Thebean Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 This will be interesting to watch this week.The stakes in this auction are exponentially higher for jetBlue and Southwest than any of the other bidders.jetblue has no choice but to bet the farm, even though they are easily the weakest of the 5 players in the bidding. Southwest won't want to lose this opportunity either. They were obstinate in their reluctance to pursue ETOPS and Hawaii flying from the west coast and left that market wide open to Alaska. I doubt they'll make the same sort of mistake twice, especially after having bought Air Tran. DCATime / Frequency0700 X67 0800 Daily 0800 Daily 0900 Daily 1000 Daily 1000 Daily 1100 Daily 1200 Daily 1300 Daily 1400 Daily 1600 Daily 1700 Daily 1800 Daily 1800 Daily 2000 X6 2100 X6LGA bundle 1Time / Frequency0600 Departure X67 0630 Departure X67 0730 Arrival X67 0830 Departure X67 0830 Arrival X67 0930 Departure X67 1100 Arrival X67 1230 Departure X6 1300 Arrival X6 1400 Departure X6 1500 Arrival X6 1600 Departure X6 1700 Arrival X6 1830 Departure X6 2000 Arrival X6 2100 Arrival X6LGA bundle 2Time / Frequency0630 Departure X67 0700 Departure X67 0800 Arrival X67 0930 Departure X67 1000 Arrival X67 1030 Departure X67 1230 Arrival X6 1330 Departure X6 1430 Arrival X6 1600 Departure X6 1630 Arrival X6 1730 Departure X6 1830 Arrival X6 1930 Departure X6 2030 Arrival X6 2130 Arrival X6FAA-2010-0109 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 I wonder if WestJet will throw the approximately 1.2 billion they have at the slots.WestJet Airlines Ltd. says it intends to aggressively go after a series of new landing slots in New York and Washington as it continues to try to court corporate travellers in the East.The Calgary-based carrier confirmed its intention to participate in a slot auction at New York’s LaGuardia airport and at Washington’s Reagan International. But Gregg Saretsky, WestJet chief executive, said he expects the competition to be fierce.The landing slots came available as a regulatory condition on a planned slot swap between U.S. Airways and Delta Air Lines at the airports. There are two slot packages at LaGuardia and one at Reagan, each with eight landing slots, up for grabs in a Dutch auction, Mr. Saretsky said.“At this point, we can’t say how much those slots will ultimately go for,” he said on a conference call. “We do expect the bidding to be aggressive. I think those are very valuable slots and we intend to bid on them as well.”The auction is, however, limited to incumbent airlines and new entrants only, he noted.Breaking into the New York market, in particular, has been a long-standing goal for WestJet as it looks to improve its offerings to corporate travellers in the East. While the carrier already offers seasonal service into nearby Newark, N.J., from Calgary, providing a service to LaGuardia from Toronto or other Eastern destinations has been on WestJet’s radar since it was unable to make a go of it there in its early years.While the auction limits one package per carrier at each airport, Mr. Saretsky said WestJet intends to lean on its U.S. partners, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, to bolster the service.WestJet has been aggressively courting the corporate traveller this year in the so-called Eastern Triangle between Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto. Mr. Saretsky said the airline is enjoying some successes in those efforts, and that it is winning corporate clients, in part, because of WestJet’s last-minute fares are less than its competitors.“We have walk-up fares that are significantly lower than Air Canada’s walk-up fares,” he said. “They meet us at the bottom end of the fare structure. When we’re on sale, they’re on sale and vice-versa. But at the top end, we stop selling at a certain fare level, and they keep selling.”Because business travellers tend to book at the last minute, this has caught the eye of corporate travel planners because the delta between the top fares can sometimes reach upwards of 30%.Meanwhile, Mr. Saretsky said the ongoing economic uncertainty has yet to have an impact on WestJet’s forward bookings or fare increases. But the carrier plans to take a “pause” for a “quarter or two” in announcing a new share buyback program given the current economic turbulence.Fuel prices do, however, continue to pose a challenge.A 27% increase in fuel prices and higher maintenance cost during the third quarter led to a 10% drop in its earnings. The carrier reported a net income of $39.3-million, or 28¢ a share, during the three months ended Sept. 30, down from $43.8-million (30¢) a year ago. Analysts had been expecting earnings of 34¢ a share, according to Bloomberg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chockalicious Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Hi KipCan you source the article you posted ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Hi KipCan you source the article you posted ?Here you go.............http://business.financialpost.com/2011/11/09/westjet-sets-sights-on-new-york-and-washington-landing-slots/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebean Posted November 17, 2011 Author Share Posted November 17, 2011 Anyone familiar with EBay knows how this will shake down. The fun begins in earnest at about 3:00pm est on the 22nd. I wonder if any of the bidders have been in touch with Glen Sather on this file? LGA Slot Package 1 Biddinghttp://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/ReAllocation/media/LGAABundle_Bids.pdfLGA Slot Package 2 Biddinghttp://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/ReAllocation/media/LGABBundle_Bids.pdfDCA Biddinghttp://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/ReAllocation/media/DCABundle_Bids.