I thought this may be worth sharing with all this talk of...

I thought this may be worth sharing with all this talk of improving yields.This is 2009 passenger yield data for the US and Altlantic. Have a look at the last quarter of 2009. The yield decline has slowed and in the case of the atlantic route its turned positive. This bodes well for VBA's international venture and reinforces the turnaround from burning cash to making cash and contributing positively to the bottom line. It may even happen faster than VBA is indicating.

Yield (? per Mile)
Excl. Taxes
Domestic Atlantic
Cents/RPM %change Cents/RPM %change
Jan 14.00 (3.5) 11.98 (7.5)
Feb 13.51 (8.8) 11.54 (10.7)
Mar 13.34 (14.0) 10.53 (14.4)
Apr 13.43 (10.7) 9.93 (21.9)
May 12.71 (16.2) 9.94 (24.0)
Jun 12.93 (18.9) 10.82 (25.2)
Jul 13.20 (14.7) 11.12 (22.8)
Aug 13.14 (14.0) 10.70 (24.3)
Sep 13.26 (16.6) 10.82 (22.5)
Oct 13.69 (12.5) 11.63 (14.4)
Nov 14.47 (4.6) 12.07 (8.2)
Dec 14.11 (1.9) 11.812 2.3
2009 YTD 13.45 (11.8) 11.00 (17.8)
*Alaska, American, Continental, Delta (incl. NWA), JetBlue, United, US Airways and their regional affiliates