AE cancels pilot training
Dec 15, 2011, 12:44 pm
#31
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,528
Not really. Even if Eagle is profitable for AMR, it might not be for a buyer. The mainline carriers who contract out business to regionals demand lower prices and they -- the mainline carriers, not the regional subcontractors -- get to pocket the difference.
The winner in an Eagle spinoff is not the customers or the company's buyer. It's AMR.
The winner in an Eagle spinoff is not the customers or the company's buyer. It's AMR.
Dec 15, 2011, 12:56 pm
#32
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Location: LAX; AA EXP, MM; HH Gold
Posts: 31,789
Two FAs work each flight (more than 50 seats), but each airplane requires multiple crews, since pilots fly no more than 100 hours per month and no more than 1000 hours each year.
Dec 15, 2011, 1:08 pm
#33
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: LFT
Programs: AA Plat, lots of AA, AS, DL, UA miles, former top level CO Elite (sigh...)
Posts: 10,795
Indeed. The regional airline business is not what it used to be. AMR has had a difficult time selling off Eagle for whatever reason.
Take SkyWest, Inc., for example, which is the parent company of SkyWest Airlines, Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) and ExpressJet (ASA and ExpressJet are in the process of being merged). All together, these three regional airlines operate nearly 700 aircraft, which makes SkyWest Inc. the largest regional air carrier in the world. But what about profitability?
SkyWest Inc. reported a third quarter profit of $116,000.
Take SkyWest, Inc., for example, which is the parent company of SkyWest Airlines, Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) and ExpressJet (ASA and ExpressJet are in the process of being merged). All together, these three regional airlines operate nearly 700 aircraft, which makes SkyWest Inc. the largest regional air carrier in the world. But what about profitability?
SkyWest Inc. reported a third quarter profit of $116,000.
Dec 15, 2011, 1:23 pm
#34
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Location: LAX; AA EXP, MM; HH Gold
Posts: 31,789
AA waited at least a decade too long to unload Eagle, as regionals were worth hundreds of millions of dollars to CO and DL when they unloaded theirs. For several years, CO contributed stock in XJT to its pension funds in lieu of contributions of cash. That helped preserve CO's liquidity in the wake of September 11, 2001. The pension funds then sold the XJT stock to the unsuspecting public and we all know how that played out.
DL sold ASA to Skywest immediatly prior to its 2005 bankruptcy for a total of $425 million but couldn't find a buyer for Comair.
If unloading Eagle ever made sense, the right time would have been in the late 1990s, when fuel was cheap and the RJs were on the way. AA might have been able to sell it for a billion dollars or more in 1998 or 1999.
DL sold ASA to Skywest immediatly prior to its 2005 bankruptcy for a total of $425 million but couldn't find a buyer for Comair.
If unloading Eagle ever made sense, the right time would have been in the late 1990s, when fuel was cheap and the RJs were on the way. AA might have been able to sell it for a billion dollars or more in 1998 or 1999.
Dec 17, 2011, 2:28 pm
#35
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,528
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/luftha...-of-bankruptcy
Eagle might be planning to return/cancel leases on turboprops?
Eagle might be planning to return/cancel leases on turboprops?