Well, a smart air line would own 49% of their codeshare partner, and be well insulated from this.
Not sure I would say "well insulated" in this scenario - the equity value of that 49% has been significantly reduced since the referendum passed (see: IAG dropped ~30% since Friday). And both airlines still battle the same challenges as the rest of the industry - rationalize transatlantic capacity to maintain profits.
Not necessarily. Any variance is going to be made up by the amount of travelers going from the U.S. to the U.K. that otherwise wouldn't have traveled, believe me, the consultant side is on fire right now with companies scrambling to figure out what ramifications they might be facing with this change (wasted money, I would say, but whatever floats their boat). Most companies have requirements that they must be in business class on those flights, and so that equals better revenue management opportunities and still higher fares which equate to higher revenues. The fares from the U.K. to the U.S. may be affected a bit, but still not that much. All this means is that the revenue staff at the airlines had a tough job to start with, but it just got a little tougher. I guarantee that more people are going to consider traveling to the U.K. now than ever have because of the pound being low, but that is tremendous opportunity for revenue to be maximized. Everything isn't so cut and dry and that is why there are tons of professionals in forecasting that deal with this each and every day. I look at non-rev flights from time to time and there are usually quite a few empty seats, but I am guessing that there will be a lot more full flights soon.
It's going to be tough to quantify this for a while, but for the time being, these factors are probably "equal and offsetting". Sure, leisure travel from the US to the UK/Europe
may pick up, but by the same token, that trip to Disney for UK/European leisure travelers just got significantly more expensive (flights, hotel, meals, etc). From a business travel perspective, the strengthening dollar just made US exports more expensive (see: Boeing, Caterpillar, Deere, etc.) - which, if this deters demand enough, will hurt corporate profits and ultimately hurt US corporate travel. Several banks are also predicting UK and Europe GDP to drop sharply in the coming year (1-3%), which could hurt all types of UK/European travel.
On top of new demand spooks, there has been an excess in Trans-Atlantic capacity for some time now. Slowing demand + already excessive capacity is what has investors running for the exits.
All that said, the jury is still out on which way this will pan out. The Fed is going to have their hands full in the comings months sifting through this, that's for sure. Raising rates in the near future seems unlikely. To
@Lawman's point - the world will continue turning regardless, and business will sort itself out (the "invisible hand" of economics).
Fun fact: just like commodities, commercial aircraft are sold/traded in USD. Theoretically, outside of US airlines, everyone's lease payments (or new aircraft prices) just got more expensive.