How much did Delta lose by not landing JAL?
There was a time, just a few years ago, when Delta was known as a powerhouse over the Atlantic — but not so much over that other big body of water.
But with the acquisition of Northwest, Delta became a much more powerful carrier to be reckoned with over the Pacific, as well.
Now comes word, however, that its bid to hook up with Japan Airlines failed, with bankrupt JAL staying in an alliance with American.
The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation called Tuesday’s news a “massive win” for Gerard Arpey, CEO of American’s parent company AMR Corp, Associated Press reported.
“American stood to lose more than Delta, which already has a significant presence at Narita Airport,” the Sydney-based aviation research group said in a report.
It expects Delta to strengthen its presence in Tokyo on its own and expand in other Asian markets through its ties with SkyTeam members Korean Air and China Southern Airlines, AP wrote.
Still, Delta fought hard to try to win JAL.
So, do you think Delta lost …
Continue reading How much did Delta lose by not landing JAL? »
Selling the city without a slogan
William Pate has decided to move beyond a question that has gone without a good answer for decades: How should Atlanta brand itself?
William Pate
As CEO of the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau, Pate knows that despite several attempts, no marketing campaign for the city has captured the imagination for many years. The last attempt, “Every day is an opening day,” may have been DOA. (For the record, former Mayor William Hartsfield popularized the phrase, “the city too busy to hate,” which was not a marketing campaign.)
So Pate, who has been in the marketing game for 27 years, has turned a traditional approach on its head. Instead of figuring out the overarching theme or slogan first, he’s leaving that for last as he tries to generate tourism dollars in a rough economy. One stat: Visitation for the $11 billion hospitality industry was 35.4 million in 2008 – down from 38 million in 2006, the latest figures show.
To try to turn that around, Pate, 49, has been …
Power Breakfast: JAL rejects Delta,Toyota recall, UPS pilots, foreclosures, DeKalb schools, Emory, health care
Delta lost its bid today to form an alliance with Japan Airlines.
The Associated Press is reporting that JAL, wooed for months by Delta with promises of cash and a broad global network, spurned the Atlanta-based carrier and opted to keep its alliance with American Airlines.
The Japanese carrier said in a statement Tuesday it will strengthen its partnership with American and the two airlines will jointly ask the U.S. and Japanese governments for antitrust immunity on trans-Pacific routes, AP reports.
The decision brings to an end a fierce tug-of-war over Japan’s ailing flagship carrier, which is restructuring under bankruptcy but offers the U.S. airlines access to lucrative Asian routes.
Also in the AJC:
Power Breakfast: Economic forecasts all over the map, Atlanta foreclosures jump, Toyota, Obama’s health summit
Economists can be all the over the place when predicting the future — a fact that AJC staffer Michael Kanell proves once again in reporting on four forecasts for 2010.
Predictions about the unemployment rate are spread between 9.5 percent and 10.5 percent — a wide gap when you’re talking about jobs.
And the Dow Jones industrial average could fall 9 percent or rise 12.1 percent, depending on which forecast you subscribe to.
Kanell pointed to Yogi Berra, who said predictions are hard — especially about the future.
Also in the AJC:
- Atlanta foreclosures jump in February
- Tax reform might spark flood of property appeals
- Hard times push more women to strip clubs
- Economics students share forecasts for the year ahead
- Man dies at Emory sleep center
- Mr. X gets starring role in Super Bowl ad
In other media:
Metro Atlanta foreclosures skyrocket this month
Foreclosure notices in metro Atlanta jumped 27 percent in February, compared with January. They were up 34 percent when compared to a year ago, according to data just released from Equity Depot.
“Residential foreclosures basically run across the board in every price range,” Barry Bramlett, president of Alpharetta-based Equity Depot, said in an e-mail. “Commercial properties [are] clearly on the rise.”
There were 10,357 foreclosure notices published in February in the 13-county metro area. That compared with 8,181 in January and 7,701 a year ago, Equity Depot said. The notices published this month are for public auctions scheduled in March.
In January, there was short-lived decline, Bramlett said, “probably due to [foreclosure] moratoriums some lenders put in place over the holidays.”
