Market Currents

• Friday, December 18, 2009

• 09:01 AM Delta Air Lines (DAL) has reportedly gained the upper hand to become Japan Airlines' overseas partner in a deal that would end American Airlines' (AMR) ties to JAL. Delta has said that it and other SkyTeam members are ready to offer a total aid package of some $1B, and said it may team with a fund to sweeten its proposal. Comment!

• Friday, December 11, 2009

• 16:26 PM With Delta Air Lines (DAL +13.9%) leading, Bloomberg's U.S. Airlines Index gained 9.6% to reach a post-January high. Lower crude prices may be helping, and a slump in flying may be easing as carriers are posting their strongest traffic since June 2008. Other airlines: [[AMR]] +9.2%, [[CAL]] +9.5%, [[UAUA]] +8.1%, [[LCC]] +10.5%, [[LUV]] +6.7%. 1 Comment

• Tuesday, December 8, 2009

• 12:25 PM A wretched October for U.S. airlines, with on-time performance falling to 77.3% from 86% last year and 86.2% last month. The mishandled bag rate rose to 0.348% from 0.301% in September. And the DOT received 896 complaints over the month, vs. 629 and 604 last year and last month. Best carrier for on-time performance: Hawaiian Airlines (HA). Worst: Northwest (DAL). Comment!
• 10:27 AM YRC Worldwide (YRCW) -7.9% on news it will be deleted from Dow Jones' Transportation Index come Friday. Dow Jones notes that a potential debt-for-equity swap would give YRC noteholders control of 95% of the company's common stock, and would likely force a bankruptcy filing. YRC to be replaced by Delta Air Lines (DAL -0.1%). Comment!

• Friday, December 4, 2009

• 11:13 AM Delta Air Lines (DAL +3.3%) says November traffic sank 7.1%, to 13.57B revenue passenger miles; capacity dropped 8.4% and load factor (percentage of available seats filled) rose to 79.6% from a year-ago 78.5%. Earlier this week Continental (CAL) reported monthly traffic was up 3% on a 1.2% drop in capacity, moving its load factor to 80.2%. (more traffic data) 1 Comment

• Thursday, December 3, 2009

• 09:26 AM American Airlines (AMR), members of its Oneworld alliance, and private-equity firm TPG offer to invest up to $1.1B in troubled Japan Airlines, a deal they say is "vastly superior" to a $1B offer from Delta Air Lines (DAL) and its SkyTeam alliance. JAL is already a member of Oneworld, and American says staying the course will result in a substantial increase in revenue, which makes its offer worth an effective $1.8B. A JAL-Delta tie-up would face severe regulatory opposition "because of the stranglehold this combination would hold on Japan-USA travel," group says. Comment!

• Monday, November 30, 2009

• 14:11 PM The modest gain in air traffic, reversing earlier declines, is showing up in airline stocks this afternoon: UAL (UAUA +6.8%), US Airways (LCC +5.5%), Continental (CAL +4.6%), AMR (AMR +3.6%), Delta (DAL +2.9%), Southwest (LUV +2.8%) and JetBlue (JBLU +2%) all up over 2% today. 1 Comment

• Thursday, November 19, 2009

• 09:58 AM Airline stocks feeling the pinch of a glitch in the FAA's auto-flight-scheduling system, which went down early this morning, causing the cancellation and/or delay of thousands of flights. LCC -3.7%. AMR -3.5%. CAL -3.1%. DAL -3%. UAUA -2%. Comment!

• Wednesday, November 18, 2009

• 08:23 AM Troubled Japan Airlines has been offered a $1B package if it will join Delta Airlines (DAL) and its SkyTeam alliance. SkyTeam airlines would buy $500M of JAL or convertible securities, and Delta, by itself, would pay $200M in asset-backed financing and as much as $300M in guarantees to cover any losses caused by leaving the Oneworld alliance led by American Airlines (AMR). 1 Comment

• Thursday, November 12, 2009

• 10:44 AM U.K.'s Virgin Air accuses archrival American Airlines (AMR) of hypocrisy in its lobbying to retain JAL as a partner in its Oneworld alliance against the courtship of Delta Air Lines (DAL) and its SkyTeam alliance. AMR hasn't said whether its partners British Air or Qantas might contribute to its investment in JAL. Comment!

• Wednesday, November 11, 2009

• 10:22 AM Private equity firm TPG may team up with American Airlines (AMR +3.2%) to take a a minority stake in Japan Airlines and prevent its defection to a rival consortium. AMR CFO Thomas Horton told reporters today that TPG, which helped Continental (CAL) out of bankruptcy in 1993, has agreed to help AMR against Delta Air Lines (DAL +3.4%); both are keen to gain access to JAL's Asia network. Comment!

• Thursday, November 5, 2009

• 11:44 AM Delta Air Lines (DAL) reported October passenger traffic fell 6.5%, on 8.3% lower capacity. The load factor (percentage of available seats filled) increased to 84.2% from 82.6%. 2 Comments

• Thursday, October 22, 2009

• 07:39 AM Delta Air Lines (DAL): Q3 EPS of $0.06 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $7.57B (+32.4%) in-line. (PR) Comment!
• 00:05 AM Notable pre-market earnings: AUO, BDK, BG, BMY, CBE, CELG, CHKP, CIT, CNX, DAL, DHR, DO, DOW, EMC, ERIC, ESV, ETR, FITB, GR, HBAN, HOT, HSY, JBLU, JNS, KMB, LCC, LH, LM, MCD, MJN, MMM, MRK, NCR, NIHD, NUE, NVS, NYT, ORI, OXY, PDS, PLD, PM, PNC, POT, R, RAI, RGC, RS, RTN, RX, SGP, STI, SY, T, TASR, TIN, TMO, TRA, TRV, UNP, UPS, XRX, ZMH Comment!

• Tuesday, October 13, 2009

• 16:37 PM A consumer rights group that is lobbying Congress to pass legislation that would force airlines to let passengers off runway-bound planes sues Delta Air Lines (DAL), accusing Delta of hacking its AOL account in order to derail the bill. 3 Comments

• Monday, October 5, 2009

• 09:04 AM Japan Airlines has reportedly called off JV talks with Delta Air Lines (DAL) and American (AMR). (previously I, II, III, IV) Comment!