mjenkins - not world breaking but surely resonably impressive. Only SouthWest have been profitable in the US for every year BAR their 1st. To become profitable in the 3rd year, 20 odd years on, in an geographical area already well served with low cost competitors is somewhat of an achievement.
As for the profit/asset ratio of the airline industry in general, JPJ, well thats just the nature of the beast and applies to all Western airlines.
Mind you - I think the Yr3 profits as announced reflect an effort on the companies behalf to push as much profit into one year, and the most cost into the next, as the sale process was running.
Its interesting but quite difficult to compare Ryan/Easy/Go/Buzz as they are structred so differently with different reporting procedures. Lets just thank heavens that at least some sectors of the industry are profitable and still expanding. I suspect a lot of ex-Virgin/Gill/BMI pilots will share that sentiment.
VREF