Originally Posted by DHAST
I'm fairly certain that "stick it to United" was part of the plan. One of the things that is for certain though, is that sticking with UA under UA's terms would have been met with the same death wish they're currently facing. If you're going to get shot anyway, shouldn't you at least die running?
Even with the assumption that DH could not survive the 'new' deal with UA (which I have never have bought into - somehow Mesa seems to be able to work within these 'onerous' post-BK UA terms)...the brain trust in Sterling fought tooth and nail at the start of this adventure to make sure the folks at Mesa didn't acquire them to continue to use DH assets at IAD to perform exactly the same thing they had already been doing at IAD.
And, oh by the way, this would have actually given DH stockholders something for their investment instead of the worthless paper they are now left with.
11/17/05 - Mesa Air 4Q Profit Increases 40 Percent
PHOENIX (AP) - Regional carrier Mesa Air Group Inc. said Wednesday that its fiscal fourth-quarter profit grew 40 percent as passenger traffic rose moderately during the period.
Quarterly income jumped to $15 million, or 36 cents per share, from $10.7 million, or 25 cents, the year before. On an adjusted basis, earnings were 35 cents per share, above the average view of 31 cents per share from analysts polled by Thomson Financial.
Operating revenue totaled $309.1 million, a 19 percent increase from $260 million a year earlier.
The airline flew 1.69 billion revenue passenger miles -- a paying customer flown one mile -- up 8.3 percent from 1.56 billion last year. Capacity increased 10.8 percent, but load factor, or occupancy, slipped to 72 percent from 73.7 percent.
For the year, profit more than doubled to $56.9 million, or $1.35 per share, from $26.3 million, or 63 cents, in 2004. Adjusted earnings of $1.31 per share topped analysts' estimate for $1.25 per share. Revenue expanded 27 percent to $1.14 billion.
The fools built a business plan based on spite sprinkled with a heavy dose of betting on a UA liquidation (or at least a pull-back from IAD).
I do feel bad for the DH workforce that went along for this fools ride...