Most profitable airlines in 2019

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June 28th, 2019 at 12:20:56 AM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Profit in millions for 2018
$3,935.00 Delta
$2,465.00 Southwest
$2,129.00 United/Continental
$1,412.00 American
$437.00 Alaska Air
$280.40 SkyWest
$233.20 Hawaiian
$188.00 JetBlue
$155.70 Spirit

On 27 Jun 2019 Delta took delivery of it's last Boeing jet on it's order books, and the remaining 260+ jets are all from Airbus so Delta's future is completely unrelated to the issues with B737 MAX. Delta has over 50% of it's domestic jets, passengers and seats in any given longer time period flying in or out of ATL airport. While that is the norm for the smaller airlines (Alaska Air out of Seattle, Hawaiian out of Honolulu, and JetBlue out of JFK) it is quite a feat for a major airline.

SkyWest is based in Utah and is the countries largest regional airline flying with contract with all the major mainline airlines.


Grounded B737 MAX jets

Southwest and United fleet update plans are tightly bound to the MAX. American Airlines much less so, but it's profitability is fairly low.

Alaska Air has not taken any of it's orders for the MAX, so for the immediate future it is just delaying it's expansion. Before the accident it was planning to shed the Airbus jets it acquired from Virgin America merger and return to an all B737 configuration. Alaska Air is based in Seattle only miles from the plant where the B737 is assembled.

If Southwest can get it's MAX jets back on track , and continue their expansion into Hawaii, they had a good chance of becoming most profitable.

JetBlue had a very poor year in 2018, and they have announced that they will begin flights to Europe in the next two years.Many people consider this move a request for buyout solicitations as they don't want more competition on trans-Atlantic.

Delta is invested heavily with Aeromexico, AirFrance/KLM in Europe, and Korean Air in Asia. without the headache of the MAX this year, I think they will greatly increase their first place position as the most profitable airline in USA.

Any other predictions?
November 28th, 2019 at 1:15:58 AM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Net Income / Operational Revenue for first half of 2019
$2,155 / $23,073 Delta Air Lines Inc. 9.3%
$1,345 / $20,991 United Air Lines Inc. 6.4%
$1,128 / $11,059 Southwest Airlines Co. 10.2%
$944 / $22,539 American Airlines Inc. 4.2%
$274 / $4,161 Alaska Airlines Inc. 6.6%
$221 / $3,977 JetBlue Airways 5.6%
$171 / $1,869 Spirit Air Lines 9.1%
$168 / $897 Allegiant Air 18.8%
$108 / $1,184 Frontier Airlines Inc. 9.1%
$102 / $1,368 Hawaiian Airlines Inc. 7.4%
$38 / $366 Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines 10.3%
$6,652 / $91,482 7.3%

Delta continues to be the most profitable airline. American has the lowest return of all 11 mainline airlines, which will undoubtedly cause a shakeup in management.
The MAX crisis bedevils the #2,#3, and #4 airlines all of which has received delivery of the jet.
The MAX crisis raises some question in the #5 airline (Alaska) which has NOT received delivery of the jet, but was planning on using it to expand.

Delta has no Boeing aircraft on order since June 2019. Not just no MAXs but no dual aisle jets either.
November 28th, 2019 at 4:17:45 AM permalink
Fleastiff
Member since: Oct 27, 2012
Threads: 62
Posts: 7831
Quote: Pacomartin

Delta continues to be the most profitable airline.

Delta's hub and spoke system continues to annoy the most passengers and support the most annoying airport, so ofcourse its the most profitable; its the most parasitic.

Quote: Pacomartin
American has the lowest return of all 11 mainline airlines, which will undoubtedly cause a shakeup in management.

I've no idea what the turnstyle rate is at American but very much doubt that those truly responsible will get shakenup any.

Quote: Pacomartin
The MAX crisis bedevils the #2,#3, and #4 airlines ...and raises some question in the #5 airline
but no one knows yet if this is a financial crisis or a political crisis.

Quote: PacoMartin
]Delta has no Boeing aircraft on order since June 2019. Not just no MAXs but no dual aisle jets either.

Delta has clearly cast its die as a betrayer of USA industry(Boeings) and a supporter of the Airbus/European cabal of industry/govt. intrigue and artificial price supports.
November 28th, 2019 at 10:47:53 AM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: Fleastiff
Delta's hub and spoke system continues to annoy the most passengers and support the most annoying airport, so of course its the most profitable; its the most parasitic.


For domestic operations, over 50% of seats on Delta are flying in or out of ATL airport. Far ahead of American at DFW. United's largest domestic operation is at Chicago ORD, but it is not a megahub. DEN has only 13% fewer United passengers than ORD, and SFO, EWR, and IAH are close behind. They have much smaller operations at hubs at LAX and IAD.