A much slower recovery for U.S. airlines compared to the automobile business is underway - if it can be called a recovery at all.
The largest commercial passenger airlines carrying 75% of U.S. passengers reported a slim 1.5% profit margin in the fourth quarter of 2011, down from 3.2% in the fourth quarter of 2010, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported today. The top ten carriers made a profit of $504 million with the losses reported by American Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy, and United Airlines, in the process of merging with Continental Airlines.
With these data, combined with record levels of long-term unemployment and a moribund housing market, one wonders how anyone in the ruling class can claim the recession is over?
As part of their fourth-quarter revenue, the airlines collected $792 million in baggage fees and $567 million from reservation change fees from October to December 2011. The unpopular baggage fees and reservation change fees are the only additional fees paid by passengers that are reported to BTS as separate items.
Slim to none - actually negative none.
Other fees, such as revenue from seating assignments and on-board sales of food, beverages, pillows, blankets, and entertainment are reported in a different category with other items and cannot be broken out.
The data released today is missing reports from Mesa Airlines, which filed a report with errors that have not yet been corrected. (One hopes its navigation is better.)
In addition, investors beware: Colgan Airlines, Mesaba Airlines and Pinnacles Airlines requested confidentiality for their reports.
