There have been a lot of airlines that have run out money lately and are going out of business.

Aloha ceased operations last week.

ATA ceased operations last week.

Champion Air will stop flying in May.

Today is the last day for Skybus, which I don't think ever made it to Las Vegas with their very cheap fares.

As a Columbus based airline, the Skybus is front page news today.

Many passangers had no notice they were going to be stuck with no return flight. A story says a pilot on one of the last flights last night from Columbus to Biloxi made the announcement before takeoff and the official announcement saying he couldn't take off in good consience knowing that some families might be stranded. They were given 20 extra minutes to decide whether they wanted to board.

I know they bought all new airplanes that have only been flying since May of 2007. So if anyone's in the market, there may be some good deals available! How about Talk Vegas Airlines?

lets bring back hooters air!! jmt,lee,the senator, in hot orange shorts doing the bev cart,frightening!!

I don't think that is going to happen.
on a serious note, with fuel prices on the rise, I suspect we will be seeing more of these smaller airlines going bankrupt. I beleive to go into the airline buisness, to start off, it must help to be a little crazy. Or have very deep pockets!

Since the days of Braniff II, it's been no secret in the industry that Airbus will pretty much give you a fleet of A-319 or A-320 planes, plus parts and support. They will defer payments for years. If Skybus is going down after less than a year, their business model was seriously flawed. Anyone could see that though. Jet Blue has a much better business model. They are just starting to feel the pinch of paying for their planes. Other airlines from Braniff to Indepence just milked it out to the bitter end.

You won't see a start up carrier with a fleet of new Boeings unless they have seriously deep pockets.

I was in Phoenix last week and saw something really funny and sad at the same time. There were 4 ATA planes lined up, one after the other and there were "For Sale" signs on them! I'm surprised we didn't see any photos of that in the news.

Sun Country is in trouble as well and has cancelled several charter rentals becuase they can't afford to put fuel in them. I'd consider them busted. When they cannot afford to rent planes to fly people places that kind of puts you out of business.

Sorry, should have mentioned that NW and Delta are again in merger talks. Things are very quiet other than they are now looking at away around the pilots union who refuse to negotiate a deal without senority issues resolved.

My thinking is they have to merge its not an if anymore. Both sides have had a lot of opportunity to walk away and I think they know the inevitable.

For us here in Minneapolis if they merge I hope they put the headquarters in Atlanta and close the one here. Then maybe, just maybe the airport commission will take some gates away and let Jet Blue, Southwest, etc. fly into here so we can get some deals. We pay the highest airfar in the country here.

Frontier, another carrier just starting to make payments on their Airbus fleet is in serious financial trouble. Inside scoop says they did not make this months fuel payments and is trying to break up the payments into half now and half later.

Breaking news: Delta pilots agree to new contract clearing the way for the expected merger next week. What gets interesting is in preliminary talks Delta wanted the headquarters to be in Atlanta not in Bloomington, Minnesota.

The other interesting thing is the State loaned NW like 40m several years ago. The deal was NW had to agree to not move their headquarters out of Minnesota to get the money. They took it.

I just hope the clowns on the airport commission move to take gates away from NW once the merger and move is complete. Right now they control about 85% of all the gates so no one else can come in and compete with them.

Frontier just filed for bamkruptcy potection while it reorganizes. Look for AirTran to be next.

Does that mean you'd avoid booking a flight on Airtran in the near future - say a month out?

JMT...your scaring me!
From your heads up on frontier to it filed for bankruptsy protection was 3 days!

Kes...if everything holds true...I wouldn't book aittran anymore then 2 days out!!!!

Lee, it's just from being in the industry. If you told me not to buy a 14 SEER 3 ton American Standard air conditioner, I wouldn't buy one. As for Frontier, there was a rumor that the pilots paychecks were bouncing. That pretty much sealed the deal.

AirTran is hurting very bad. Their stock was in the toilet and lost 35% today. I don't know their future, but I think it will be different from some of the others. They aren't flying an Airbus fleet and they have a good route structure. Their only serious competition is Delta. Most people have a firm opinion on AirTran and Delta, so it's not like they compete for each others business.

I would hope that AirTran can file for reorganization. The other option is that another carrier will scoop them up in a merger. The saddest result is for another carrier to pick and choose the remains after shutdown.

It is sad because the employees get laid off. It's also sad because it really is the best way to do a merger. Why take over the less than adequate facilities, the disgruntled employees, the bad management, and the debt, when you can wait a little longer and hand pick the employees that you really want, the routes, the gates, the jets, the facilities, etc.

