Good news

[iflyjetz]

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On 6/18/2003 1:40:55 PM Ukridge wrote:
Ukridge responds (or replies, or opines, or pontificates, or enlightens, or reveals etc. but all certainly in a slightly haughty and patronizing tone of course)
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I was able to immediately recognize your parody of Chip; not bad. But the above quoted sentence had me laughing so hard that I soiled myself.

I don't know if this board has an archives going back to the aborted purchase of U by UAL, but Chip's 'it's a done deal' prognostications along with detailed descriptions and 'inside information' on how the integration would occur are quite humorous in retrospect. He does appear to be a great contrarian indicator. Whenever he says that something will happen, you can almost bank on a diametrically opposite outcome.

Footnote: this post was edited due to a forum member complaining about one of my posts and being contacted by a moderator that my post (not this one) was out of line. I wanted to make sure that there is nothing against the TOS in this and future posts.

 

[diogenes]

UK,

Sir, you slay me!

Well done!

 

[Ukridge]

>>But the above quoted sentence had me laughing so hard that I soiled myself.

 

[iflyjetz]

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On 6/23/2003 8:06:16 PM Ukridge wrote:
On the serious side, the FT recently ran a series on the changing air transport sector. It seems that UAL is in the process of a major transformation with serious shrinkage. I find this an odd report as I thought that Mr. Tilton''s philosophy was to keep the airline at a large size to keep the business traveler and revenue generation. Will there be anything left of what you rightfully and proudly call the "Mainline?" Will it rather be broken among your express carriers and Star with only a few token aircraft? I trust this will not be the case.
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I don''t expect Tilton to shrink UAL mainline. Management has been able to use deception in public statements in order to draw greater concessions from everyone. They are very good at it.
As an example, it was not long ago when we expected UAL to retire or return to lessors all 747-400s. The pilots lowered -400 payscales down to 777 payscales. The leases were renegotiated; I''m sure that they are much lower than previous. It is now cheaper to operate the -400 than 777s. All of a sudden, UAL is going to keep all 747-400s, but possibly get rid of 777s. Funny, they''re now renegotiating 777 leases. Let''s wait and see what kind of deal UAL gets on 777 leases; perhaps we''ll keep all of them also.
I wouldn''t be surprised if UAL management lowers operating costs to the point where UAL expands mainline flying and reduces express carrier flying.
We''ll just have to wait until the dust settles.

 

[Fly]

If you read the current SkyNet, you will also see that it looks like the 747 is going to get some new pilots. Looks like the 47 is going to start getting junior

from SkyNet:

Regarding the B747-400 bids (41 Captain and 60 First Officers), we are getting strong signals from Marketing that several current B777 missions will be converting to B747-400s this fall and winter. Given our lead time, we needed to put the bids out now.

What is the most junior seniority flying it now?

 

[Ukridge]

What is SkyNet? Is this an industry publication?
Interesting about the -400s. The negoiations must have gone strongly in the favor of United otherwise one would imagine that they would rely more on the 777. Is the -400 not growing grossly uncompetative with its engines from antiquity (some were found in Baghdad during the looting) compared to the new A340-500/600 or even your rapidly aging 777s?
It seems that the fuel burns on the -400 would make it troublesome if the fuel prices rise again although if the rates are good maybe a few more years will pay off. Why United would then wish to reduce its 777 fleet is more problematic. This seems to be your "flagship" and to see a retreat to old equipment does not portend well. As other world carriers are purchasing the aforementioned A340, there is also the A380 on the near horizon and even Lufthansa ordered a number of A330s. The point being that leading carriers are flying the newer equipment and not something Sir Frank Whittle would have recognized. Also, -400s are big planes that need a lot of feed. This would indicate that United would have to keep a strong Mainline presence as relying on Star and the RJs to fill -400s would not seem to be a good strategy although I will admit I am out of my league when venturing a guess in this realm.
Either way, I imagine the dealings are tough and merciless so we shall soon see it shakes out.

 

[ual06]

SkyNet is a company web site. Sorry Ukridge, but access is restricted. Thanks for your
support of UAL. Most "news" there is also at ual.com.

 

[Ukridge]

ualo6: >>SkyNet is a company web site. Sorry Ukridge, but access is restricted.

 

[Cosmo]

For those of you that don't read Chip's threads about United on the US Airways board, here's some good news, or at least a positive trend, for "US' code-sharing business partner" United. This morning the carrier announced a $155 million operating loss for the month of May, a net profit of $64 million (including Federal government assistance) and an increase in cash of $456 million, bring its total cash holdings to approximately $2.2 billion (including about $659 million in restricted cash). Probably the best news is that, even excluding Federal government assistance and a one-time asset sale, United increased its cash by $111 million in May, or about $3.5 million daily.

