Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2021)
INSIDE: DEAR ABBY, HOROSCOPE, PUZZLES & FEATURES THE BULLETIN • SUNDAY, JUNE 13, 2021 bendbulletin.com/business C1 B USINESS Central Oregon air travel Leaving, on a jet plane Passenger numbers through Redmond Airport return to pre-pandemic levels BY MICHAEL KOHN The Bulletin O n a recent walk through the Redmond Airport, Zachary Bass beamed as he pointed out the air- port’s various new fea- tures: a third TSA check-in line, a new parking facility and, to the north, a new operations building. But what pleases Bass most are the lines. People, many of them, lined up to board planes. Around a thou- sand luggage-toting travelers sweep through the doors before 8 a.m. For Bass, the director of the airport, it’s a welcome sight. “We think a lot of it is pent-up de- mand for leisure travel,” said Bass, head of the airport since 2015. “We are expecting the summer to be pretty busy.” More than a year after the pan- demic decimated the travel industry, the Redmond Airport is again show- ing promising signs of life. The num- ber of travelers in the month of May was nearly equal to the number in May 2019 — around 38,000 passen- gers. The return of passengers to the air- port in 2021 is a relief compared to a year ago, when numbers, and revenue, plummeted around 90%. In March and April of 2020, only around 60 to 70 people checked in to flights each day. Now 1,200 to 1,500 passengers a day are flying. What’s the most noticeable change for those who haven’t flown since be- fore the pandemic? Masks, said Bass. Masks will be a federal requirement in all 50 states until Sept. 15 even if indi- vidual states drop their mask mandate. Just walking into an airport may feel strange for some if they haven’t trav- eled since the start of the pandemic. “First -time fliers coming back are hesitant, they don’t know what to ex- pect,” said Bass, who previously ran operations at U.S. Air Force bases, in- cluding a deployment to Iraq. “Then when they come back through, ‘Awe- some’ (they say), you guys are taking all the right precautions.” Where are people headed? Bend-based travel agent Bernie Reumann, chief executive officer of Getaways Travel, said U.S. destinations are still top of the list. Florida and California are top spots, but really it’s open season across the country. “It’s all over, people just want to go,” he said. Some are making inquiries about overseas travel. “The pent-up demand is definitely there,” said Reumann. “People who had prior trips planned are reschedul- ing and getting on with it.” When it comes to overseas travel, Reumann said 80% of his clients are asking about Europe. “Other places like Australia and New Zealand are not open yet,” said Reumann. “South America is not open ; you don’t want to go down there right now. South Africa is open, so the adventurers are looking to go to Af- rica. So it’s a hit-and-miss situation.” See Airport / C8 Travelers deplane at the Redmond Municipal Airport on Tuesday. Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin For better results to come, invest domestically and globally I began in the investment business 30 years ago at EF Hutton (a brokerage firm long since gobbled up by a firm that’s been long since gobbled up and so on, and so on). I’ll never forget pulling into the parking lot one day and seeing a cherry red Corvette whose li- cense plate read, “SOLD HI.” Isn’t that gross? The owner FACTS ON FINANCE By William Valentine wanted us all to know that he bought his ’vette with the pro- ceeds from a stock “sold high.” This was my introduction to the stock market adage that the goal of investors was to “buy low, sell high.” I share this silly anecdote for two reasons. One, I chuckle (and gag a little) every time I think about the “SOLD HI” car. But also, I want to talk about buying low and selling high in the current investment envi- ronment. That’s because my concern going forward is that it will be harder and harder to find investments that can be sold high given how long stocks have done well. In or- der expand your investment opportunity set, it will require you to think outside our stock market. One way to measure the low vs. high of a stock is to look at its “expensiveness” or valua- tion. The most common met- ric is the price-to- earnings ra- tio. At present, the average P/E ratio of U.S. stocks is 22. In Eu- rope, the average is 17. Asian stocks have a P/E of 16. Histor- ically, the average valuation is about 14 — so stocks are not cheap. Not here, and not neces- sarily abroad. Looking forward, it will be trickier to find opportunities that provide good returns. Another way to look at this dilemma is to consider the components of stock market returns. Stock returns historically have averaged about 10%, de- rived from four components. See Valentine / C8