US Airways attributes US airline profits to fleet management

US Airways CEO Doug Parker sated he is impressed with US carriers' ability to report profits in recent quarters, commenting that this may be the result of airlines being more willing to manage their fleets for profits, rather than cutting fares to increase market share (Associated Press, 20-Oct-2010). He added cost management, adding ancillary fees and improving on-time performance has also boosted airline revenues.

US Airways: "That's good news for US Airways, but frankly we believe this quarter's results are a watershed event, not just for US Airways, but for the US airline industry. We're today with oil at over USD80 a barrel, an economy that's slowly and begrudgingly pulling out of a recession. Yet the airline industry is the industry recording record or near-record profits while the rest of US industry is not. That hasn't happened before. And we believe it's concrete evidence that fundamental restructuring really has taken place. Consolidation has happened. New pricing models have been put in place that make more sense for generating higher returns. We have management teams that are focused on returns instead of ... market share. And the result is we're producing record results at a soft spot in the business cycle. Which should only mean better things as the cycle improves," Doug Parker, CEO. Source: Associated Press, 20-Oct-2010.