Tag Archives for earnings.
American Airlines is starting to improve in ways that finally show up in the numbers, with customer satisfaction rising faster than at any other major U.S. airline even as the carrier posted another quarterly loss. That is real progress, but the earnings call also made clear how much is still broken — from fleet and seat mix to customer service, coastal relevance, and the lack of a fully realized strategy employees can actually execute.
Southwest’s full-year results are out, and the “turnaround” isn’t showing up where it should: revenue barely grew while net profit slipped versus 2024. The airline stayed in the black largely thanks to cheaper jet fuel (and cost cuts), not because bag fees and other changes delivered the revenue lift Wall Street was promised.
Southwest spent its earnings call congratulating itself on “record” results — but the numbers tell a very different story. Revenue is flat, profits are down, and the airline’s transformation into a fee-heavy clone of its competitors looks increasingly self-inflicted. Everything’s fine, apparently, except what they lit on fire.
American Airlines lost $114 million for the third quarter. We’re at an important point for American. They could really turn themselves around. They don’t have long to do it. Here are (6) takeaways from the American Airlines third quarter earnings call that you won’t read anywhere else.
Delta’s latest earnings discussion revealed a major shift in attitude and planning around bringing back upgrades, slashing premium cabin perks that come from buying business class, and promising to eliminate Sky Club overcrowding within the next 18-24 months. There was a lot more packed into this earnigns call than there usually is!
Vice Chair and Chief Strategy Officer Steve Johnson said “If United is gaining share in Chicago they’re gaining it from someone other than us” and noted that they’ve been profitable in Chicago in the past, have been there for 99 years, and have a loyalty customer base – though concedes “we understand we’ll probably always be second place in Chicago.”
George W. Bush used to talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations. All I could think when American Airlines CEO went into his carrier’s fourth quarter earnings call oddly triumphant is that former Texas Governor Bush must have had the Texas-based airline in mind.
Delta’s vision is that they’re a premium, mostly non-union airline that pays employees well and negotiates hard with partners, suppliers and even customers. United’s vision is as the nation’s most global air carrier, an increasingly upgauged route network, and more premium seats than before.
On the other hand, American’s vision is cost cuts?
Delta Air Lines is earning half the industry’s profit. They had a 13.6% operating margin and made $1.3 billion in the last quarter. That’s great – except that both figures are down year-over-year and the airline lowered its guidance for the third quarter as well. Their stock lost 8% of its value at the open on Thursday’s morning’s announcement, though it gained half of that back by the end of the trading day.
The airline’s spin is that there’s too much capacity, and the problem is other airlines, but the industry is correcting itself. In other words, the problem isn’t Delta, and going forward Delta won’t have a problem. I don’t think this actually makes sense.
United Airlines has seemed to struggle. After a number of high profile incidents, the FAA if auditing safety practices. They’re unable to open up flights to new cities, and have had to defer already-announced service.
And winter is always a struggle to begin with. Delta barely eked out a profit.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
