Don’t Ban Stock Buybacks Or Impose Consumer Protection Rules As Part Of An Airline Bailout

by Gary Leff

cash
Mar 18 2020

Airline bailouts are a bad idea. Stockholders should take a haircut before taxpayers. Airline bankruptcy does not present contagion risk to the economy. Airlines have flown through bankruptcy successfully – American, Delta, and United have all done it. And any help for workers should address the needs people face independent of industry.. Working for an airline isn’t ‘more special’ than some other job.

However there are very bad ideas circulating around new conditions to impose in exchange for a bailout.

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United Has Cut So Much Flying It’s Easier To List The Flights They Run Than Those They Don’t

by Gary Leff

united plane
Mar 18 2020

United’s April flight schedule is down 60% year-over-year; an 85% decrease for international (and greater than that for transatlantic and transpacific) and a 42% for U.S. and Canada flying.

It’s easier to list the international flights that are actually operating than those that aren’t. Domestically there are a lot of cuts but United emphasizes they’ve only completed stopped flying to one U.S. airport

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Hawaii Asks Americans Not To Visit From The Mainland

by Gary Leff

hawaii
Mar 18 2020

With 14 confirmed cases of coronavirus including the state’s first case of community spread, the Governor of Hawaii is asking Americans on the mainland not to visit for the next 30 days. Hawaii travel has been one of the few bright spots for airlines, and early on in this crisis Oahu was one of only two major hotel markets to be doing well.

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American Closing 11 Clubs, Restricting Service In Others

by Gary Leff

Mar 18 2020

Due to low passenger volumes and suspended flights, American is closing 11 lounges so far. I expect that number to grow.

There are various state laws that are affecting service in Admirals Clubs. Perhaps the most extreme place you can social distance inside of an airport is in American’s Flagship First Dining. But they’ve had to close it at New York JFK because ‘restaurants’ are required to be closed. Some won’t let you take food with you, others won’t let you eat the food they give you there. And in some places alcohol cannot be served.

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American Airlines Asks Flight Attendants To Take Leave With No Pay

by Gary Leff

Mar 17 2020

American Airlines is telling flight attendants they have “great options” to choose from to voluntarily reduce the airline’s workforce: retirement and no pay but two years of benefits, or leave with no pay but benefits. Pilots are being offered about two-thirds of pay.

Unless there’s some sort of commitment not to furlough employees as part of taking the government bailout package airline CEOs and their lobbyists have been pushing for, I’d expect to see furloughs coming next.

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What Should Flight Attendants Be Doing To Stay Safe?

by Gary Leff

Mar 17 2020

Most coverage has been about passengers – being afraid to fly, not allowed to fly by their companies, being advised to avoid risk. The President of the United States is advising against discretionary travel that is still mostly permitted. Yet day in and day out airline crew continue to show up at airports, get on planes, and interact with passengers. They’ve continued to work flights to Europe and Asia that many passengers have been unwilling to take.

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When Everybody’s Bailed Out, Nobody Is

by Gary Leff

Mar 17 2020

Hotels are in line right behind the airlines looking for a bailout – even the Walt Disney Company. So are airport workers, and now Boeing is raising its hand too. We need to reserve government’s response for where it makes the most leveraged difference to society as a whole. There are lessons from China on what’s coming down the road.

The economic challenges aren’t primarily in travel, that’s just what’s slowing down first, and when everybody is bailed out no one is.

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