Skyone

Yeah, and when Delta went into bankruptcy, I believe (old memory) they had something like $15 B. But their debt was greater, something like $20 B.

CE750

They had 16.9B in debt at the time of the BK, and exited with about 7B.. the were also given 2.0B in DIP financing from Morgan Stanley and others. The tax payer took the brunt of most of the rest. They had almost no cash reserves at that time.

Spongebob

In the competitive market the airlines are in, the consumer gets to set the price. With so many choices and few differentiations between the product (seems to be bad service, or bad service with a bad attitude), price of service is going to win. At some point, company's will fall out - the goal is to absorb a short term loss until the producers (airlines) are limited and they regain price control back from the consumer. You can see this happening in Europe now, and recently with fuel surcharges, especially in cargo. If you think differentiation doesn't matter, look at the success of Southwest (rarely the cheapest tickets), EOS, and NetJets (every fractional owner is a lost passenger who was paying more than economy).

The thing about Skybus is that since they're the sole providers in the cities they serve, they could charge what they want as long as they made it more worthwhile for the customer to fly them than drive to another airport. I'm guessing the $10/$20 fare is just to generate buzz until they're known then they'll start ratcheting the fares.

FWIW, when I lived in Ventura County it was worth the extra $75 to fly Skywest out of Oxnard to LAX and connect from there than to drive down to LAX (taking the 101 and 405 the two of the most congested roads in the country), pay $20 a day for parking and wait 2 1/2 hours to get through security. That's where the domestic growth is.

It'll be interesting to see who's left as the economy winds down - without a 9/11 event, the gov't won't step in with cash, and the capital market is dry as desert wadi right now. Some are going to go under, for good. My guess is those with cash on hand are the best positioned.

Sorry for the economics lecture,
Spongebob

Phantom Flyer

Gentlemen:

I apologize for this response but I simply don't get it. Skybus's CEO has resigned, the company has reduced the flight schedule significantly and is going through the same financial crunch as every other carrier, the price of oil and the future of crude is slowly escalating and now the pilot group wants to organize ???

Perhaps this is an effort to kill the Golden Goose but if the pilot group wants to bring in either IBT or ALPA, I would think the effect on the company would probably be fatal. Why not wait until they are at least standing on their feet financially before attempting to organize ? Having had experience with both the IBT and ALPO, has anyone considered an "in-house" union ? What good can either of these labor unions do that can't be accomplished by a solidified pilot group ? The "in-house" route seems to work at American, UPS and Southwest. If one thinks that ALPA can help, look at the disgruntled pilot group at U.S. Airways/America West and think before you vote.

Just my 2 cents...but I've been there and have the shirt, and it was not worth the 3.25% of my salary.

G'Day Mates

CE750

Timing for IBT isn't the best, that's for sure.

PCL_128

It doesn't matter. Thankfully Skybust will be gone in short order. I give them till the end of the year.

Justdoinmyjob

Funny, I've been a member of ALPA for over 12 years and have NEVER paid more than 1.95%.

SmoothOnTop

Does 3.25 pre-tax become 1.95% net?

Doesn't matter.

Didn't B6 have crappy wages at upstart?

Then after the greenbacks, or bluebacks started rolling in, then the wage jump followed?

It's just that B6 couldn't advertise the pay bumps until after going public (you know, hide the new labor costs from the investors, so to speak).

Don't the SX pilots know the game?

Maybe they don't know they're playing..

My most humble opinion.....

Thedude

In house unions can work but you need a fairly large pilot force to cover the LEGAL expenses. Legal representation can get very expensive very fast.

Justdoinmyjob

1.95% pre tax.