LCC is the biggest loser today!

[usair_begins_with_u]

Wow, that Parker & Kirby really seem to know what they are doing...

 

[rvolkcpa]

Wow, that Parker & Kirby really seem to know what they are doing...

UAUA is down 29.5% and AMR is down 24.15%

 

[WHISPERJETT]

Wow, that Parker & Kirby really seem to know what they are doing...

Does that mean they ONLY get 178% bonus!!!!!My heart breaks for them.

 

[freedom]

It amazes me that some of you read the business news but don’t follow the OIL ticker at the top of the page ….

Ladies and gentlemen , our stock is down because OIL is up …WAYYYYY up…..


If the price of oil were near the levels it was at when we first merged , we’d probably be doing fantastic business …


Service is unimportant , price is key now in the new recession …

 

[US1YFARE]

Service is unimportant , price is key now in the new recession ?

Bite your tongue. CO might hear you! Shhhhhh...oh wait, CO and WN have the strongest balance sheets and they both treat their customer base well and their employees with respect...never mind.

 

[flybynite]

The oil futures traders are the new terrorists. :down:

 

[freedom]

Don’t forget the HUMVEE drivers as well , I thought I saw bin laden riding in one yesterday laughing ….

 

[jimcfs]

The oil futures traders are the new terrorists. :down:

This is probably the best (and most truthful) post I've read anywhere in a long long time. Kudos flybynite.

 

[gaucho99]

Would now be a good time to buy LCC stock? It can't go much lower. One of two things will happen. You will either lose it all in a chapter 11 filing or double your money with a merger announcement.

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

I don't care who you are-$130 oil and up will catch up to any airline, eventually.

Free food in Y and glassware up front only works for so long.

SWA has done very well for years w/o either one.

I wonder if all FFs move to CO will there be enough seats to accommodate all of them?

The prime motivator seems to be price vs. convenience for FFs. As "VanTheMan" often seems to be saying - I'll pay the Big fare for business and get it back when traveling for pleasure(seems to even out in the end-in his case a sort of self subsidy).

Even seemingly well run airlines like AA are feeling the heat and I would guess that CO is not immune to the same environmental pressures.

 

[luvn737s]

The oil futures traders are the new terrorists. :down:

Huh? They aren't the ones hungry for oil. Plus if the government would stop handing out money the dollar would strengthen and the cost for oil would drop considerably. When would now be a good time to have a decent manufacturing base in this country and reasonable trade policies.

My guess is the biggest transformation to the airline business will be the abandonment of fragmentation and scope from the landscape of organized labor. You will see an airline like US buy UAL and run it exclusively as a stand-alone international carrier. US will be the domestic carrier and each side will operate independently. Contraction or expansion will be based on the current market conditions. Also, I predict an end to strict seniority systems and the real possibility of pilots being hired into the left seat from other airlines based on qualifications rather than tenure only. I predict the initial and upgrade costs to be borne by the pilot, but that a boiler plate training progam be implemented across all US carriers so that qualifications are largely transferrable from carrier to carrier. There will be basically one way to operate a B737, one way to operate an Airbus, etc.

We should all be ready for massive changes in the future.

 

[jimntx]

The oil futures traders are the new terrorists. :down:

No, we can all thank that paragon of Republican virtues, Richard Nixon, for the current mess. Back when he was POTUS and the good ole USofA was the biggest consumer of oil by far, Tricky Dick forced the OPEC nations to price the sale of crude oil in US dollars. Since then, no matter who you are you have to have dollars to buy oil. At the time it seemed like a canny move and it further strengthened the dollar because a demand for oil was preceded by a demand for the dollars to pay for said oil.

Today, because the dollar is not worth much anymore, the sellers of crude oil must price the oil higher to get the same buying power out of their dollars that they used to get when the dollar was strong. Right now the dollar is worth about half what it was not that long ago. If you divide $130 by 2, you get the true purchasing power of the $130 that OPEC is getting for that oil.

Now, I'm not saying that rank speculation in the oil futures markets is not playing a role in the current price of crude oil, nor is the increase in demand from China, India, and other countries totally discounted, but the underlying culprit is the weakness of the U.S. dollar.

If we still manufactured hard goods in this country and were self-sufficient in other areas the dollar could improve. A perfect example of the fix we are in...my brother is an OTR truck driver. He recently delivered a load of steel construction beams to PITTSBURGH, PA. Seems they ain't made there no more.

 

[flybynite]

You are not too much off the mark. Tricky Dick left us with a pile of doo-doo.

And if the dollar was strong, we'd be paying closer to 65 to 70 dollars a barrel, which is what we were paying a little over a year ago.

I don't think there is enough oversight by the SEC in the commodities markets.

 

[Ignacio]

And if the dollar was strong, we'd be paying closer to 65 to 70 dollars a barrel, which is what we were paying a little over a year ago.

If the dollar were stronger, wouldn't that cause more companies to move over seas?

Wouldn't a company move production, or outsource production, to a country with a weak currency and buy them foriegn products as opposed to "Made in the USA" products? .


I would think if gas prices are so bad, you'd just drill in Alaska. Polar Bears be damned.

 

[BuffaloJoe]

The oil futures traders are the new terrorists. :down:

Yeah, Named Bush and Cheney!