It’s a safe bet the phrase “in the event of a water landing” will hold new significance for thousands of airline passengers this week following the surprisingly smooth ditching of a US Airways (LCC) jet into the Hudson River, near midtown Manhattan. That pre-taxi safety spiel we’ve all heard a million times is easily one of the more monotonous and easy to tune out aspects of flying. But maybe now, not for awhile.
The US Airways crash is one of those incidents, at least for many people, when an airline pilot can never make too much money. As a passenger, you want to know that the pilot and first officer know exactly what the jet maker’s operating manual says about how to land on water when large birds take out your engines and the plane is going down. FlightAware, a site that tracks commercial flights, has this rather unusual track of the six-minute flight – directly into the Hudson. The plane was last recorded by radar at 300 feet, flying 176 mph. For good pilots, training and experience combine – often in very short time periods – to avoid bad outcomes. Pilots were quick to note the skill and craftsmanship that were needed to keep the Airbus A320 intact, and afloat, as passengers scrambled out.
“I am so unbelievably impressed with these guys, what a job, unbelievable...... hell of a job, talk about choked up with emotion,” SAABaroowski posted at airlinepilotsforum.com “And they say pilots make too much, let’s see how they feel now, amazing job.” Added MoosePileit: “Thank goodness for clear skies and daylight on top of a crew doing it right. Couldn't pick a better city or place if one had to ditch, aside from the winter temps.” Another aviator was quick to praise the European-built Airbus jet: “Great job of the entire flight crew! And kudos to the French for building one hell of a ditchable airplane!” wrote Radials Rule.
How many of us can tell friends or family about “that time in January when we landed in the Hudson River?” When the shock and awe, fear and chill wear off, the 150 passengers on the flight to Charlotte will be able to relay that story – one incredibly amazing feat when you consider the physics overcome to make their telling possible. One factor that likely helped the outcome was decent weather. New York had a driving snow most of Thursday morning, with less-than-optimal visibility. But by the time the flight took off shortly after 3 pm EST the skies had cleared, giving the pilot had a decent look at where he was flying.
At a news conference on Thursday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said most of the passengers did not even get wet, as many stepped onto the wing and then into rescue boats. He said the pilot had been able to walk through the plane twice after it stopped, to ensure that everyone had gotten out. “Awesome job to the crew, beers on me if I ever get to meet ya,” a forum posted called Diver Driver wrote.
The debate about a “bill of rights” for airline passengers will soon heat up Congress again, as two senators introduced a new version of their 2007 bill on Jan. 13. Let the argument about the merits or idiocy of such legislation rage. Speculation in the early press coverage has been that an Obama Administration will be far friendlier to this effort than the Bush crowd was. You can read the press release here from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) who is co-sponsoring the bill with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).
As it happens, industry consultant and observer Mike Boyd has some cogent points in his weekly “Insight & Perspectives” online essay. Boyd, as you will learn quickly from his commentary, is no fan of such schemes.
A belated note that I wrote a story for the Jan. 12th print edition of BusinessWeek, exploring the question of whether we could see any major airlines liquidate during 2009. I got the inspiration to try to answer this question after listening in on an analyst call that GE Capital hosted in early December, during which executives at GE Capital--which among other things, is one of the world's largest lessors of aircraft--presented its 2009 forecast, which modeled its earnings based on both one major airline liquidation worldwide, and two major liquidations.
In subsequent conversations, GE Capital backpedaled a wee bit, first saying that it wasn't predicting liquidations, just showing analysts how liquidations wouldn't hammer its earnings. Then GE Capital said that it didn't expect any U.S. carriers to liquidate. And to be fare, there are some troubled carriers in Asia and elsewhere that could be likely suspects for a liquidation.
Just the mere suggestion that some major carriers could be at risk was somewhat at odds with the forecasts of sell-side analysts, almost all of whom were predicting a solid year for the U.S. industry. I talked to a number of what I consider to be the smartest people in the industry, and while some were hopeful that 2009 could be a pretty good year for the industry--thanks largely to plummeting oil prices, and earlier efforts by some carriers to reduce capacity--there were some industry executives who privately were concerned that the ride could be far, far bumpier than Wall Street was predicting.
Yes, $40-a-barrel oil can paper over a lot of problems: US Airways President Scott Kirby told me that it would be hard to overstate the benefits of cheap fuel, since many carriers had restructured themselves to be profitable at $100-a-barrel oil. But a number of the other Wise Men (and Women) I spoke to ...
How’s this for a tricky business problem: Your airline is based in Denver, sandwiched between the deep-pockets of an expansion-minded Southwest (LUV) and the market share of United (UAUA), which controls nearly half the hub’s traffic. Oil’s wildly volatile, the economy is bracing for prolonged recession, credit markets remain shell-shocked, and you’re approaching a one-year anniversary in Chapter 11 proceedings. You need at least $125 million – and likely more – to exit bankruptcy court. In legal terms, not the most favorable set of facts.
That, in a nutshell, is the story Frontier Airlines must shape into a compelling narrative this winter for anyone who might be willing to step up with funds allowing the company to leave bankruptcy. Despite a Chapter 11 case that has cut both salaries and headcount by about 15% – and moved unit costs closer to the low-cost leaders – the airline remains challenged by circumstances. “In all fairness, people did not expect that this organization would be standing at this point,” says president and CEO Sean Menke.
The company and its pilots announced Jan. 5 that they had reached agreement on a new three-year contract featuring a 10% wage cut, the last of three deals the company needed to negotiate with unionized work groups. While most of the court-overseen restructuring has been completed, Frontier now confronts a capital market that has been burned and remains deeply fearful of risk. “We still have some big hurdles and that’s proving to potential investors…. that we are worthwhile to be an investment,” Menke says.
How’s this for a rather strange coincidence? Two major travel sites, Orbitz and Travelocity, on Wednesday both announced the departures of their CEOs. Orbitz Worldwide (OWW) said it replaced CEO...
Washington D.C. will soon take center stage for the planet’s focus as Barack Obama becomes the 44th U.S. president on Jan. 20, amid a dizzying array of inauguration celebrations. Millions...
Remember the days when practically every U.S. carrier with a long-range jet wanted to break into China? Delta (DAL), Continental (CAL), US Airways (LCC), American (AMR) – all waged fierce...
One of the more common quips heard about flying in America is that domestic airlines are essentially “all the same,” meant usually in reference to the fact that the...
Crude oil contracts for January slid below $36 a barrel Thursday in New York floor trading. This occurred the very same week that OPEC chopped production by 2.2 million daily...
An entire cottage industry has grown around the idea that air travel contributes an immoderate amount of carbon to the upper atmosphere and can – and should – be minimized....
BusinessWeek editors Dean Foust and Justin Bachman provide road warriors with the latest news, trends in business travel, which as most readers are aware, has all the romance of taking a school bus cross country. Come here to pick up travel news and tips or just commiserate about your latest business trip gone awry.
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A belated note that 
How’s this for a tricky business problem: Your airline is based in Denver, sandwiched between the deep-pockets of an expansion-minded Southwest (