State of the Airlines

Thursday, January 27, 2005

NEWS: United Airlines Earnings Land with a Thud

United Airlines announced a 4th loss of $634 million underperforming versus analyst estimates that the airline would lose $629 million. Hey, whats a few million here and there. United points to fuel cost a primary cause...no surprise. But this poor performance is second only to Delta's whopping $2.2 billion dollar loss in the 4th quarter. Yet I remain far more concerned with United's ability to remain solvent than I do Delta's. Delta is already working on a new business plan, United is still in the cost cutting phase. Too much to do, too little time.