The airline industry reported that it filled up more than 80 percent of available seats in April, 2006. Yet the airline industry continues to lose money hand over fist.  That is what happens when you sell a 10 dollar steak for 5 dollars.

The competition in the airline industry on price is killing it. Until the airlines figure out this lesson that competition does not mean destruction the industry will continue to be in turmoil.

And the early results from April, which indicate that more than 80% of U.S. airlines’ seats were filled with paying passengers, portend a record-setting — and uncomfortably crowded — summer travel season ahead.

Seven airlines that have reported for April all show fuller planes. No. 4 Northwest ran fullest: 84.9%. No. 1 American filled 81.7% of its seats. And No. 5 Continental filled 82.9%. No. 3 Delta, despite a public battle with pilots over cost cuts that included threats of a strike or shutdown in mid-April, filled 77.6% of its seats. Even discounters Southwest and AirTran, which normally record load factors lower than the big network carriers, came close to filling 80% of their April seats.

For all of 2005, the domestic airline industry filled 77.6% of its seats, according to the Air Transport Association. The April numbers are good news for an industry that has lost more than $40 billion over the last five years. Better yet for the industry, travelers have been paying on average about 13% more for their tickets than last summer. via USATODAY.com

When truth is stranger than fiction. United Airlines is hiring NASCAR Pit Crews to train it’s ramp crews on how to improve the turn times between flights. The airline is trying to get the maximum flight time out of it’s aircraft.

The hiring of NASCAR pit crews has got to be one of the crazier ideas I have heard though. NASCAR pit crews can fuel the race car, change the  tires, clean the windows, and make minor adjustments in about 15 seconds during a race. My question is how will this help United Airlines? Do they really think that an airline ramp will have the same dynamics as a NASCAR race?

Chief Operating Officer Peter McDonald said in a speech Tuesday evening at Northwestern University that the company has hired NASCAR pit crews to train ramp workers in order to reduce turnaround time at airports.

McDonald said improving aircraft turns, refueling, cleaning and loading and unloading planes on layover will add 125 flights to United’s schedule without putting more planes in the air.

Increasing efficiency is part of the company’s plan to return to profitability after being forced into bankruptcy by a surge of low-cost carriers, high labor costs, and ever-rising fuel prices. The key to its strategy, McDonald said, is United’s “most important asset”–its people.via cbs2chicago.com

United’s exit out of bankruptcy following the pattern the majors have set for looking at long haul flights to destinations that will absorb higher costs. They have added new service to Honolulu from Seattle and San Diego starting June 10th.

United flew between Seattle and Honolulu a generation ago, but in recent years its direct U.S. flights to Hawaii have all come from Chicago, Denver, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The Seattle-Honolulu service will compete with Northwest Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines, while San Diego-Honolulu service will compete with Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Airlines

United also said it will launch service from Toronto to Denver, which will allow residents of eastern Canada to fly to Hawaii with one change of planes at the Denver hub. Pacific Business News

Gerold Georgettis committed suicide on a flight between Washington DC and Los Angeles, after being released on bond in Miami for driving through a Car Dealer Showroom and setting fire to it. In a strange  and bizarre twist, the man made news headlines for two different sad and horrific incidents.

It all started when Gerold Georgettis felt he got  a bad deal on a car purchase in North Miami.

Gerald Georgettis, accused of torching a north Miami-Dade dealership Saturday because of a dispute over a new car he had purchased, resigned on Monday from his job with the city of North Miami Beach.

Georgettis, 56, had managed and booked acts into the city’s Jules Littman Performing Arts Theater for the last four years.

North Miami Beach Mayor Raymond Marin said Georgettis handed in his resignation Monday morning.

On Saturday, Georgettis walked into the Metro Ford at 900 NW Seventh Ave. Upset over the deal he had made for a new Ford Escape, he was told he could not change it.

Georgettis then plowed the new car through the showroom glass, doused it with a flammable liquid and set it on fire, damaging the dealership and as many as a dozen more cars on display. via the Miami Herald (More Here)

After being released on a 1,500 dollar bail he then quits his job and makes his way to Washington, D.C. After boarding the United flight to Los Angeles, he then  commits suicide in the lavatory.

A man apparently hanged himself in an airplane lavatory during a flight that was diverted to Denver after his body was discovered, police said.

