Some Good News

[PHLFlyer]

US Airways secures $950 Million

This is very good news on the liquidity front. Many analysts were very concerned about this as well. If you have watched Doug in the Crew News sessions he has talked a lot about our liquidity position and how he was somewhat worried about it.

This should help all of is in knowing there are people out there who are confident about our survival.

For those who feel our management team knows nothing, this proves we are in good hands.

Also, and most importantly, all the employees should be proud of our hard work in the operational turn around of our airline. This financing may not have been possible if the folks out there with money didn't feel we were worth saving.

 

[nycbusdriver]

US Airways secures $950 Million

This is very good news on the liquidity front. Many analysts were very concerned about this as well. If you have watched Doug in the Crew News sessions he has talked a lot about our liquidity position and how he was somewhat worried about it.

This should help all of is in knowing there are people out there who are confident about our survival.

For those who feel our management team knows nothing, this proves we are in good hands.

Also, and most importantly, all the employees should be proud of our hard work in the operational turn around of our airline. This financing may not have been possible if the folks out there with money didn't feel we were worth saving.

I must admit that Doug did a great job pulling off this refinancing in the middle of this economic crisis. Bravo to him. I will agree that he has the money skills necessary to keep this airline afloat under extraordinarily difficult circumstance.

That being said, he and his Tempe team are operationally far less than what is really needed to move this airline forward. His operations staff is pretty well clueless when it comes to operating an international carrier, possibly soon to be a global presence. There have been some positives, though. Philly has improved quite a bit since last year's summer meltdown. But they certainly need to stop degrading the service at every opportunity and quit alienating our high-yield business clientele, because those folks will sustain us through thick and thin if we take care of their needs and concerns.

Finally, Tempe needs to start valuing their employees rather than seeing them as liabilities to be dealt with. The ONLY reason USAirways is still in existence is because the front line employees refused to give up on it. At some point there needs to be more than empty lip service of gratitude from Tempe.

 

[whatkindoffreshhell]

Whatever happened to us320pilot and the 'unencumbered' billions resulting from this UCT?

Does it mention anywhere if this new financing is debtor-in-possession?

 

[BoeingBoy]

Considering that the cash, cash equivalents, and short term investments totaled $1.277 Billion at the end of the 3rd quarter and the Citi loan requires $1.25 Billion, it's no wonder that Doug was nervous about liquidity.

Jim

ps - the "headline" number reported for "cash" was $2.3 Billion with $0.7 Billion restricted, but the only way I can see that they came up with that figure is by adding up almost all the non-property and equipment assets on the balance sheet.

 

[wings396]

I must also give Parker & Co. a lot of credit for pulling this off. I know he had commented about it during several of the Crew News sessions, and I'm glad they got it done. Hopefully at some point they can be more focused on running a good airline instead of dealing with financing issues. I realize that this had to get done ahead of anything else.

 

[PHLFlyer]

But they certainly need to stop degrading the service at every opportunity and quit alienating our high-yield business clientele, because those folks will sustain us through thick and thin if we take care of their needs and concerns.

Finally, Tempe needs to start valuing their employees rather than seeing them as liabilities to be dealt with. The ONLY reason USAirways is still in existence is because the front line employees refused to give up on it. At some point there needs to be more than empty lip service of gratitude from Tempe.

I definitely agree, to a point.

I'm not convinced our management sees us as liabilities. But let's be honest, we have all come across employees that can be considered liabilities. They are thankfully not the majority, but there are plenty of employees out there who don't respect our customers not to mention fellow employees. No amount of money will ever make these people happy. But this argument can go around again and again and nothing will change people's minds about management.

In my opinion, our management is trying to find a successful business model that can sustain us through the down cycles in our industry. We are all tired of not knowing what will hit us next. Many unpopular policies towards our best customers or employees are meant for our financial health and inturn our job security. Some will be hits, others will be misses.

I do believe our management has marketing issues. Our brand is confusing and obviously does alienate our best customers.

I would love to think we could please everyone but I'm not sure that will ever be possible. Hopefully a healthy balance can be achieved.

 

[BoeingBoy]

In my opinion, our management is trying to find a successful business model that can sustain us through the down cycles in our industry.

Hopefully they're not looking in the wrong place. With yield less than WN, despite the fees that were implemented before/during the 3rd quarter, US depends on load factor to make up the difference. Both Parker and Isom have said that US is using low fares to fill the airplanes.

Which brings us to cost, much higher than WN (~50% higher), so low fares aren't the answer.

Jim

 

[FWAAA]

For the first nine months of 2008, US has reported the smallest yield and RASM improvements among the six legacy airlines. That's not good news. Apparently, the passengers US is able to attract are not willing to pay as large an increase in fares and fees as the passengers at the other legacies. Wonder why that is?

 

[PHLFlyer]

For the first nine months of 2008, US has reported the smallest yield and RASM improvements among the six legacy airlines. That's not good news. Apparently, the passengers US is able to attract are not willing to pay as large an increase in fares and fees as the passengers at the other legacies. Wonder why that is?

This is cause for concern and again goes back to marketing and our brand. I'm not sure our model to be a full-service, low-cost airline is realistic. I wonder if the two can really go hand-in-hand?

 

[freedom]

 

[BoeingBoy]

This is cause for concern and again goes back to marketing and our brand. I'm not sure our model to be a full-service, low-cost airline is realistic. I wonder if the two can really go hand-in-hand?

They can - HP was just such an airline pre-merger. Unfortunately, what happened was that a high cost airline merged with a low cost airline to produce a high cost airline (highest mainline CASM in the industry). On the flip side, a high yield airline was merged with a low yield airline to produce a low yield airline (WN now has higher yields than US mainline).

US is reduced to using load factor to bolster RASM but both Parker and Isom have said "We're having to use low fares to fill the airplanes."

Jim

 

[PHLFlyer]

Republic Loans US Airways $35 Million

And the money keeps rolling in.

 

[FWAAA]

Republic Loans US Airways $35 Million

And the money keeps rolling in.

That money was included in the $950 million.

 

[PHLFlyer]

That money was included in the $950 million.

Ah ha. Thx

 

[UPNAWAY]

For the first nine months of 2008, US has reported the smallest yield and RASM improvements among the six legacy airlines. That's not good news. Apparently, the passengers US is able to attract are not willing to pay as large an increase in fares and fees as the passengers at the other legacies. Wonder why that is?

This question was asked on the call they said it was due to International exposure (lack of). They expect that to reverse as International demand softens and Domestic Yield goes uo due to the capacity cuts.