Gordo's Comments on CNBC

 
Old Dec 23, 2004, 8:26 am
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Gordo's Comments on CNBC

Yesterday Maria Bartiromo interviewed Gordon Bethune on CNBC.

His most interesting comment was that he wished that his passion/career had been in a different industry (...re the toughness of the aviation biz).

He did make one comment which interested me: The U.S. aviation industry could lose $5 billion this year while travelers pay $15 billion in flight-related taxes.

Are those numbers correct?

Happy Holidays from CLE.....STIL A HUB
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Old Dec 23, 2004, 8:33 am
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Originally Posted by Billiken
He did make one comment which interested me: The U.S. aviation industry could lose $5 billion this year while travelers pay $15 billion in flight-related taxes.
Obviously he's trying to position his agenda, but the taxes can be outrageous, especially on cheaper trips:

One of my upcoming tickets:
1 Adult $53.49
Taxes $30.41
Total Price $83.90

That's a 57% rate of taxation, and doesn't include any other taxes paid by CO (income taxes, payroll taxes on its employees, property taxes on facilities, etc. etc. etc.)

At the same time, we used to have a flat 10% tax years ago, and the majors lobbied for the current system (lower percentage + fees per segment). Their idea was to have a bigger tax impact on LCCs such as Southwest (back in the day, it took you 3-4 stops to fly transcon on WN so segment fees would hit them more), all while they got a break on their $2,000 tickets. Of course now fares have come down and WN sells many non-stop or 1-stop tickets.

So they do kind of deserve the tax scheme that they asked for.
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Old Dec 23, 2004, 8:48 am
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I'm guessing he's talking about the hidden taxes. While we see a lot of the taxes on our airline ticket, the airlines also pay a lot of taxes that we don't see.

Gordo talked somewhere at a Houston meeting, and on local radio they played the part where he was ranting about not being able to make a profit because of all the hidden taxes that carriers pay. If memory serves it was in response to a question about the Federal Gov't bailout following 9-11.

And the taxes ..... CO matched US's fares to YUL a couple of months ago ^ , but it still cost me $219 for a $139 ticket. And of course tomorrow's IAH-SEA-YYJ:

Fare $375.30
Taxes $80.99
Subtotal $456.29

Spending the holidays with family: Priceless

EmailKid
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Old Dec 23, 2004, 1:18 pm
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Does anyone else here think that Maria Bartiromo is the most beautiful woman on the planet?
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Old Dec 23, 2004, 1:47 pm
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Originally Posted by emailkid
And the taxes ..... CO matched US's fares to YUL a couple of months ago ^ , but it still cost me $219 for a $139 ticket. And of course tomorrow's IAH-SEA-YYJ:

Fare $375.30
Taxes $80.99
Subtotal $456.29
These examples are international -- Canadian taxes are definitely more than domestic ones, and there's probably not much Gordo can do to lobby against those.
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Old Dec 23, 2004, 3:40 pm
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Originally Posted by channa
These examples are international -- Canadian taxes are definitely more than domestic ones, and there's probably not much Gordo can do to lobby against those.
No, I'm talking about taxes that CO pays, not the ones we see listed on our tickets. I'm guessing we could find out what they are if we were to look at the annual report.

But yes, Canadian as well as taxes on flight to Mexico (and others) are higher than within the US. A good way to kill a MR.

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Old Dec 28, 2004, 4:19 am
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hmmmmm

Originally Posted by Elite Nomore
Does anyone else here think that Maria Bartiromo is the most beautiful woman on the planet?
OK slightly off topic... but yeah she is hot. She'll always be "The Money Honey" to a lot folks.
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Old Dec 28, 2004, 5:33 pm
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Originally Posted by Elite Nomore
Does anyone else here think that Maria Bartiromo is the most beautiful woman on the planet?
No. I don't see understand what the big deal is over her. I wouldn't look twice if I passed her on the street.
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Old Dec 29, 2004, 3:03 am
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Originally Posted by Billiken
Yesterday Maria Bartiromo interviewed Gordon Bethune on CNBC.

His most interesting comment was that he wished that his passion/career had been in a different industry (...re the toughness of the aviation biz).

He did make one comment which interested me: The U.S. aviation industry could lose $5 billion this year while travelers pay $15 billion in flight-related taxes.

Are those numbers correct?

Happy Holidays from CLE.....STIL A HUB
Yep......kinda like those telephone taxes that were temporary but have lasted around 100 years so far

BTW Billiken .... Hows COEX...err.. I mean CO treating you these days? The F seat next to me on Red Tail is still open but I know a few folks over at DL have been keeping a close eye on it
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Old Dec 29, 2004, 7:19 am
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Originally Posted by socrates
BTW Billiken .... Hows COEX...err.. I mean CO treating you these days? The F seat next to me on Red Tail is still open but I know a few folks over at DL have been keeping a close eye on it
socrates:

I scored 24 of 28 possible upgrades this year on CO mainline.
Requalified for Gold with 62 segments.

I'm sticking with CO. I know the RJs are creeping in like the Blob, but for most of my flights (CHI, STL, BNA) that's still better than connecting through DTW.



Happy New Year and Safe Travels,
Mark
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Old Dec 30, 2004, 8:51 am
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AP Story about bye-bye Bethune:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...customwire.htm
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