Sky Talk

Southwest, others, join Delta-Northwest in fare hike

Delta-Northwest is getting some company in its $10 roundtrip ($5 each way) fare increase, launched Thursday night across the bulk of its U.S. system.

Rick Seaney of farecompare.com says Southwest Airlines, and Alaska, Midwest, and Frontier airlines have significantly matched. US Airways has "selective matching," and United Airlines is "dabbling in some limited matching."

"American and Continental (are) on the sidelines so far," Seaney reports.

Southwest's increase was $5 each way on mid and long-haul routes, and $2 on short haul routes, outside of sale fares, Seaney said.

"It is very difficult to get an exact read on this hike, as there was some late-week off-peak travel discounting that is mixed in with the increase activity," Seaney said. "Typically, we will know if the hike attempt sticks by Monday afternoon."

"It appears at this point that the hike has a very good chance of surviving," he said. "I have never seen an airfare hike in four years fail when Southwest Airlines was in the mix."

- Scott Nishimura

Continental first out of the gate with June numbers

Continental Airlines had fuller planes in June but made less money on those flights.

The Houston-based carrier said its load factor was 84.8 percent last month, up from 83.7 percent in the same month last year. But revenues per seat mile dropped 6 percent to 8.1 billion.

Available seat miles, or capacity, fell 7.8 percent to 9.5 billion.

Continental's announcement can be found here.

-Andrea Ahles

Analyst: Continental revenue better than expected

A bit of bright news on Continental this morning from airline analyst Michael Derchin from FTN Equity:

Continental  Airlines  reported that  its  April mainline  RASM  declined 10.5-11.5% and its consolidated unit revenue decreased 12.5-13.5%. We were projecting  that  its mainline and consolidated RASM would drop  13-15%.  The  better  than  anticipated  unit  revenue  results reflected  stronger  than  projected  yields  while mainline  load  factors rose  3.5  points  roughly  in  line  with  expectations.  A  late  Easter boosted April RASM by an estimated 2-3 points. 

- Trebor Banstetter

More Continental capacity cuts on the way?

Michael Derchin thinks so. The FTN Equity airline analyst opines in his latest report that "we are assuming that Continental announces an additional capacity reduction of 5 percent, effective Labor Day, which brings our full year capacity projection to a 5.6 percent decline from our prior 4 percent decrease."

Derchin has also lowered his 2009 estimate quite a bit from a profit of $2.98 per share to $1.20 per share, on his forecast that the poor economy will continue to keep fares, and revenues, down.

- Trebor Banstetter

'Yes, demand is this bad'

Analyst Kevin Crissey at UBS commented on Continental's updated guidance, noting that its 18 percent decline in March revenue was worse than most forecasts. "Continental is not yet seeing the stabilization in demand that other carriers have noted," he writes in a report to investors.

The silver lining, he says, is that fuel costs are also slightly lower than expected, which will help the airline's bottom line. That's why he hasn't changed his forecast of a $1.52 loss per share in the first quarter.

- Trebor Banstetter

Continental crash news roundup

(AP Photo/Charles Anderson)

The crash of Continental Connection 3407 in Buffalo is obviously the big aviation news of the morning. Here's a few of the more interesting stories out there on the incident:

• One passenger was the wife of a 9-11 victim who had served as as spokeswoman for family members, according to the Washington Post.
• Barack Obama has voiced his condolences to family members, according to the Associated Press.
• FlightAware has info on the flight here, including a graphic of the flight path.
• ABC News has an interesting look at the Dash 8 Q400, the plane which crashed, reporting that it's favored by small commuter carriers and generally has a good safety record.
• Here's a statement from Colgan Air, a subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines, which operated the flight.
• Whatever happened on the plane, the crew likely had very little warning, because there were no emergency calls made to air traffic controllers, reports CBS.
• The National Transportation Safety Board issued a press release about its investigation, which obviously is just beginning.
• LiveATC.net, which monitors and records air traffic control, has posted audio of the radio messages between the aircraft and controllers. That can be heard here.
• Time.com wonders if the problem was the weather or a mechanical issue with the plane.

Even more news on the crash can be found here.

- Trebor Banstetter

$777 to Shanghai

Continental Airlines is offering roundtrip fares to Shanghai for $777 to launch its new Newark service to the bustling Chinese city. Those flights will begin on March 25. For connecting passengers, the $777 fare is also available from Boston, and a $888 fare is being offered from Houston, New Orleans, Miami, Cleveland and several other cities.

The fare covers flights from March 25 through April 30, and must be bought by Feb. 28.

- Trebor Banstetter

Chilling DIA crash photos

(AP Photo/Helen H. Richardson,The Denver Post)

The Denver Post has a really good online gallery of photos from Saturday's Continental crash at Denver International. You can check it out here.

- Trebor Banstetter

NTSB briefing today on Continental accident

(AP Photo/Rocky Mountain News, Preston Gannaway)

The National Transportation Safety Board is briefing reporters at 3:30 CST today on the Continental plane that slid off the runway in Denver Saturday night. The accidents resulted in 38 injuries.

The NTSB dispatched a "Go Team" on Sunday to begin investigating, and will be showing off the flight recorders today.

- Trebor Banstetter

Algae-powered flight?

Continental is planning a demonstration flight powered by biofuels in a partnership with Boeing, CFM International, UOP, Sapphire Energy and Terrasol. The fuel that will be used is partially derived from algae.

The test will be conducted on a Boeing 737-800, which will take off in Houston on Jan. 7. No passengers will be on the plane.

- Trebor Banstetter