 billion merger in 2005 with America West, a low-fare carrier, analysts say. The combined company now finds itself with the thinnest cash position of any major airline, said Basili Alukos, an analyst at Morningstar Research, meaning it may have to resort to further borrowing to meet debt payments.

“All their assets are already mortgaged. They don’t have much borrowing capability left.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/business/14airlines.html

 

[Harry Callahan]

As long as dumb & dumber run this thing it will only get worse :down:

 

[westcoastflyer]

As long as dumb & dumber run this thing it will only get worse :down:

Maybe they should lower the fares some more (LOL); they're only running at an unprecedented 88+% load factor, and supposedly still not making money. Talk about a yield model that's not working.

 

[freedom]

Having lots of debt is a good thing ....

That we own almost nothing means that we have almost nothing to lose and our creditors have everything to lose ...



We hold all the chips ...

 

[fudgerunyard]

They'll no doubt be burning the midnight oil in Tempe come this winter...yet, at least according to a number of analysts, UAL and AMR are in just as tight a jam as is LCC.

It seems like a white-knuckle waiting game at the Legacy carriers as each is hoping the other fails and thereby drastically reduces systemwide capacity via their demise.

 

[Hey.. Chill Out]

Jeez... I dunno guys, that article says we have borrowed a ton of cash in the past, and have very little bargaining chips when it comes to asking for more.

They will continue to trim the fat, the fat being our futures, and what happens after that?

I think most of us out here in PHX aren't sweating things too much. Not too many of us have actually made a career out of this since the average lifespan of a ramper is, what? A few years?

I feel for those of you who have done this your whole life, and now your retirement hangs in the balance. There is a polarity of pay between the big wigs and small guys, and the middle-class is disappearing, and the jobs that require little or no skill along with it. That means not too many of you older gents can go out there and, readily, find a job given your skill level. Even the more educated techies, someone in India can do your job for much cheaper.

And pilots, your skills are very specific, it's not like you can take what you've been doing your whole life and cross into many other job markets.

Are most of you thinking about plan B yet? Is school an option for my older friends?


Your thoughts..

 

[freedom]

My plan B is to see us airways nationalized ...

There is no place to run to , school will not save any of you now ... not in this economy ...

 

[28L_or_10R?]

When all comes to pass the following may or may not happen:

1) We get more financing.

2) We won't get financing and we breach our loan covenants. Then we declare bk and the hatchet goes first to the unionized workers who will take a massive pay cut. The executive will reward themselves for the fine job they are doing with bonuses.

3) We will merge and tie our anchors together.

4) We will be bought out and go through what the poor souls at TWA went through.

5) Nothing will happen.

 

[oscarjazz]

LCC's next step is asset sales, they can't borrow and their stock is too low to sell into the market. They will probably need to move fast to avoid getting too short on cash over the winter. My guess is in early fall they will make an announcement.

 

[autofixer]

Who cares...get on with it! Just another in a long line of crises.

 

[Planemx]

LCC's next step is asset sales, they can't borrow and their stock is too low to sell into the market. They will probably need to move fast to avoid getting too short on cash over the winter. My guess is in early fall they will make an announcement.

My guess is that it will be an early Fall.....real early.

 

[OTslave]

My guess is that it will be an early Fall.....real early.

My guess is that they may make a competing bid for Frontier.
The bankruptcy court left it open for competing bids. The going price right now is 108.8 Mil.
They can dismantle Frontier, put airplanes on the ground, return leases, not be bound by minimum fleet requirements and take capacity out of the marketplace. But then on the other hand, other airlines are probably thinking about that already and this company never leads when it comes to anything innovative.
Just my guess.

 

[nycbusdriver]

My guess is that they may make a competing bid for Frontier.
The bankruptcy court left it open for competing bids. The going price right now is 108.8 Mil.
They can dismantle Frontier, put airplanes on the ground, return leases, not be bound by minimum fleet requirements and take capacity out of the marketplace. But then on the other hand, other airlines are probably thinking about that already and this company never leads when it comes to anything innovative.
Just my guess.

That's definitely thinking outside of the box. But does Frontier compete with us in enough markets that closing them down would help us? I believe it would simply take capacity out of the system that would benefit UAL and SWA. I think it would be clearly a stupid move. And for that reason they'll probably do as you say.

 

[700UW]

Court all ready approved Republic's purchase of Frontier today, its a done deal.

 

[usa1]

My thoughts ..... Republic picks up more US Airways flying ... uses Frontier equipment ...... to replace Chautauqua 50 a/c. Allows us to reduce frequency without cutting seats drastically. This could explain furloughs. Now space the departures out and you need fewer agents.