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• Can the legacy airlines win back customers?

  Posted Sep 22 2008, 10:12 PM by Matt Koppenheffer
  Rating:
  Filed under: CAPS, airlines, Continental, Delta
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  Falling oil prices will no doubt provide some breathing room for America's airlines, but bigger questions still loom for the big legacy carriers like Continental, American, and United.
  
  In recent years, competition and costs -- both from fuel and outside fuel -- have caused most of the US's major carriers to cut back on many of the perks that made flying more comfortable and enjoyable. The effect has been that flying on Delta is mostly indistinguishable from flying on Continental.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 16 comments) 2,468 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Ad Force One

  Posted Jul 15 2008, 12:21 PM by Todd Harrison
  Rating:
  Filed under: Continental, Coca-Cola, Delta, Northwest, UAL, Exxon, Chevron, Todd Harrison
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  Coming soon to the airline boarding pass clutched in your hot little hand: advertisements.

  Printing advertisements on the boarding pass is part of airlines’ continuing frantic search for new sources of revenue to offset higher fuel prices. Here’s betting it will be less painful than getting dinged $15 to check a second suitcase.

  The effort, initially adopted by Delta Air Lines, is scheduled to begin Tuesday on flights to Las Vegas. However, ads will soon appear on the airline’s boarding passes to all domestic destinations.   Read More...

  Discuss (no comments) 1,223 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• A scary thought: Gasoline at $7.50 a gallon

  Posted May 06 2008, 06:14 PM by Charley Blaine
  Rating:
  Filed under: Energy, airlines, oil, Continental, Delta, economy
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  

  I'm really not here to scare you, but, get ready, I AM going to scare you.

  The news got lots of attention: Goldman Sachs analyst Arjun Murti predicted Tuesday that the price of crude oil could hit $150 to $200 a barrel in six to 24 months. (Here's one discussion of the report. Another is here.)

  Crude oil in New York promptly jumped to as high as $122.73 a barrel in New York before closing at $121.84. And, as I write this, crude was trading slightly lower in electronic trading. But it also had the perverse effect of pushing the stock market higher. Indeed, the biggest winners in Tuesday's stock market were oil and gas production companies, natural gas companies. (But not refiners; crude oil is rising faster than refiners can push their prices up.) 

  So, if crude jumps to $150 or $200, how does that translate into prices at the gas pump. Here's the scary part.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 784 comments) 185,096 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Singing the JetBlue blues

  Posted Jan 07 2008, 12:38 PM by Robert Walberg
  Rating:
  Filed under: FedEx, Travel, JetBlue, AMR, Continental
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  

  In response to a public relations nightmare last February, JetBlue's management team enacted a customer bill of rights to help restore confidence in the airline. It was a bit gimmicky, but the effort seemed to work as the company just announced a 15% year-over-year jump in revenue passengers for 2007.

  Hopefully, management has another gimmick or two up its sleeve to address the nightmarish performance of its stock. Despite the operational improvement, JetBlue's stock is now trading at about $5 per share -- down a whopping 64% over the past 52 weeks.  Being trapped on a grounded plane for 10 hours seems painless by comparison.

  Of course, JetBlue isn't the only airline to see its stock crash and burn over the past year. AMR Corp, Continental Airlines and Alaska Air Group have tumbled by 60%, 55% and 43%, respectively. High fuel prices, an uncertain economy and changes in regulations have contributed to a very turbulent year. Yet JetBlue was supposed to be different.  With leather seats, expanded leg room and free satellite TV/radio for all passengers, this company was supposed to revolutionize the airline industry. So why has JetBlue been more revolting than revolutionary?   Read More...

  Discuss ( 737 comments) 291,519 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this