Deep Market Thoughts…Airlines

Posted by Howard
on April 22nd, 2008

Oil at $120, a 1,000 point plus rally in the Dow and a further imploding US Dollar keep me mostly on the sidelines.

The indexes continue to mask the damage. The new imploders are the airlines. Today, they were down HUGE again. I got on the airline meltdown about three weeks ago. The bailout is getting closer .

My US Air/America West (LCC) Short is up another 15 percent today. It is making a stand at $6.90 on the way to zero.

Yesterday a few airlines announced that they will start charging for a second bag…$25. That will only be another disaster. Why should I pay extra for skis, a hockey stick or a golf bag while a 400 pound person with 1 bag is not penalized at all. It’s reverse discrimination.

Weight is weight and if you want to do a weight tax, put a freaking scale in front of the check in desk and weigh us all.

Add a weight guesser in the ticket line to add to the carnival act that is airline check in.

The closest to bankruptcy today is Mesa airlines. We had Jon on Wallstrip over a year ago with the stock near $8. Today is at 50 cents and a market cap of $13 million. For the price of an average townhome in Manhattan’s West Village, you could ow a battered airline.

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