US Airways Lowers Fares in 20 East Coast Markets

[700UW]

US Airways Lowers Fares in 20 East Coast Markets
Thursday January 5, 10:00 am ET
Fares Reduced as Much as 60 Percent as US Airways Spreads Low-Cost Pricing Structure in East Coast Markets

TEMPE, Ariz., Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- US Airways (NYSE: LCC - News) today announced it has slashed fares to nearly 20 destinations connected to its eastern hubs of Charlotte, N.C.; Philadelphia; and Pittsburgh. The move comes in the wake of last month's introduction of lowered Shuttle fares between New York La Guardia and Boston Logan and between New York La Guardia and Washington National. Fares are available immediately and can be booked at www.usairways.com, by calling 800-428-4322 or through a travel agent.

Press Release

 

[robbedagain]

that is good news. may be US can sipher off some SWA bound pax!

 

[Harry Callahan]

I feel more pay cuts comming. Can't make any money

 

[MarkMyWords]

Another great step, but I am sure someone will come on and complain because it isn't the markets that they fly in.

 

[fr8tmastr]

Great, we could not cover costs before, so now we lower our revenue again!

 

[MarkMyWords]

It is about distributing the right number of seats into the right fare buckets. I am confident that we would not be offering these fares if we can't make money at that fare. These are not markets that are in direct competition with other carriers. My personal feeling is that these are test markets for the HP fare system. If they prove successful, then the fares will be expanded to other markets.

 

[700UW]

Where have you been?

We have been offering fares and losing money for years.

 

[Flying Titan]

This is actually smart! On the day when FlyI shuts down in a lot of these very markets and there will be news coverage (today & tomorrow) on every local station about how fares are about to go up, US Airways comes out w/ lower 21-day advance fares!

US Airways - long the champion of finding a way to look like the bad guy - now actually makes a move to look like the good guy coming to the rescue of the markets that are losing an lcc...and that good news comes from "LCC."

US Airways was also the first to come out and say they would honor Independence Air tickets. Yes, this was with a change fee, but still making the announcement is a good, proactive marketing move and shows the airline in a good light.

 

[FCYTravis]

Lower fares stimulate traffic. Period.

US Airways cannot cut capacity to try and drive fares up with scarcity anymore, because the reality is that Southwest will jump on any one of those markets and dump 737s on them until US cries Uncle and quits.

Cutting fares where cutting fares can be done without going below cost, will drive traffic and fill more seats, meaning more planes that need more pilots. Why do you think Southwest is now the largest domestic carrier in America?

This is a great move that makes sense from a financial and PR perspective. Plus, it makes WN less likely to jump on any given route, because they use that "hub-busting, no competition" image to drive initial traffic and pro-Southwest PR when opening a new city - like when they utterly destroyed US Airways in the PR battles over PIT and PHL. If US can already have lower fares and already have stimulated fare-sensitive traffic on these routes, WN can't walk in and fill up its 737s nearly as easily.

 

[ringmaruf]

US Airways cannot cut capacity to try and drive fares up with scarcity anymore, because the reality is that Southwest will jump on any one of those markets and dump 737s on them until US cries Uncle and quits.

Yeah, if it weren't for this, WN would surely be announcing CLT-PGV, PIT-ROC, PHL-CAK, CLT-LEX, CLT-CHA, and the rest any day now.

With only a few exceptions, these are not WN markets, and never will be.

I do think this was a great idea, but it had nothing to do with WN.

 

[evprincess]

This is a great idea!! It was always embarrassing quoting a roundtrip hour long Dash ride to CLT, without a Saturday stay, at over $900. This was the norm. People flew on the competition to save money, Delta's had the cheapest CLT fare in our city, now perhaps people will chose to take the direct.

 

[FCYTravis]

I do think this was a great idea, but it had nothing to do with WN.

The whole principle of cutting fares out East clearly has something to do with WN, because WN was kicking U's tail up and down the concourse while short-haul East Coast customers got BloFared.

I'm quite sure these won't be the last dramatic fare cuts.

 

[Snafu]

Where have you been?

We have been offering fares and losing money for years.

Maybe on the east......the old US Airways. But HP/AWA has done this before and made money. HP/AWA has been quite innovative about a lot little tricks that no one thought would work or generate revenue but if you followed the trends, the "big guys" have adopted and adapted to a number of the HP/AWA marketing strategies.

 

[allunionsdeceive]

Where have you been?

We have been offering fares and losing money for years.

and they did not know how to do it for years too.

 

[US1YFARE]

Another great step, but I am sure someone will come on and complain because it isn't the markets that they fly in.

geez mr. negativity towards the customers....