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebean Posted November 22, 2011 Author Share Posted November 22, 2011 A couple hours to go and the bids are coming in fast and furious. It's going to get really fun in about 90 minutes....See bottom of page:http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/ReAllocation/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 Not exactly EBAY....I saw 4 bids and the last update was at 3:30pm. Bidding closes at 5:00pm EST but no update as of 5:04pm.How does one ascertain who got what when the airlines use meaningless numbers as their ID ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manwest Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 I've seen higher bids on Ebay lolUpdated as of : 03:30 22-Nov-2011 BIDDER BID AMOUNT WHEN BID PLACED 2415 $1.00 22-Nov-2011 12:04 Updated as of : 03:30 22-Nov-2011 BIDDER BID AMOUNT WHEN BID PLACED 3470 $2.00 22-Nov-2011 02:06 6192 $1.00 22-Nov-2011 12:04 LOL Its 25 mins past closing of bids, 5pm Eastern time, unlike Ebay no winner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 LGA Bundle B did show $5,000,000.00 as a bid but that was at 3:30pm.....and who was it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manwest Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 LGA Bundle B did show $5,000,000.00 as a bid but that was at 3:30pm.....and who was it?See that now but they are hardly fast and furious eh Seems to be very few bidders.wonder if WS wants LGA or DCA??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 See that now but they are hardly fast and furious eh Seems to be very few bidders.wonder if WS wants LGA or DCA???I would imagine the airline that bid 5 million will be really PO if they could have had it for $3.00 :Grin-Nod: but we know that didn't happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manwest Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 Am wondering if DCA is better than LGA for WS, both have traffic delays which would affect their on time performance and short turn a rounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manwest Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 Auction Now closed>2415 $1.00 22-Nov-2011 12:04 REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED THE AUCTION IS NOW CLOSED Slot Reallocation Current Bid Information for LGA BUNDLE AUpdated as of : 03:30 22-Nov-2011 BIDDER BID AMOUNT WHEN BID PLACED 3470 $2.00 22-Nov-2011 02:06 6192 $1.00 22-Nov-2011 12:04 REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED THE AUCTION IS NOW CLOSED Updated as of : 03:30 22-Nov-2011 BIDDER BID AMOUNT WHEN BID PLACED 7150 $5,000,000.00 22-Nov-2011 03:30 406 $2.00 22-Nov-2011 02:06 77 $1.00 22-Nov-2011 12:04 REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED THE AUCTION IS NOW CLOSED Please pay now we prefer PayPal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manwest Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 I would imagine the airline that bid 5 million will be really PO if they could have had it for $3.00 :Grin-Nod: but we know that didn't happenSo true lolif it was like Ebay they could have gotten it for $3.00, I hear the buyers rating was not 100% positive. Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebean Posted November 23, 2011 Author Share Posted November 23, 2011 So true lolif it was like Ebay they could have gotten it for $3.00, I hear the buyers rating was not 100% positive. Lol You can be pretty sure the bidding was fast and furious between 3:30pm and 4pm and well into the mid 7 figures for each package.The last on-line update was at 3:30pm, bidding closed at 4pm est.If the slots sold for $3 per package, (they weren't), there will be a massive rewriting of a number of airline balance sheets over the next few weeks. More than a few airlines have their pledged their slots as collateral on all kinds of financings. If they are all but valueless, and they aren't, creditors / lendors will be initiating some very interesting meetings over the next week or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagger Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Westjet won the slot auction. Anyone know the purchase price? Looks like it could have been US$32 million, which is pretty close to C$34 million at today's bizarre exchange rate. http://business.fina...orks-laguardia/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex 9A Guy Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 The slot packages went for $32M to $40M. Yikes!!!!! :eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 It is impossible to follow the bidding in any of the packages.... The winner with the 32 million bid put the bid in and then others bid much lower at a later time.....why ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagger Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 It is impossible to follow the bidding in any of the packages.... The winner with the 32 million bid put the bid in and then others bid much lower at a later time.....why ???Just a guess. High bids are still subject to some legalities, and if a winning bidder dropped out or is disqualified, why not have a cheap bid in to possibly score a windfall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebean Posted November 23, 2011 Author Share Posted November 23, 2011 Just a guess. High bids are still subject to some legalities, and if a winning bidder dropped out or is disqualified, why not have a cheap bid in to possibly score a windfall.IMO, what's as interesting as who "won" the auction is who "lost"? One of jetBlue or Southwest will not be happy campers today.DAL will be quite happy that all the slots did not end up in a domestic competitors pocket.I'd strenuously argue that this auction was, strategically speaking, far more important to LUV or JBLU than it was for WestJet, which makes it quite surprising to me that one was not prepared to come to the table.Then again, of all the bidding carriers, WJ was sitting on the biggest stack of cash reserves in comparison to their monthly expenses. They apparently decided to make use of a very, very small proportion of their war chest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rozar s'macco Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Now with AC, porter, and WJ into NYC, consumers win. Who says there is no competition in Canada? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fido Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Now with AC, porter, and WJ into NYC, consumers win. Who says there is no competition in Canada?How many LGA slot pairs were in the package? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Now with AC, porter, and WJ into NYC, consumers win. Who says there is no competition in Canada?uuuuhhh well, OK.... if you want to call Newark......New York Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 How many LGA slot pairs were in the package?Goto the first posting in this thread.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagger Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 westjet got 8 slots at LGALooks like the cost was $17.5 million (US) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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