Delta Airlines said last week that they expect to grow their bottom-line in 2019, thanks to increasing revenue and declining oil prices. Executives of the Atlanta-based carrier said that reducing oil prices is expected to help the entire aviation industry, as it’s generally the second-biggest expense after labor. The company expects its earnings per share to hover somewhere in-between $6 to $7, in line with analyst estimates, and about 20% higher than the estimated full-year profit analysts expect for this year.In terms of revenue, Delta expects it to grow at 4% to 6% along with a 3% growth in capacity, in line with analysts’ expectations. Delta also expects its revenue per available seat mile, a key industry gauge of how much money the airline is bringing in for every seat it flies a mile, to be up 3.5% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier.

One such stock is American Airlines (Nasdaq: AAL) and it has jumped almost 25% in the last three weeks.Keep in mind that the S&P 500 is up a whopping 2.5% in the last three weeks. Despite the sharp rally by American, the stock is facing some resistance just ahead in the form of the upper rail of a downward-sloped trend channel.

The Boeing 777 and the 787 Dreamliner are two of hottest selling wide-body airliners in the world.The dynamic duo has effectively supplanted the iconic 747 jumbo jet as the Boeing's go-to plane for long-haul flying. READ MORE...

Ryanair is cutting its profit projections, as the European low-cost airline struggles with flight cancellations, fuel costs and staff strikes. It announced profit forecast for the current fiscal year in the range of  €1.1 billion ($1.27 billion) to €1.2 billion ($1.39 billion) – which is around €150 million ($174 million) lower than the company’s previous expectation.Spike in fuel costs further pressured margins for the company. As for cabin crew strikes - something it's been facing since December 2017 - the airline has yet to settle disputes with union officials in countries such as Spain, Portugal, Germany and Belgium.

Dubai’s flagship airline  Emirates might want to buy Abu Dhabi’s Etihad, according to a Bloomberg report, citing people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the matter is confidential.The report suggests that there might have been preliminary talks of Emirates’ considering an acquisition of the main airline business of Etihad.  Both the airlines first refused to comment and then denied that any such talks happened, as mentioned in the Bloomberg article.

Hackers stole credit card information of 380,000 customers of British Airways. The company announced that cyber criminals got access to the names, addresses, emails and credit card details including the card number, expiration date and security code of travelers who booked flights on British Airways' website and app between August 21 and September 5.British Airways has promised to pay for a credit check for customers and to compensate them for any losses. According to the airline, it began notifying customers late on Thursday. Some customers on Friday complained that they first got to know about it from the media versus the company, while some others claimed to have received blank emails from the airline.

United Airlines, Inc. has raised checked baggage fees, apparently to combat surging fuel costs eating into profits. The carrier will now charge $30 and $40 for checking the first and second bags respectively (compared to the earlier charges of $25 for the first bag and $35 for the second).The new higher fees will apply to flights operating on the North American, Caribbean and Central American routes. This follows the recent baggage fee hikes by JetBlue, Air Canada and WestJet.  

Southwest Airlines Co. announced new domestic and international services or 2019. Addition to domestic flights include non-stop seasonal service between Cleveland and Tampa, and between Cincinnati and Orlando.On Sundays from Mar 10 onward, it will operate a non-stop service connecting Dallas with West Palm Beach and Harlingen. Its plans for International additions include connecting St. Louis to Montego Bay and Punta Cana.

The charge now stands at $30. As for second and third checked bags, the charge hikes are $5 and $50 respectively. Increasing fuel costs and slowing ancillary revenues were hurting JetBlue’s profits, thereby propelling the carrier to raise luggage fees.However, flyers with access to certain loyalty programs and/or who purchase expensive tickets can be exempt from the checked-bag charges.

For additional luggage, customers will have to pay additional fees. According to the budget airline's revised rules, customers can pay £6 ($7.70) for priority boarding, which would also allow them to bring a 10 kilogram (22 pounds) bag into the cabin.Ryanair has said that the changes are meant to reduce delays.

Ryanair had to cancel 400 flights on Friday, following pilot strikes.  The budget airline canceled flights in Germany, Ireland, Belgium and Sweden, affecting about 15% of the carrier's scheduled flights. Staff strikes occurring lately are due to conflicts between Ryanair with its employees over labor demand and worker contracts.

July 18, 2018 Dow gained +79 points to 25,200 while Nasdaq remained almost unchanged, but the market still produced some interesting winners and losers today. One of the huge winners was Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) that gained +5% to $303,210 per share and almost $50 billion in capitalization gain in just 1 day, because Warren Buffet announced more repurchases of its own stock soon.Another winner was United Airlines (UAL) that gained +8% to $79 per share due to a record profit forecast for 2018 and also reduction in new airplane purchases because of skyrocketing fuel costs. One of the big losers today was Clorox (CLX) that declined by -4% to $128 per share when Goldman Sachs downgraded the company saying it is overvalued, earnings are at risk and pricing headwinds can reduce revenue.