JetBlue defers delivery on 31 A320s

[relief tube]

after years of airtran-like growth when the industry didn't need it, it took $130 oil for reality to hit JB management. Now management is bent on becoming a majority foreign-owned E-190 carrier. lovely.

I know this isn't what the JB pilots sighned on for. best of luck.

 

[clickclickboom]

Why defer any deliveries at all everyone knows we get the planes for free, the mx for free, and free gas

 

[AA717driver]

Bush better sign that executive order allowing foreign ownership--NOW! We've got to save our airline industry, you know. TC

 

[ArmadilloJackal]

Can I get paid in Euros?

 

[Andy]

Can I get paid in Euros?

Probably not a good play anymore. The slowdown's starting to hit the rest of the world. I'm anticipating foreign central banks to start cutting rates in order to keep unemployment from falling off a cliff. That'll strengthen the dollar ... the Fed may have a bit of room to cut some more, but it's nearly out of ability to cut rates.

 

[ArmadilloJackal]

Probably not a good play anymore. The slowdown's starting to hit the rest of the world. I'm anticipating foreign central banks to start cutting rates in order to keep unemployment from falling off a cliff. That'll strengthen the dollar ... the Fed may have a bit of room to cut some more, but it's nearly out of ability to cut rates.

I think (and hope) you're right. I guess I'll hedge against inflation by buying Wii's.

 

[JumpJetter]

Probably not a good play anymore. The slowdown's starting to hit the rest of the world. I'm anticipating foreign central banks to start cutting rates in order to keep unemployment from falling off a cliff. That'll strengthen the dollar ... the Fed may have a bit of room to cut some more, but it's nearly out of ability to cut rates.

Andy

I know it's a complicated answer, but don't you think the low, low, low interest rates are at least GREATLY the cause of the devalued dollar and the housing bubble?

 

[Fubijaakr]

So much for 200 Airbii by 2014. And by asking for another $160m from investors, does that mean B6 has burned through the Lufthansa money already?

Looks like B6 is the next in line for Bankruptcy Court.

 

[Dogwood]

So much for 200 Airbii by 2014. And by asking for another $160m from investors, does that mean B6 has burned through the Lufthansa money already?

Looks like B6 is the next in line for Bankruptcy Court.

I'll agree with the little chance of 200 Airbi by 2014, but as far as the LH cash, I don't think it's been touched. We've got plenty of cash for the moment, so we're not sure why we've chosen to raise more.

Maybe just doing it while we can for future insurance.

Doubt we're next in line for BK, but who knows.

 

[Andy]

Andy

I know it's a complicated answer, but don't you think the low, low, low interest rates are at least GREATLY the cause of the devalued dollar and the housing bubble?

The short answer to both is yes; however, each event was due to different periods of lowering rates.

For the devalued dollar, a lot of that is due to the most recent rate cuts.

For the housing bubble, the housing market started to get inflated post-911. Greenspan's Fed slashed rates aggressively to keep the economy rolling. As a direct result, mortgage rates fell.
Mortgage rates also fell due to a decrease in the risk premium that investors were demanding for their money. I'll try to not sound too geeky, but a good way to think of risk premium on a loan is the difference between what a treasury bill yields (practically guaranteed) and the interest on the loan in question.
Example: 30 year T-bill pays 6% interest. A 30 year fixed mortgage pays 8% interest. That's a 2% risk premium.
The housing bubble got way out of hand due to a narrowed risk premium because investors made a very poor assumption that real estate prices don't fall.
There are a lot of other tangential problems that exacerbated the housing crisis such as exotic loans and stated/no documentation loans.
Exotic loans, such as neg am (negative amortization) loans were necessary in order to qualify many people for their mortgage. The assumption was that they'd be able to refi prior to the mortgage reset and since the house increased in value, the refi costs would simply be rolled into the new mortgage.
Stated/no documentation loans - SISA (stated income, stated asset), NINA (no income, no assets) loans were aggressively sold by mortgage brokers to people who most likely couldn't qualify on full income and asset documentation. These loans paid the broker a higher commission, so there was a LOT of incentive to push buyers toward these loans.

When you see an 'expert' on the tube tell the public that the housing crisis is nearly over, I would suggest that you never rely on that person for unbiased information ever again. The housing crisis is far from over; it's more in the bottom of the third inning.
A lot of neg am loans are going to reset over the next 36 months. Most of those houses will end up in foreclosure because the market is nowhere near the bottom. I don't expect to see a bottom in the housing market until 2012. And as this drags on, it will have an increasing drag on the economy - it's going to get ugly out there. Prepare for several years of very lean times.
I'm not one to make these statements without putting my money on the line - to date, I've made a lot of coin shorting homebuilders (BZH, SPF, MTH, LEN back in 07; rotated out of them at the end of 07), Countrywide (shorted in the high 30s, covered in the low teens), Downey Savings and Loan (70s down to 20s); currently short FED, C, LEH, MER, COF, WFC. The financials have major issues due to the housing crisis and could implode any time now.

Long winded answer; hope that helps.