Ray Neidl Quotations

Right now, I still believe in the story of Alaska Airlines,

Fuel prices are up, and to a large extent we're being driven by fuel prices.

From what the union leader said, they don't want a strike either. I still have high hopes.

Hurricane Katrina was probably the last straw. Nobody could have predicted 60-dollar, 70-dollar-a-barrel oil.

He has been pretty active with these emergency boards, ... If there is a strike, I think it's highly probable it will be short. If there is no intervention, I think it could drag out for the weekend. At this point I'm assuming logic would prevail, it wouldn't go on much longer than that.

Long-term to me, ... is a year in this business. If we're going to have a recession, you should probably lighten up on your airlines, because they're still cyclical. But there has been a lot of restructuring in the airlines, the way they run their business. I think they will come through the next recession.

It is good for Continental and good for the flight attendants. Continental got the cost structure it needs. That is what the company needs to make it.

I will still bet there's no strike, one or the other. These airlines are too big to allow a strike for any period of time.

I think that's what they'd want to do, and that's why they're all rushing.

I think it's pretty risky what they're doing. I'm a real fence sitter here -- I'm real skeptical you can run a low cost carrier using regional jets.

That will put more pressure on American and Continental to do the same.

We were expecting weakness but it came even weaker than we feared. The key thing is business traffic is way off.

The government has to rethink its anti-trust policy on airline mergers. Otherwise, future liquidations are inevitable.

They're wearing off, but anybody else would kill to have these fuel hedges.

There's a good chance (of a Northwest filing),

If there's a bright light for the company, I'm sure management will try to be turning it on, but I don't see it.

If the recent spike in oil prices sticks, it could also impact demand for air travel through a decline in consumer buying power and confidence.

If not, we have trouble in River City, ... You wouldn't want Bush to step in right away -- you'd hope you go back and see if there's something that can be changed to win approval. It's never good to have a contract imposed.

If your employees are disgruntled they can still do damage to you, no matter what the court orders. But all of this is going to make it harder for United to win back its good business customers, which they've been trying to do.

The administration doesn't want a strike, especially in a soft economy,

The US Airways route system fits very nicely with the United Airlines system. If this deal goes through, it would turn the airline industry on its head.

In the long term, we believe Republic will be one of the major players in the regional airline market. We think that Republic has the scale and financial capacity necessary to continue to aggressively expand.

They've stated openly that they are trying to maximize profits out of that hub, so it would only go to figure.

You want to keep assets in place for when you have a recovery. By the time you're in a recession, you have to be making plans for the recovery. It's not like a factory where you can just lock and then reopen the door. There's a lag effect.

The fuel was a little higher than expected, but the revenue was a little higher as well,

Air travel is usually one of the first big hits of a slowing economy, but these guys don't believe the economy is slowing. It's only going to be a good quarter.

Atlas Air will be growing probably over 20 percent a year.

It's all going through on schedule, ... The big question is can they make it work post-merger.

It's all going through on schedule. The big question is can they make it work post-merger.

There will be more pressure on American to reduce its costs, because these guys will come out leaner and meaner.

They might try to become more international-oriented. Domestically, I'm thinking they will shrink.

It's a failing carrier and government authorities would probably love to have a bigger airline come and buy it and rescue it.

To a large degree it (the cut in commissions) is helping offset the fuel prices. You're talking about some big bucks there. That's 3 percent of revenue to people who book 80 percent of your flights.

It shows that they're determined to turn this airline around.