21.6 (EFA, Erich Schnitzler, Greg Auld, Jeff Coover, Justin Brown)

So let's start our conversation with some trends with the industry at large.

As we know, all the airlines have reporting that goes on shortly after the quarters are over and all the figures get donkulated.

So looking across the board, what are the trends out there that every company is seeing and contending with?

As we record this, six airlines have reported, roughly reported today, and we're getting all of the Wall Street analyst reports and their commentary are coming in through our normal channels.

The major trend, and this should be a surprise to absolutely no one, is just the sky-high fuel costs.

All the airlines are dealing with record or near record fuel.

I mean, right now, fuel is well north of $4 a gallon right now.

The good news is on the trend is the airlines are able to have been able to raise fares.

There's been seven to eight major fare raises really since the Iran war began and fuel began to take off.

And so those fare increases have been relatively have been sticky.

And as a result, the airline revenues, they've captured the lion's share of those fuel costs they've captured back on the top line.

Yeah, the airlines are still seeing tremendous pricing power and premium and loyalty revenues are increasing virtually across the board.

So that's done a pretty good job of offsetting the higher fuel costs.

I think the only thing that I would add to that would be just the change in mentality from where we were at earlier in the year, where management teams across the industry were not planning for higher fuel for a long period of time.

And we've seen a shift in this most recent earnings cycle here, where airlines are now planning for fuel to stay higher longer, and many of them planning for it to stay over $4 a gallon for at least through 2027.

Okay.

On all things fuel, most of the airlines are still managing to stay afloat and even prosper with this monumental fuel cost.

Others, maybe not so much.

So what does that say about the industry and its near to mid future? And why are some carriers struggling while others are not?

That's a good question.

And maybe it's worth revisiting a little bit of a history lesson here.

Because when we talk about airlines that are prospering right now, of course, the two that come to mind are Delta and United.

And now Southwest has rejoined that conversation as a result of a lot of its initiatives.

So let's just go back 10 to 15 years ago.

And Delta really started this, you know, coming out of bankruptcy.

So let's start our conversation with some trends with the industry at large.

As we know, all the airlines have reporting that goes on shortly after the quarters are over and all the figures get donkulated.

So looking across the board, what are the trends out there that every company is seeing and contending with?

As we record this, six airlines have reported, roughly reported today, and we're getting all of the Wall Street analyst reports and their commentary are coming in through our normal channels.

The major trend, and this should be a surprise to absolutely no one, is just the sky-high fuel costs.

All the airlines are dealing with record or near record fuel.

I mean, right now, fuel is well north of $4 a gallon right now.

The good news is on the trend is the airlines are able to have been able to raise fares.

There's been seven to eight major fare raises really since the Iran war began and fuel began to take off.

And so those fare increases have been relatively have been sticky.

And as a result, the airline revenues, they've captured the lion's share of those fuel costs they've captured back on the top line.

Yeah, the airlines are still seeing tremendous pricing power and premium and loyalty revenues are increasing virtually across the board.

So that's done a pretty good job of offsetting the higher fuel costs.

I think the only thing that I would add to that would be just the change in mentality from where we were at earlier in the year, where management teams across the industry were not planning for higher fuel for a long period of time.

And we've seen a shift in this most recent earnings cycle here, where airlines are now planning for fuel to stay higher longer, and many of them planning for it to stay over $4 a gallon for at least through 2027.

Okay.

On all things fuel, most of the airlines are still managing to stay afloat and even prosper with this monumental fuel cost.

Others, maybe not so much.

So what does that say about the industry and its near to mid future? And why are some carriers struggling while others are not?

That's a good question.

And maybe it's worth revisiting a little bit of a history lesson here.

Because when we talk about airlines that are prospering right now, of course, the two that come to mind are Delta and United.

And now Southwest has rejoined that conversation as a result of a lot of its initiatives.

So let's just go back 10 to 15 years ago.

And Delta really started this, you know, coming out of bankruptcy.