A Few Airline Updates

USAirways announces it’s now a creditor of American Airlines’ parent AMR.

Talk about a tale of two articles.  The first one makes it sound like US Airways might change it’s “support” of AMR in the bankruptcy process if it doesn’t consider a merger.  The second one contends that the piece is so small ($1MM in bonds) that it entitles US Airways to no special part of the process.

Based on the sheer amount of debt AMR has, I believe the second article is correct.  US Airways isn’t going to get any special treatment.  Also, depending on what the ultimate BK exit looks like, US might lose money on the purchase of the bonds even though they bought them at a 40% discount.

United announces it’s Boeing order.

The original rumors were that the order would be for 100 of the new 737 MAX.  But, the announcement yesterday was for 100 MAX planes for deliveries 5 years or so from now and 50 737-900ERs which UA will use to replace older aircraft sooner.  Airline orders are quite fungible, changing based on any number of circumstances, but it’s good to see UA updating it’s fleet.  Internal UA reports are that they will start equipping their planes soon (later this year) with wifi which will be a welcome addition.

American making labor progress.

American reached a new deal with a couple of it’s smaller employee groups.  This is a good sign overall, especially for American remaining independent.  I’m in favor of an independent American, so I’m always worried I might be biased by such news.  But, View From The Wing has some of the same thoughts regarding the likelihood of a merger.