United EVP and CFO Jake Brace said the carrier's labor costs in the second quarter of 2003 will be "$500 million or more" below those recorded in the second quarter of 2002, due in part to a year-over-year drop in capacity of 15 percent for the quarter. At the same time, United's EVP-Customer John Tague said that "improving revenue is our foremost priority." He also said that United is currently experiencing steady demand against rising yields, although no indication was given as to just how much the yields are rising. Moreover, United's yields are rising from a pretty low base, both in absolute terms and when compared with its peers. But at least the yields are finally going in the right direction -- up.

All in all, it's generally good news combined with the realization that United's revenue trends must continue to improve.

Here's the United press release.

 

[avek00]

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On 6/27/2003 1158 AM Cosmo wrote:

For those of you that don''t read Chip''s threads about United on the US Airways board, here''s some good news, or at least a positive trend, for "US'' code-sharing business partner" United. This morning the carrier announced a $155 million operating loss for the month of May, a net profit of $64 million (including Federal government assistance) and an increase in cash of $456 million, bring its total cash holdings to approximately $2.2 billion (including about $659 million in restricted cash). Probably the best news is that, even excluding Federal government assistance and a one-time asset sale, United increased its cash by $111 million in May, or about $3.5 million daily.

United EVP and CFO Jake Brace said the carrier''s labor costs in the second quarter of 2003 will be "$500 million or more" below those recorded in the second quarter of 2002, due in part to a year-over-year drop in capacity of 15 percent for the quarter. At the same time, United''s EVP-Customer John Tague said that "improving revenue is our foremost priority." He also said that United is currently experiencing steady demand against rising yields, although no indication was given as to just how much the yields are rising. Moreover, United''s yields are rising from a pretty low base, both in absolute terms and when compared with its peers. But at least the yields are finally going in the right direction -- up.

All in all, it''s generally good news combined with the realization that United''s revenue trends must continue to improve.

Here''s the United press release.


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I don''t know what all of the cheer is about - UAL is STILL losing over $5 million/day ($155 million for the month) from its operations. UAL only posted a positive cashflow figure due to government assistance and accounting tricks.

 

[UnitedChicago]

avek - this is obvious progress. no major airline (excluding low cost carriers) is making money.

 

[767jetz]

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On 6/28/2003 9:41:49 AM avek00 wrote:

I don't know what all of the cheer is about - UAL is STILL losing over $5 million/day ($155 million for the month) from its operations. UAL only posted a positive cashflow figure due to government assistance and accounting tricks.

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Well avek00, Here is part of an article that doesn’t sound so “doom and gloomâ€￾ in my opinion. Notice I adopted Chips method of hi-lighting only the parts that I want a casual browser to focus on.

Meets Fourth DIP Covenant
Reports Positive Cash Flow and EBITDAR in May
CHICAGO, June 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --


Brace continued, "United met its cumulative EBITDAR goal for the fourth time. In addition, we are pleased to report that our EBITDAR for the month of May itself was positive for the first time since filing for Chapter 11, even excluding the $300 million in government assistance that we received in May. The company is confident that it will also meet the cumulative EBITDAR requirements for June. On the revenue side, we continue to face a difficult economic environment, but we are seeing positive signs for our business."
United's Executive Vice President - Customer, John P. Tague said, "Improving revenue is our foremost priority as we move to leverage the cost effectiveness that United is building into its business model. This includes customer-focused service improvements and carefully targeted marketing programs. For example, this month United became the first major U.S. carrier to announce the introduction of in-flight passenger e-mail access in our domestic market. We also introduced the 'Fly Three, Fly Free' advertising and marketing campaign that has resulted in a number of registered participants that has far exceeded our expectations. We are encouraged by the steady demand against rising yields that we are currently experiencing."
United continued its strong operational performance. The company recorded its best May performance ever, including a departure completion rate of 99.7%, on-time departures of 77% and arrivals within 14 minutes of schedule of 86%.

 

[737nCH11]

One small correction. Piney said he was going to fly UAL in Sept. Maybe he will be a convert.

 

[737nCH11]

767jetz,

Do you seem to notice a pattern here... Avek, ITRADE, ChipMunn, and PineyBob are all USAirways posters. They only make their way over to the UAL board to bash. Hmmmm, there has got to be an ignore button around here somewhere.