AMR to slash more capacity in 2009

[Bob Owens]

Well unprofitable routes should be cut if you dont see that changing in the forseeable future.Better to use what you have where you can make money with it. If domestic capacity was cut by 12 percent but overall capacity was only reduced by 8% then they apparently increased International capacity. International flights tend to use more labor and more equipement (because of the longer flights reduce the daily capacity) so this doesnt automatically mean layoffs.

 

[BoeingBoy]

(because of the longer flights reduce the daily capacity)

While it obviously depends on the route, the long international routes (trans-ATL, trans-PAC, S America) generally provide more capacity than using the same airplane on shorter routes.

Take two airplanes that fly 8 hours a day. One flies an 8-hour leg while the other flies 4 2-hour legs. The first would have 1 taxi-out and 1 taxi-in while the second would have 4 of each. Airplanes only produce capacity when they're flying, so less taxi-out/in means more capacity.

Jim

 

[Bob Owens]

While it obviously depends on the route, the long international routes (trans-ATL, trans-PAC, S America) generally provide more capacity than using the same airplane on shorter routes.

Take two airplanes that fly 8 hours a day. One flies an 8-hour leg while the other flies 4 2-hour legs. The first would have 1 taxi-out and 1 taxi-in while the second would have 4 of each. Airplanes only produce capacity when they're flying, so less taxi-out/in means more capacity.

Jim

Ok, but I think you got what I was saying. A SWA 737 may provide more capacity than a AA777 over the course of a day because of how its utilized, depending on how you want to measure capacity.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Absolutely, Bob - that's one of the things that makes WN efficient. But even there, you have to watch the difference in size/stage length between the two.

Take a 225-seat airplane, fly it DFW-LHR (4750 mi), and you produce 1,068,750 ASM's. To produce the same ASM's with a 137-seat airplane, you have to fly it 7,801 miles - no way WN does that in a day.

Using something other than the industry standard of capacity, if you want to talk about how many seats take off each day (sort of a measure of how many seats you can sell, assuming no conneecting passengers) it's a completely different animal. The 225-seat airplane flying 1 4,750 mile leg a day, has 225 seats to sell. But the 137-seat airplane, flying say 6 legs a day, would potentially have 822 seats to sell.

Jim