Southwest Leads Off Cranky Daily Earnings Day
Southwest announced its year-end and Q4 earnings today, with the carrier showing a net profit of $85 million for the quarter, giving it a final total of $977 million in the black for the year… when accounting for $2.7 billion in PSP and other government aid. Southwest’s outgoing CEO Gary Kelly stated that the strong Q4 was driven by leisure travel, a new credit card deal with Chase, and a bunch of other stuff that he didn’t pay attention to because he’s on the way out the door.
During the year, Southwest launched service to 14 new airports, some of which were places people wanted to go. It brought the B737 MAX back into service and joined the rest of the aviation world in allowing its fares to be purchased through GDS platforms. Q4 revenue was just over $5 billion, more than double the $2 billion in raked in during Q4 2020.
The airline is raising its minimum wage from $15 to $17 as it continues its hiring spree, using some of the $16.5 billion it has in liquidity on the pay raises. The rest of the $16.5 billion are being spent on a kick-ass retirement party for Gary Kelly and installing a karaoke machine on each airplane, giving its flight attendants more chances to “express themselves” during flight.
Alaska, JetBlue Also Release Earnings
American’s West Coast bestie Alaska Airlines’s earnings report revealed an $18 million profit for Q4 and a $478 million profit for the year, improving upon loses of $447 million and $1.3 billion, respectively from 2020.
Alaska repaid $112 million of debt during the quarter and earned $1.7 billion in gross passenger revenue – a 161% increase from last year. Cargo saw a more modest improvement of 28% from a year ago, going from $43 to $55 million. The airline ended the quarter with $3.1 billion in unrestricted cash, on which it’s planning to buy a super-powered wind machine to blow the fog away from Paine Field.
American’s East Coast bestie also reported its earnings today, and JetBlue was more blue than Alaska, as it ended the quarter $159 million in the red and ended the year with an $80 million loss. Both numbers are much better than a year ago and come thanks to more than double the gross revenue this year, just over $6 billion – a 104% bump from 2020.
JetBlue ended the year with a debt to capital ratio of 53% on $2.8 billion of unrestricted cash. Most of that is tied up in fighting the DOJ’s lawsuit on the Northeast Alliance with a small amount reserved for souvenirs to bring back from London.
Gatwick Closing Runway for Summer
London/Gatwick informed airlines today that it is closing its southern runway this summer during the middle of the night for a three-month period. The project will strengthen and resurface the runway, while also painting a basketball court and installing two hoops to give ramp workers something to do during down time.
The closures will take place weekly, Sunday-Thursday from 10 p.m. to 4:30 a.m., from April 19 to July 12. It’s not supposed to affect the airport’s northern runway, which will remain open and operating normally. The switchover will cause the airport to reduce its flow capacity to just 30 aircraft movements between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. each night, and 35 movements between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m.
The airport is asking airlines to voluntarily reduce their capacity during the affected time but is withholding the right to force reductions if needed. Forced reductions will be assigned by proportion of slots during the affected time period, percentage of flights that have pilots that get mouthy with LGW ATC, and the whims of Prime Minister Boris Johnson… assuming he still has the job.
- Atlas is adding a third B747 freighter to its fleet which will be based at Chicago/O’Hare.
- Austrian will resume 5x-weekly service to Los Angeles in mid-May. The carrier suggests if you have a loved one on the first flight back you head to the airport now in order to have enough time to circle the terminals to pick them up.
- China Airlines is purchasing four B777 freighters. The planes have a list price of $1.4 billion each, but the carrier received a significant discount from Boeing in exchange for promising to not complain if the planes have paint issues.
- Condor plans to begin short-haul flying on the A330 in the next few weeks.
- Delta is moving to canned wine on-board, upsetting a very specific portion of the world’s population.
- EasyJet bookings are trending upward and the airline is expected to have a strong summer according to EasyJet.
- ITA plans to add its first A350 next summer.
- Pivot Airlines is adapting or improving by adjusting or modifying something as it delays the launch of Ottawa and Montreal service.
- Tbilisi Airways is closer to becoming an actual airline as it added its first aircraft this week.
- Uganda Airlines is delaying its new London/Heathrow service until June.
- Wheels Up is acquiring Air Partner.
My roommate tripped after finishing his laundry and dropped a basket full of freshly ironed clothes.
I just sat back and watched it all unfold.