After Blowing $43 Bn on Share-Buybacks in 6 Years, Boeing Scrambles to Borrow $10 Bn, on Top of a $9.5 Bn Credit Line in Oct, to Fund its 737 MAX Fiasco by Wolf Richter • Jan 20, 2020 • 223 Comments Having become a master of financial engineering instead of aircraft engineering. UPDATED with the announcement on Jan 21 that “ungrounding” of the 737 MAX will be further delayed.
2020, Already the Year of Zombie Airlines by MC01 • Jan 5, 2020 • 87 Comments And the year has just started.
When Losses Don’t Matter: How Japanese Conglomerate Mitsubishi Blows Billions on a Jet Nobody Really Wants by MC01 • Dec 7, 2019 • 91 Comments On paper, this looked like a no-brainer.
HNA Gets Chopped Up, its Many Airlines Buckle & Get Bailouts to Dodge Messy Collapse, but its Hong Kong Airlines? by Wolf Richter • Dec 3, 2019 • 44 Comments The Chinese conglomerate had gone on a debt-fueled global acquisition binge, including in the US, and owned 18 airlines before it all came unglued.
The September Airline Massacre in Europe by MC01 • Sep 24, 2019 • 82 Comments And these are still the good times, with growing passenger traffic.
Thomas Cook Collapses, up to 600,000 Travelers Stranded in Hotel & Airline Chaos, Triggers “Biggest Peacetime Repatriation in UK History” by Nick Corbishley • Sep 23, 2019 • 72 Comments Rescue deal fell through at the last moment. China’s Fosun and other shareholders are toast. Creditors get to fight over the debris.
Who’ll Rescue Thomas Cook, the Collapsing Vacation-Travel-Airline Giant with 21,000 Employees? by Nick Corbishley • Sep 13, 2019 • 43 Comments Shareholders are already toast. Would China’s Fosun conglomerate follow the time-honored principle of throwing good money after bad?
The Airline Fiasco in Argentina as Peso Collapses and New Plan Goes Awry by MC01 • Aug 28, 2019 • 48 Comments The curse of pushing volume by selling tickets below cost became an even bigger curse with the peso massacre.
Boeing, Airbus and Airline Overcapacity in Asia & Europe by MC01 • Jul 7, 2019 • 63 Comments And 200 miracle orders — well, just a letter of intent — for the Boeing 737 MAX at the Paris Air Show.
The Engines of Large Airliners and the Costly Challenges Manufacturers Face by MC01 • Jun 1, 2019 • 57 Comments Rolls-Royce’s debacle for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. And China is learning it the hard way.
