How Well Can You Swim?

One thing your newborn may need, if he lives in any of the world’s coastal cities, is a pair of flippers.  The sea level rise may come much faster than people think.  Click here.

For those of us who are long-suffering shareholders in Borealis . . . up 10% to $5.80 yesterday on volume of 107 shares, which is to say $600 worth, less than you might spend on an office chair . . . here is an analysis of the value of the “time savings” its WheelTug subsidiary could unlock.

(Not included in the AirInsight analysis: any credit for savings on jet fuel or engine maintenance, nor any allowance for “the twist” that could double or triple those time savings by allowing passengers to board and deplane from the front and rear doors.)

It works out to about $1 billion a year for giant carriers like American or Southwest, so maybe $20 billion industrywide.

And double or triple that, eventually, with “the twist” and other savings added in.

WheelTug’s business model is to lease the systems for half the savings.

Obviously, they will never, ever — ever — see the kind of revenues that would imply.  But they don’t have to net billions of dollars a year for parent Borealis, with 5 million shares outstanding, to be worth more than $5.80 a share ($30 million).

Will short-haul aircraft one day all have WheelTug capability?  None does now.

I like to think it’s analogous to TV remote controls.  For years, not a single TV was sold with a remote.  But once they were invented?  Who today would buy a TV without a remote control?

AirInsight links to a more detailed analysis of pushback savings from the company itself.

Caution, as always: BOREF shares are only for money you can truly afford to lose (as those of us who paid as much as $16 a share surely recognize); and trade so thinly, they must only be purchased with “limit” orders, so you don’t accidentally pay a lot more than you expected to.

Have a great weekend.