State of the Airlines

Saturday, January 15, 2005

NEWS: US Airways - Monetary Magicians?

US Airways...somehow...some way...has convinced GECAS that they have come up with the additional $100 million in savings or cash as required by their agreement. GE Capital owns around half of the US Airways fleet so failure to meet this obligation could have been devasting. But something is not right here. Eric Randy, GE spokesman, said...and I quote..."They've let us know they've identified the savings they need. We'll be talking about the details." Huh? How's that again..."They've let us know...We'll be talking about the details"? GECAS has a history of being lenient with struggling airlines but I find this kinda shocking. I guess I just assumed that there might be something a little more tangible to substantiate something like....oh....let me see...$100 million. Apparently finance works on some sort of inverse proportionality principal where the more money that's involved the looser the rules get. In any case this all smells a little smokey...as in smoke and mirrors. And its STILL not enough to save US Airways.