mke9499

Another choice quote from Brophy:

"We're holding our own..."

http://www.wisn.com/travelgetaways/19005232/detail.html

flyYX

Will we ever know if they make a profit if they are a private company? It will be good if they do make a profit and TPG is able to take them to the next step in the rebuilding process.

newsmanhoss

Brophy says he is encouraged by the "number of advance bookings."

Well, of course he can say that. Without any solid evidence available to the public, how are we to know if that's really the case? I suppose we should give him the benefit of the doubt.

Based on how optimistic he is in this interview, I don't want to hear any more gloom and doom from Midwest. Hopefully they are on track to turn a profit despite the current industry challenges. Maybe that will help them solidify their plans for the future and not turn into a DL feeder, as some on this board mistakenly believe.

BlueHorseShoe2000

Based on some reliable insiders at Midwest, advance bookings have been pretty strong. According to these sources, there were several days this month when Midwest actually set some internal records for single day bookings.

Of course, this doesn't tell us anything about the company's overall profitability. However, considering the state of the economy and the increased competition in Milwaukee this summer, I'd agree with Brophy that Midwest appears to be coping well.

MKE 1K

Oh come on now! Someone needs to be the pessimist and voice of reason so let it be me. Do you really think that the main spin doctor for the airline is going to have an interview and tell exactly how bad things are. The fuel bubble he mentions burst shortly before they made their cuts. Granted it reduction was in the planning stages when fuel started to get better, but maybe they should have looked at everything again before making the massive reductions they did. Everywhere else on the internet are reports on how airlines are fairing worse than after 9/11 and he says that they are holding their own. In the immortal words of Ronald Reagan "Trust, but verify". Unfortunately since they are privately held there is no verify here. He can say what he wants, but there are too many events going on that say the opposite, union issues, 717's going away, increased Air Tran competition, DL merger, etc. That is life and it is doom and gloom. There are just too many factors pointing them in the wrong direction. He can say that advance bookings are up but if they are selling all of those seats at cut rate prices, how does that help? Just because the load factors are up does not mean that the revenue per mile is also. Time will tell and we will see who was speculating the correct way. As I have said before, I have enjoyed flying on them almost from their start and wish them well, but at the same time I am a realist and can smell a line of BS a mile away. And I am smelling it now.

flyYX

Along with you, Spampurse and Hazelrah. If we didn't have you guys this forum would be way boring!

tvnwz

As a business owner I can take your doom and gloom senerio and turn it upside down:

1) union issues: Fewer union members mean less operating expense.
2) 717s going away: Sheading high cost leases means less operating expense. Plus they get a cash infusion from Republic.
3) increased Air Tran competition. Could be a problem, but some of it Midwest was losing money on anyway. Net gain cutting back unprofitable routes or right sizing routes. Taking the MD-80's out means less operating expense=gain. Other routes could be problematic, but we do not know yet.
4) DL merger: I fail to see how that would adversly affect Midwest since they will have codesharing.

Tim34

And me. Don't forget me

hazelrah

Well said, I could not have put its better. Think about it, "We are holding our own," what the heck does that mean? We can make payroll? We can pay our suppliers? We have stemmed the hemmoraghing?, on the bright side, we have had strong profits? I mean, I don't know but without any specifics , it's BS.

Risk and luck are elements in business. Midwest got caught on the wrong side by the high fuel prices. It was very fortuitious that the Republic E-170s became available.

mke9499

Keep in mind that advance bookings are like interest-free loans.

newsmanhoss

Yes. That's what Brophy and Hoeksema did for most of last year. Everytime they opened their mouths, it was to talk about how bad things are, and that they were going to cut flights and lay off employees.

In fact, they got so good at delivering bad news that they told us over and over again, in little bits and pieces. Do you remember all of the negative news coverage, and the op-ed from Jay Sorenson in the Journal Sentinel talking about how Midwest was going to fade away and AirTran was going to become our new hometown-ish carrier?

newsmanhoss

Totally agree. Just don't call him hazelnut!!!! He'll get really ticked off!

Tim34, no way we could forget about you! You always know how to spark a good discussion.

hazelrah

That's all right, I'm over you not-a-man-hoss

MikeMpls

Unless you have to give it back because you've canceled tons of flights and aren't willing to rebook people. Then it's a good idea to have the loan sitting in the bank.

RSVP

That still may happen. I've moved my business over to the C concourse and have found it quite enjoyable.