I predict it's gonna get ugly at AirTrans pretty soon, and maybe it will get better after that...maybe not. Ugly is coming. I think a month might be a good guess. I'd take the under. I don't see them dragging it out over 3 months.

jmt-you were right about alaska cancelling some flights to seattle but they were all md-80's and i knew that our flight was on a 737-400 so we were on time and a smooth flight uphill to seattle- c u 6/29 thru 7/4

We saw this same kind of domino collapse in the steel industry.

On the low cost airlines, they have already minimized personnel and airframe costs. This leaves fuel out there. It is unrealistic to think you can sell flights that were marginally profitable at $2/gal jet fuel at the same price with $4/gal fuel and think you will stay in business for long.

I understand that Southwest made a huge play several years ago in hedging fuel. I would think that those futures have to be near expiring and that may result in trouble for them.

Eric

The Southwest fuel hedge is not really expiring. I think a good term may be tapering off. The official numbers are....

2008 is 65% hedged at $49/barrel; 2009 is over 50% hedged at $51/barrel; 2010 is over 25% hedged at $63/barrel; 2011 is over 15% hedged at $64/barrel; 2012 is 15% hedged at $63/barrel.

AirTran says that fuel is a really big issue to them. They are changing their route structure to the more profitable routes. They are also selling jets and cancelling orders for new jets. Lastly, they are having a stock offering at $3.50 per share in a effort to raise about a $100 million.

IMHO, that's just about to the stage of being desperate. It might give them some cushion to hang on long enough for the new administration to knock the wind out of the sails of the gas companies and boost the economy.

JMT or anyone else...heard anything about USA3000?

No, but yesterday there were heavy rumors that Frontier is having a hard time scraping up money for this months rent, fuel, payroll, etc.

Frontier has been seeking a buyer/partner and have come up short. They submitted what they have to the courts this week. A judge could let it ride or shut it down today. I wouldn't make any long term plans with them. I suspect the judge will let it ride until they can't pay for fuel and wages. That shouldn't be too far down the road.

I hope this sort of thing isn't contagious - I just booked US Air (and Cher) for August. (I would have booked July however Cher's schedule didn't coincide with mine and I have been waiting long time to see that lady-pretty to look at, pretty to listen to and Captain of her own ship - what a gal!) I'll just have to settle for San Antonio in July. Round trip Air with US Air only ran $100 more (RT) than the last trip and I certainaly couldn't drive for that.

Wendell, I hope you are right. When I worked at Dallas Love Field, I heard business travelers talk about how they could drive to Houston or San Antonio cheaper and quicker than flying (after 9-11). I think airlines will be cutting back of frills and raising prices, yet still be cheaper than driving.

I suggest you keep an eye on USAir schedules. They are supposed to be making a lot of changes that affect LAS routes. I don't know when it is supposed to happen though.

It sounds like you have a fun trip scheduled.

Roger - good advice. We have been thinking of driving to Love and flying Southwest and it may come to that yet. Queston: Have you caught Cher or Rosanne since they have been playing Vegas??

I saw Rosanne a year or two ago at NYNY. Entertaining, yes. Quick wits, yes. Pleasing on the eyes, no...especially when she takes off her dress and does the last part of her show in a teddy. I never liked her show and when she did the Star Spangled Banner at the baseball game, that kinda sealed the deal that I would never support her. I do get free offers, so I might go see if her Sahara show is the same as it was at NYNY.

My little sister was in town recently and offered to take me to see Cher. I told her I didn't think she should spend that kind of money on that kind of show. So we saw Lena with her jazz band "The Cool Cats" for free. I think we both concluded that was a good move.

I don't see any reason why you should drive to Love Field to get to Vegas. Until USAir makes you angry enough to leave, stick with it. In your situation, there wouldn't be any advantages unless you saved enough on fares to justify it.

Latest USAirways news this morning. They are cutting their Las Vegas flight schedule in half on or around July 1. Additionally, they will start charging for ALL checked bags and charge $2 for all sodas, coffee, etc.

Wow - $2 for soda and coffee. I know that doesn't sound like much but it's the principal of the thing. I would think the LEAST they can give you is a free soda or coffee. Jeez.

They're also charging $15 for your first checked bag!

No one has scared me or ticked me off yet, so let's go to Vegas.

Wendell, Against my better judgement, I saw Rosanne at the Sahara last night. It was a different show than I saw at NYNY. Certainly not my form of entertainment and not worthy of a new topic from me. If you have some reason to like her, then you will probably like her show.