Northwest loses $258 per passenger in the 1st quarter

$4.1 billion loss

divided among 15.9 million passengers boarded in the 1st quarter.

Yessir, Northwest plays second fiddle to no one, not even its putative merger partner.

All these losses are being borne by shareholders. For now. But what happens when a company runs out of shareholder equity? Who picks up the tab then?

Delta loses $244 per passenger in the 1st quarter

$6.261 billion loss

divided by 25.6 million passengers boarded in the 1st quarter.

Breaking: Subsidized carrier loses $36 per passenger last quarter!

But since you won't find this pseudo stat quoted in any financial news story or press release mentioning United Airlines, here's how to calculate it.

1. First, take United's 1st quarter loss of $542 million.

2. Then add up all of United's passenger boardings in January (4.8 million), February (4.7 million) and March (5.7 million).

3. Divided $542 million into 15.2 million, and you get (ta da!) $35.70 loss per passenger.

Show of hands, now: Who's ready to break this thing up and liquidate it?

Why connections matter: Skybus edition

Critics of Amtrak service prefer to characterize the national network as a collection of discrete trains. They find it convenient to completely ignore the network effect that occurs in places like Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington.

Why does the network effect matter? Consider the curious case of Skybus, the Columbus-based carrier that just failed yesterday, April 4.

Until the day it shut down, Skybus warned its passengers that its hub wasn't a hub. Here's some text from the "Where We Fly" page cached at Google (as of April 5), with emphasis added:

Currently, Skybus does not offer any connecting flights (for example, from Los Angeles through Columbus to Boston). And we don’t offer flights between our destination cities (for example, between Los Angeles and San Francisco).

Please note: It’s possible to create your own multi-point trip through our Columbus and Greensboro bases, but we don’t recommend it. Our flight schedules are very tight, and you may miss your connection. If you do create your own multi-point trip, please keep the following in mind:

• You must claim and recheck your baggage between flights. If you create your own multi-point trip, you must collect your own baggage at each stop and re-check it yourself – Skybus does not move your bags automatically. For more information, see our Help Center section on baggage.
• Leave enough time between flights. If you book a multi-point trip, we recommend that you allow at least two hours between your flights. This will help ensure that you have enough time to retrieve and re-check your bags, and be at your gate in time. All of our check in and gate deadlines still apply if you purchase multiple flights.

In other words, the Skybus route system was a collection of discrete routes. With no connection between them.

Don't let any critic or so-called rail fan tell you different: Networks matter.

"Fixing" a bridge with commuter rail

The collapse of Minneapolis's I-35W bridge is forcing thousands of commuters to seek alternate ways to get to work.

Might those ways include commuter rail?

There's precedent for the concept of temporary commuter service, just next door in Wisconsin. Nearly 10 years ago, WisDOT undertook major reconstruction of I-94. Its responses included extending two Amtrak Hiawathas north and west--all the way to Watertown.

Once the interstate was back on line, the Hiawathas reverted to their normal route.

Latest news is that even a fast-tracked bridge replacement won't come on line until late 2008 at the earliest. How quick can trains come on line?

"Nobody" rides Amtrak's long-distance trains? Tell the AP

which reports that floods temporarily stranded the Sunset Limited about 75 miles west of San Antonio. AP reports 176 people on board.

One hundred seventy six.

That's on the Sunset, a train regularly derided as some kind of poster child for Amtrak's network of supposedly empty long-distance trains.

Well, what's empty today?

Why it's time to expand the passenger-train network: China edition

American Airlines is pushing for a nonstop between Chicago O'Hare and Beijing. So it's asking for lobbying help from St. Louisans, who would presumably connect there. By flying, of course--on one of American's 10 daily nonstop round trips. Over a distance of 258 air miles.

Amtrak already runs 5 daily round-trips between St. Louis and Chicago, but the service terminates at Chicago Union Station, which leaves you 17 miles and a ride on the Blue Line from O'Hare. A built-out passenger-train network would be able to carry passengers direct to the airport. Save those O'Hare gates for flights that are impractical or impossible for train travel. And maybe even make the place a little less miserable.

Do planes cover distance faster than trains? Even with higher-speed train service, they would. But when you're connecting to/from a trip that United makes in 13 hours 20 min, what's your hurry?

Airline delays: worse than you think

If it wasn't enough to read that only 77.9% of airline flights arrived on time in May--a record low--read what can happen the rest of the time.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology did a study several years ago and found that when missed connections and flight cancellations are factored in, the average wait was two-thirds longer than the official statistic.

Here's one way delays expand without tipping off the FAA:

If a flight taxies out, sits for hours, and then taxies back in and is canceled, the delay is not recorded. Likewise, flights diverted to cities other than their destination are not figured into delay statistics.