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Air lines in trouble?

kimberkidkimberkid Member Posts: 8,858 ✭✭✭
edited September 2001 in General Discussion
Air lines in financial trouble after less than 1 week of canceled flights and loosing a total of 4 planes ... something smells funny to me!All the money that they charge for a flight, reserved 30 days in advance cost me $215 4 years ago, $438 last monday same airline, same destination, same flight plan, same time of year. I dont know about anyone else but my salary hasn't doubled in the last 4 years.
GUN CONTROL: If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention!kimberkid@gunbroker.zzn.com
If you really desire something, you'll find a way ?
? otherwise, you'll find an excuse.
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Comments

  • LowriderLowrider Member Posts: 6,587
    edited November -1
    I don't buy it. They've claimed to be losing money for years. Now they're just trying to cash in on the New York bombings.Same with Boeing. One week after the New York disaster they announce that they're laying off 20,000 to 30,000 Seattle workers. They claim the terrorist bombing has had a catastrophic effect on the airlines which then spun-off onto the aircraft industry.All in one week?Horse manure. Oh yeah, Boeing would also like to have a few billion taxpayer-funded bailout bucks.I see little difference between this and the 5 dollar per gallon gas stations.
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  • Mark IIMark II Member Posts: 247 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Don't forget that if this develops into war, the airlines and the aircraft manufacturers will be making plenty of money. They might be announcing the layoffs and financial troubles to help slow the economy, making a war that much more likely.
    "To meet with ill fortune is to meet with good fortune. To meet with submission is to meet an enemy."
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  • RembrandtRembrandt Member Posts: 4,486 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Rumors are ciculating that Osma Bin Ladin owned quite a lot of airline stock and "sold short" knowing that the stock would drop after the attack. Airline stock dropped 40% Monday, meaning that he could have made $40 on every $100 invested....investigations are looking at unusually heavy selling and tracking this down. He could have made multi-millions on that deal....Insurance stock is also being looked at.
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  • royc38royc38 Member Posts: 2,235 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I agree with Lowrider. I put them in the same category with those pus drinkers that raised the gas prices on 9/11/01. Can you imagine your business crying to the government because your sales are down. They are milking this with both hands and one leg.
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  • landislandis Member Posts: 230 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Airlines run on very thin profit margins,(believe it or not), and break even points are around 60 percent, below which they lose money. Load factors have been around 40 percent last week, which, compounded with huge operating expenses, use up cash reserves very quickly. Most airlines, according to USA Today, cary about 70 days of operating cash at 50 percent loads. After that it is Chapter 11 "reorginization", and not too long after that Chapter 7 liquidation. All airlines have announced layoffs. All of them. Midway has gone under. It won't be the last before this is all over.
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  • j2k22j2k22 Member Posts: 329 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Landis- thanks for injecting a few facts into the steam here. I don't think that people are considering how much all this extra "security" is going to cost the airlines (immediately) and the consumer (ultimately).
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  • twinstwins Member Posts: 647 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Don't forget that some were already about to go under before this happened. The gov't is going to give them tons of money. I think they should be looking at the before and after to make sure they are not just giving a free ride. After all, most business' will not get a bailout when they fold in a recession, depression or a soft market. The extra securtiy should never have been extra to begin with and is the safety of the customer not a top consideration for them anyway. That should already be included in the cost. Maybe they can have seperate flights, ones with security and bargain rate flights without. Of course that would never go, wait it has for years. customs was a joke when I flew into O'Hare and I'm sure until now, it still was.
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  • LowriderLowrider Member Posts: 6,587
    edited November -1
    Yeah, well, even with some of the airlines losing money for the past few years they haven't failed to reward their overpaid CEO's with big year-end bonuses.I think before the taxpayers hand a bunch of cash to these companies there should be some adjustment of the salaries of their top people. I'll be damned if I want my tax dollars going toward the fifty million dollar annual salary of some airlines chief.
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