Tortoriello of S&P Says Airlines Are Ahead of the Game

May 18, 2009

 We talked with analyst Richard Tortoriello of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services regarding the Aerospace & Defense space in the recent issue of TWST. Here’s what he had to say about how events in the last few years have shaped the current status of the airline industry:

Mr. Tortoriello: …Airlines were getting hit in 2008 and 2007 with soaring fuel prices, so they had to respond to that. They began taking planes out of service last year before anyone was really screaming about a recession. Now they’re a little ahead of the game, and I think that means that some of the worst pain has hit us already. Not that things are going to get better fast, but that there probably aren’t going to be a lot more planes coming out of service and the airlines have probably de-stocked their inventory of aftermarket parts to some extent, and they’re going to have to start ordering a little more.

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