Cranky Weekly Review Presented by OAK Airport: United’s Strong Financials, Spirit Names a CEO

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United’s Q1 Saw Good Lead the Way

And we are back! It was a strong first three months of 2025 for United Airlines as the carrier saw its best Q1 since prior to the pandemic, earning a $478 million profit on $13.2 billion gross revenue. Its 3.6% pre-tax margin outpaced industry expectations and that’s before accounting for the emotional losses it takes by operating a hub in Newark.

As with Delta, it was premium cabin revenue that led the charge for UA, as those flying in the pointy-end of the plane led to a 9.2% jump in revenue. Basic economy was also up 7.6%, but United would prefer no one acknowledge that — going as far as the refer to the money from the poors as something “we will take, but only to mess with the ULCCs and put them out of business.”

UA will reduce domestic capacity by as much as 4% beginning with Q3 and will retire 21 planes earlier than expected — but not so early that it won’t let them complete the flights they’re operating right now. Cash flow was a highlight for UA as well, as it generated $3.7 billion in operating cash flow for the quarter. It repurchased $451 million worth of its own stock while cleverly announcing two sets of Q2 guidance — one if the economy is just sorta bad and one if it all goes to hell. Stay tuned.

Spirit Poaches CEO from Sun Country

Prior to Thursday, Dave Davis was the President and CFO at Sun Country, but he will now need to pack suntan lotion and warm-weather clothes as he took his airline’s name too literally and will move from Minneapolis to sun country — aka South Florida — after being named CEO of Spirit.

Davis will take the role officially on Monday — he has the weekend to fill out HR paperwork and pay the appropriate fees — replacing Ted Christie who was let go last week by the carrier. Davis is already fitting in as he used Spirit’s trademark capital “G” in “Guests” in his quote discussing his excitement for the new role.

He will be joined at Trey Urbahn as Senior Commercial Advisor at Spirit. Urbahn, who is a known fan of both downtown areas and German rapid transit. Urbahn, who will oversee network planning, pricing, yield management, onboard offerings, and yellow paint procurement is a veteran of Azul, Breeze, JetBlue and TAP, not that those four airlines have anything in common.

China (Maybe) Institutes Boeing Ban

As the trade war between the United States and China continues to gain steam, China is (or is at least threatening) to get out of the Boeing business for the time being. The story broke earlier this week with a story in Bloomberg, with other outlets supporting the assertion. Despite the reports, neither Boeing nor the Chinese government — both known for their adept communication skills — have confirmed or denied that there is a ban in place.

Boeing sent three 737 MAX aircraft from Seattle to Zhoushan in China where it finishes the interior and liveries before final delivery to Chinese customers late last month. Those aircraft were flown to Guam earlier today — part of the journey back to the mainland United States — instead of being delivered to enter service.

Boeing shipped 130 airplanes — mostly 737s — in Q1. It didn’t breakout exactly how many of them went to China, but it’s likely a good chunk. The Chinese tariffs already have a carve-out for electronics including phones, so airplanes ending up on an exemption list seem like a logical resolution to this, but what fun would that be?

American AAds Free Wi-Fi

Better late than never, right? American Airlines will follow rivals Delta and United — and JetBlue — and become the latest carrier to offer free WiFi aboard most of its fleet, with the service expected to begin next year.

The offering will be sponsored by the good, caring folks at AT&T, and one must be an AAdvantage member to partake. The carrier has been testing the service on limited routes in anticipation of this rollout and says its worked flawlessly when tested. ‘Trust us,” AA said, “not one issue. Ever.” The new service will be available on about 90% of AA’s mainline fleet — which means the flight you take will surely be in the 10% minority — with it expanding to its regional fleet by the end of 2026 2025.

Once American gets its free connectivity going, it will leave Southwest as the only one of the largest U.S. carriers as a holdout on free WiFi — rumors that Elliott plans to up the price onboard WN flights to $99.99/minute for connectivity have not been confirmed as of press time.

Silver Continues to Tarnish

Silver entered bankruptcy protection late last year and although the carrier continues to fly a reduced schedule, its future took a hit this week after the trustee appointed to oversee it bankruptcy case recommended to the court that the airline be shutdown.

Silver says its financial recovery plan is going well — which is about what you’d expect it to say — and despite its golden outlook, the trustee says the airline’s revenue projections are wildly misguided based on its current operational capability. Cranky Weekly Review was able glimpse at the plans and saw Silver’s projection that it would make into the mid-eight figures by flying its fleet of ATR 42-600s on the highly profitable Nassau – Tokyo/Narita and Fort Lauderdale – Seoul/ICN routes, only needing to stop for fuel about 45 times in each direction.

Silver has about $90 million in assets which doesn’t sound so bad until you realize it has $400 million of debt — that’s…that’s not a good ratio. It lost almost $500,000 in February, and another $1.2 million in the first two weeks of March so things are not trending in the right direction. A hearing is scheduled for May 7 which is currently the over/under for how much longer Silver will be in business.

• Air Antilles has seen better days.
• Air Mauritius lost $27 million between 2017 and 2021 and the country’s prime minister thinks something shady is afoot.
• Alaska is adding menu options. Getting something in the terminal or bringing something from home is still the better option.
• American is the — wait for it — official North American Airline Supplier of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
• ANA is growing its partnership with Singapore Airlines.
• Avelo is returning to Miami with once-weekly service to Wilmington (ILM). The carrier says south Florida’s proximity to El Salvador was not a factor in its decision.
• BA added a new twist to the idea of an Easter egg hunt.
• Conviasa is suspending its flight from Havana to Moscow which is a blow to revolutionaries the world over.
• Delta is boosting up its service to Buenos Aires.
• Hawaiian FAs ratified a three-year contract extension.
• Hunnu Air — don’t act like you haven’t heard of it — took delivery of Mongolia’s first E195-E2.
• JetBlue will have 67 fewer pilots at the end of the month than it had last month.
• LOT is now flying to Reykjavik, but not a lot.
• Malawi Airlines is finally answering the prayers of many as it boosts its domestic schedule.
• Oman Air will start flying to Amsterdam this summer with 4x weekly Dreamliner flight beginning in July.
• Qantaslink — and not Qantas — will begin flying from the new Western Sydney (or Eastern Perth) Airport when (if) it opens.
• Qatar took a 25% stake in Virgin Australia.
• United is looking to hire Elmer Fudd in Denver.
• Viva is adding seven new U.S. routes from Mexico City/NLU.
• Wizz Air UK is delaying the entry of the A321XLR into service.

Whenever I think of the ’80s, I picture a boombox in my mind.

Maybe that’s just a stereotype.