Denver medical examiner’s spokeswoman Michelle Weiss-Samaras said an autopsy was planned for the body of Gerald Georgettis, 56, of Miami, which was found Wednesday on a United Airlines flight from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles.

“Right now, everything leads us to believe the male involved did commit suicide,” police Detective Virginia Lopez said. No other passengers were ever in danger, she added.

 via AP

All told, a very sad story of a man whose life spiraled out of control.  

Update: A member of the FlyerTalk Forum was on the flight. He raves about the professionalism of the Flight Attendants. Read about it here.

United Airlines is expected to exit  Chapter 11 this morning, ending one of the longest bankruptcies in United States history. The company has shed billions of dollars in annual costs and the choking control over the company by it’s unions.

Now it’s really time to fly, to move forward,” Glenn Tilton, CEO of United and parent UAL, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Passengers are unlikely to notice an immediate difference, since United never stopped flying even when multibillion-dollar losses forced it to seek protection from its creditors in federal bankruptcy court. But the Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based airline has made one change after another since early in its three-year overhaul.

It now has about 30% fewer employees (58,000), 20% fewer airplanes (460) and 20% lower operating costs (7.5 cents per seat per mile), excluding fuel, than it did when the bankruptcy began on Dec. 9, 2002. Labor costs are down by more than $3 billion annually after two steep pay cuts and the elimination of defined-benefit pensions. Dozens of daily domestic flights have been eliminated. via USATODAY.com

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of United’s Frequent Flyer Mile Program,  United is offering a double mile promotion. To participate you need to be a member of the United Frequent Flyer program (obviously) and then register at this site.

Anniversary Double Miles Offer

There are some restrictions, but it covers most travel between January 15th and March 31st, 2006.

Enjoy…

The major airlines are raising fares 10 dollars per round trip trying to recoup the increased price of jet fuel. On Friday the price of a barrel of crude topped 69 dollars.

American, United Airlines and Continental Airlines all raised fares Thursday night, following a fare increase by Delta Air Lines, said Tom Parsons, chief executive of Bestfares.com, an Arlington, Texas-based firm that monitors airline ticket prices. US Airways matched the increase Friday.
While broad, the higher price does not include many markets where discount airlines, such as Dallas-based Southwest Airlines or AirTran Airways of Orlando, Fla., compete. It covers most advanced-purchase tickets, but did not affect last-minute tickets, which are generally the most expensive. via Buffalo News

In an interesting week of news on the financial stability of the domestic airline industry. United Airlines has cleared out most of the major issues it was facing.

United Airlines’ three-year bankruptcy neared an end Wednesday as the final objections to its reorganization plan fell, one by one, during a marathon court hearing.

The airline won approval for an incentive plan that will award stock to top executives and managers. It also settled a long-running dispute with flight attendants over a retirement plan. And lingering issues with retirees, government attorneys and airplane leaseholders were resolved.

Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff said he would announce Friday whether he would approve the agreement, though no outstanding objections to it appear to be left.

Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines CEO Gerald Grinstein has said that Delta has completed 70 percent of its reorganization plan and is on plan to leave bankruptcy in 2007.

“My aspiration would be to come out in the spring or summer of ‘07,” CEO Gerald Grinstein said Wednesday in an interview at Delta headquarters.

Grinstein said 2006 will be a “critical year” for the carrier, which continues to lose money amid high fuel costs and brutal competition. “In ‘06 we have got to stabilize the company,” he said. via AJCGrinstein also went on to say that Delta will not be merging with Northwest Airlines as had been speculated on.

In a swift and abrupt turnaround, United Airlines has scrapped a plan that would have turned over ownership of 15 percent of the newly issued stock to managers. This plan caused a huge upheaval of ill will to management by the line employees and would have been a bad precedent for future airlines coming out of bankruptcy.

United Airlines has agreed to scale back a management stock-ownership plan and make other changes to its bankruptcy reorganization plan.

The moves have won the support of the committee representing unsecured creditors, who Thursday withdrew their opposition to the strategy.

The carrier originally proposed to give about 400 top executives and managers 15 percent of United’s new stock when it emerges from Chapter 11, then scaled that back to 11 percent before finally agreeing to 8 percent.

The management compensation proposal was among the issues that threatened to delay United’s exit from bankruptcy protection.

The committee unanimously backed the revised plan, said Fruman Jacobson, the unsecured creditors’ attorney.

Chicago Tribune | United reduces stock payments to management.