ALGT
#Sure.
What's happening in the first quarter is just March is a really good month.
So it's less affected by rapid growth of the whole industry.
So we are seeing demand hold up fairly well.
We're growing March less ---+ in our own network, we are growing March less quickly than the other two months of the quarter.
That is the dynamic for March.
March is going to be a great month and may be our best month EPS wise ever.
As we look going forward from the first quarter, we expect, all things being equal, just based on our own network planning, we expect to see year-over-year declines to slow.
In other words, we're going to get closer to the year-over-year comp as we move on through the year.
That's a function of both us optimizing a lot of the new markets that we are in on a year-over-year experience basis, and also slowing total network growth as we move on to the fourth quarter.
We're planning internally as we do network planning on a flat revenue environment, basically.
Yes, so the weighted average lifted last week was about $1.14.
<UNK> indicated the spot at into plane in Vegas is $1.05.
You are going to pay a little higher on the East Coast.
We haven't adopted any accounting treatment specifically for the Airbus, even though we have been flying it for a couple years.
We have not had any scheduled maintenance up until this year.
Basically, you're to the point where US GAAP allows for multiple heavy maintenance treatments, depending on fleet type, driven by a number of circumstances.
So we're at the decision point.
I think more importantly is the comp to our peers in the industry.
These folks all reflect this type of treatment.
On a go forward basis, it does things like it does help dampen volatility.
If you went back and looked over the last couple years, you would see our maintenance expense peak and valley pretty dramatically depending on what the year looked like, and more importantly what engine overhauls did.
It's just something we're working through the process, is all.
Nothing is hitting in the first quarter as it relates to the Airbus fleet.
But it's something, assuming this goes forward as planned, it is likely we will re-guide our ex fuel.
Thanks, Michael.
Just the way the cash flows work this quarter, <UNK>, we have our internal guidelines where we try and maintain certain balances.
Given the timing of what we had cash available, we didn't have the resource to go do that.
Certainly, it is still a key to our long-term strategy.
But just the timing did not work well.
It's front-loaded, based on delivery.
So we are taking most of our planned deliveries for 2016 in the front of the year.
Your question is, how much will we pay.
How many of the deliveries will we fund with cash versus financing.
Our cash strategy has not changed.
We continue to target around $400 million in liquidity.
And we have some internal targets around cash net of ATL.
I would expect us to solve for that number as we go forward, and we continue to find a very robust market for financing these airplanes.
I'm not concerned at all about raising debt.
The issue is just we don't want to take cash too high, considering the seasonality of our ATLs through the first quarter.
So I'd expect us to buy for cash the near-term airplanes, pending share buybacks and how that plays itself out.
If we need to raise some money, we will call up one of our banking partners and raise it very quickly.
We are raising money.
Our last deal was done in December.
We are financing a couple of airplanes this week.
We are seeing really constant financing rates of around 2% on a floating rate basis.
There's plenty of debt out there to be had if we need it.
Thanks, <UNK>.
Hello, Steve.
Yes, this is <UNK>.
So if you look at 2016, I think earlier I said there is approximately $20 million in scheduled heavy maintenance that's going to hit for the Airbus fleet in 2016.
Regarding the application of a specific accounting treatment for the Airbus versus what we tried to do with the MD-80 fleet back in 2011, honestly the facts and circumstances are very different.
The unit cost per event, the duration between events ---+ it's really just a completely different animal.
And so looking back the MD-80 ---+ that was a fairly high hurdle rate that we were trying to cover, and the fact that our peers have applied the same accounting treatment.
For instance, an overhauled CFM will go eight years based on our utilization.
The average duration between a JT8 is roughly a couple of years.
And so there's just ---+ it's really night and day.
The accounting treatment, the codification in US GAAP allows us to apply the separate treatments as long as the facts and circumstances supports it.
So, as I mentioned, the point where we are going to start experiencing some of these heavy maintenance events, and so it makes sense to apply this on a go-forward basis.
Yes, so the flat to up 4% was put out there in early December.
I think <UNK> was back at a conference.
There's definitely some puts and takes there.
I think we've pulled the ASMs down about a point, which is going to impact ex fuel full-year 2016.
Yes, so if you're looking at just off the top, the maintenance in particular ---+ and that's being depreciated over a certain amount of time ---+ flat to up 4% isn't going to be the final number.
It's going to be somewhere south of that.
Yes to both.
I mean, certainly you need to keep a certain amount of leverage in there for buying the airplanes.
Having said that, we have the luxury of buying them for cash and then financing them in packages when it makes sense.
And that all gets timed around cash that's available for share buybacks as well.
<UNK>, do you have anything further on that.
We still, even last year, <UNK>, bought back [between] dividends and buyback $190 million ---+ is that the number.
So, we were pretty generous in the past year.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you, Operator.
Thank you all for your attendance, and we'll talk to you in 90 days.
Have a good day.
