Warren Buffett "Wouldn't rule out owning a whole airline"

Buy Alaska and JetBlue for less than United, merge them and then sell off the new company.

Better, buy JetBlue and Hawaiian, merge them to create a global airline overnight, and sell off the new company.
 
jtrain609 said:
Buy Alaska and JetBlue for less than United, merge them and then sell off the new company.

Better, buy JetBlue and Hawaiian, merge them to create a global airline overnight, and sell off the new company.
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I don't think Buffett is the kind of guy to buy and dump. I think that is more Romney's realm.
 
I could see jetBlue, great product with a little bit of a rough patch in regards to management. They get that sorted out they can take on the legacies especially UA and AA no problem. If I was buying tickets I'd pay more for jetBlue over either of the other two and hope a winter storm doesn't hit.
 
Transportation - unexceptionally in terms of qualifying as a unique beneficiary of the practice, but exceptionally by the constancy and consistency of the volume applied to it - has always been a publicly subsidized industry... Every form of transportation. Every form of transportation going back to John Butterfield's 1858 overland stage route from St. Louis to San Francisco. Butterfield received $600,000 per year from the govt. to provide his service. As an investment, I'm not sure if that makes transporation a sucker's bet or a fool's paradise (no, not that kind - the other kind, in which the fool finds himself in paradise despite being a fool).
 
ATN_Pilot said:
That’s my first thought. But I never doubt the Oracle.
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I agree.

My opinion only, but the industry is, in the long-run, headed the same direction as the rails. Consolidation and high barriers to entry have finally brought what appears to be sustainable profits (remains to be seen, though). Because of the poor history of the industry, the publicly traded airlines still trade at a significant valuation discount vs. other industrial companies or vs. the S&P 500.

The Oracle likes this combination - an industry that will generate significant, sustainable cash flow (again - this still remains to be seen), and is "cheap" to buy on a relative basis - especially in a frothy market where multiples/valuations are at or near all-time highs.
 
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