ULCC Hits New Low
10-08-2024, 04:28 AM
#81
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2013
Position: A320
Posts: 733
in addition to that, Spirit had over 60 planes down for an extended period for geared engine issues.....
debt isn't the bigger issue.... having the planes (revenue generators) down is what killed them. Debt is fine if the money is coming in. AA has a higher debt ratio than Spirit, it just has the revenue streams to support it.. for now.
debt isn't the bigger issue.... having the planes (revenue generators) down is what killed them. Debt is fine if the money is coming in. AA has a higher debt ratio than Spirit, it just has the revenue streams to support it.. for now.
10-08-2024, 08:01 AM
#82
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2021
Posts: 1,341
10-10-2024, 03:46 AM
#83
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Nov 2015
Posts: 1,538
The "ulcc model" didn't get spirit to this point, debt killed them. Spirit borrowed $2 billion to survive covid, F9 did not. I am not touting F9's business model, I am just saying spirit went bananas on borrowing money and like a long list of dozens of other airlines over the past several decades it came back to end them. You might be surprised to see who has balance sheet nearly as bad (in some cases worse) than Spirit. I think there is another debt driven merger/acquisition in the works outside of a potential F9-CH11NK.
10-10-2024, 06:07 AM
#84
Prime Minister/Moderator
Joined APC: Jan 2006
Position: Engines Turn Or People Swim
Posts: 40,205
AA probably had a little scare with covid. Absent .gov aid I think they would have flamed out financially in summer 2020.
10-10-2024, 06:28 AM
#85
It's 5 o'clock somewhere
Joined APC: Oct 2020
Posts: 2,215
Nobody was flying and the airlines were all hemmoraging millions of dollars per day. This is one of the most specious arguments I've ever seen on here.
The only airline that really had a chance to win that was Allegiant because unlike most airlines they own most of their planes outright and parking them costs very little and greatly cuts costs. Also allegiant customers are a unique breed and just want cheap transportation from nowhere to nowhere. We actually did quite well during the rona with the exception of Orlando and Las Vegas (closed) because people liked bypassing major hubs and taking direct flights to and from small airports with minimal exposure to germs.
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