This month, Gwinnett led the pack with 2,163 foreclosure notices, followed by Fulton with 2,008. DeKalb was third (1,511), followed by Cobb (1,243) and Clayton (821).
For instant updates, follow …
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Should more be done to create jobs?
With the unemployment rate at 9.7 percent and employers still cutting payrolls, do you think the government should do more to create jobs?
Some tax and other business incentives are being proposed that will help in limited ways. But this massive jobless problem continues to drag down the economy. It will take several years just to get back the 8.4 million jobs that have been lost since this recession started.
So, do we dig a bigger budget hole and try to have another large stimulus program to get more people back to work and hopefully reignite the economy?
Or do we tough it out, given the already large deficit and the fact that the first stimulus had a smaller impact than expected?
On a personal note, if you’re unemployed, how are you making it? How tough is it to even get in the door for an interview? Have you had an interesting success story you could share that people might learn from?
If you’re working, has employment stabilized at your company or are you still …
Power Breakfast: Bank troubles grow, Toyota recall, Delta, AirTran, job losses, China and US chicken
The state’s banking crisis keeps getting worse.
The number of troubled Georgia banks grew to 64 at the end of last year, AJC staffer Paul Donsky reports.
That’s up from 57 in the third quarter and 49 in the second quarter, based on a measure of bank health known as the “Texas ratio.”
The Texas ratio measures a bank’s problem loans against its capital on hand to absorb losses. While regulators don’t release an official list of troubled banks, the Texas ratio serves as an informal misery index that circulates widely among bankers and analysts, Donsky writes.
A ratio of 100 or more means a bank has more problem loans than capital on hand to absorb losses. Topping Georgia’s list: tiny McIntosh Commercial Bank in Carrollton. McIntosh had a ratio of 884, one of the highest in the nation, according to Atlanta-based FIG Partners, a bank consulting firm.
In all, 16 Georgia banks joined the list in the fourth quarter and eight others fell off because they failed.
Also in the AJC:
Power Breakfast: Landlords pursue medical tenants, Toyota, foreclosure on shelter, Google, health care, China
With metro Atlanta’s retail vacancy rate at 11 percent, shopping center owners are going after more health-care tenants, AJC staffer Gertha Coffee reports.
Shopping centers are ideal for physical therapists, dental providers, urgent-care doctors, chiropractors, family physicians and other independent practices, said Bob Wordes, of Atlanta-based Shopping Center Group.
“Facilities are on the ground, occupancy costs are a lot less than building a new building and customers are drawn to shopping centers,” he said. “The fact that people can access doctors a lot closer to their homes is a positive thing. I think the trend will continue.”
From a landlord’s perspective, Coffee writes, credit for a group of doctors is easier to get than for the typical retail store owner.
The current downturn has a lot to do with the trend, said Scott Shuman of the Arnall Golden Gregory law firm. “Retail shopping center owners are re-evaluating how they do business,” he said. “I don’t …
What’s going on with Toyota?
What’s happening? Toyota, a company known for decades for extremely high quality, is getting the opposite reputation right now.
First the gas pedals. Now the brakes on the popular Prius hybrid.
What do you think is going on? Growing too fast? Losing focus? Bad coincidence?
And what can Toyota do now to earn your trust back? Or is it too late?
For instant updates, follow me on Twitter.
Power Breakfast: UPS chief says recession over, new Georgia bank, Chick-fil-A, SBA, AIG, Toyota
UPS is known as a bellwether company because it deals with all sectors of the global economy in its package shipping business.
So I certainly hope UPS CEO Scott Davis is right when he declared Tuesday an end to the recession, according to a story by AJC reporter Rachel Tobin Ramos.
“It looks like this recession is finally over and believe it or not, that makes 21 that UPS has successfully managed through,” Davis told analysts.
The company, which was founded in 1907, will restore raises to about 40,000 managers at a cost of $100 million, chief financial officer Kurt Kuehn told Ramos.
Still, the company is proceeding with a plan to eliminate 1,800 positions, in part by asking 1,100 management and administrative employees to retire early.
The move will cost the company about $80 million in the first quarter of 2010, but produce annual savings of about $160 million to $170 million, starting in 2011. The benefit won’t be felt in 2010 as employees are moved and retrained, Kuehn …
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