AA's Arpey suggests short-term schedule reductions as new JFK facility opens

[Dont call me Shirley]

AA's Arpey suggests short-term schedule reductions as new JFK facility opens
Thursday August 30, 2007

American Airlines Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey yesterday suggested that voluntary schedule reductions by airlines could be a way to reduce delays and congestion at New York JFK, one of the US's most delay-prone airports this year.

Arpey, who appeared with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the formal inauguration of AA's new $1.3 billion terminal complex at JFK and the launch of a new tourist campaign for the city, added that flight reductions should occur among those airlines that have grown the most at the airport. "Capacity constraints are realistic in the short run," he told journalists.

http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=10063

Actually, there is more than one elephant in the room, but it's good that one of them is being talked about.

 

[BoeingBoy]

"flight reductions should occur among those airlines that have grown the most at the airport"

Hmmmmm - I wonder who that might be? DL and B6 maybe?

Jim

 

[WingNaPrayer]

When you can't compete with your own product, you try to have the competition scaled back, or done away with altogether. The new JFK terminal is a magnificent boondoggle! I'm sure AA thought they could scare the competition with the big pain the in ass terminal, making the competition think that AA does, or will soon need it.

Another exec gave an interview where he claims that JFK will ultimately be the site of the majority of AA's international flights, overshadowing Miami. (Can't quite lay my hands on the link for the interview, but it is out there and recent.)

I can't speak for anyone else but I avoid JFK whenever I can. It is my least favorite airport to have to use and the city isn't high on my list of favorites either.

I see lots of subleasing in AA's future at that new terminal, and TWA would have been in the same boat had their survived long enough to finish the project. Overpriced and over-budget, not to mention poorly decorated with lots of spartan touches, this terminal is not going to be a big draw for new AA business, much as they like to say in interviews that it is. The 'elephant' is the room itself. They'll be subleasing to their competition in the near future because I don't see this terminal generating the business AA thinks it will.

Just because you've built a big new dance hall, doesn't mean you can muscle any more slots for business than you already have. There will be lots of tin on the ground at first to make the wal-mart of airlines look busy, but all the other JFK carriers know - AA is no threat to their business in New York. Too many people have flown AA in the past and they now know better. For many people, myself included, AA is "last resort" transportation. I only use them when I have to, or when they have a monopoly on a route I fly. I can't remember the last time I "chose" to fly AA.

AA may think they know why I fly, but what they won't admit to are the myriad of reasons people won't get on their planes (tin) :glare: Arpey's call for short term schedule reductions is the corporate way of saying we built it, but they won't come, but its really because we've reduced our schedule.

 

[Hopeful]

The net gain in gates is really not that big because they are counting Eagle gates.
As for the new terminal and its price tag and its decorations,,,It is needed . The original Terminal 8 is a disaster and should've been condemned years ago. Terminal 9 was also old and in need of replacement.

I'm glad WingNaPrayer doesn't fly AA unless he has to,,,It keeps the riff raff off our planes.

 

[WingNaPrayer]

It keeps the riff raff off our planes.

Actually, your trailer park rates keeps your busted down aircraft full to the overhead bins with the toe-string and toothless set, so you're quite mistaken in that respect. But what the hell, I always wondered what it would be like if Greyhound got into the air travel business!

 

[eolesen]

You're probably too young to remember Greyhound Air, but it really did exist for a while in the mid-90's.

They shut down after Laidlaw bought up what was still left of Greyhound....

Having worked at the old T9 and T8, this was about 20 years overdue. During the peak early evening hours, there is simply no more runway capacity, but that's not to say that AA couldn't make better use of the facility in the morning, mid-days, or perhaps later evening hours. There's no effective curfew at JFK as there is at LGA, and AA has traditionally had a huge hole in the schedule between 11am and 4pm (I had only four agents in my ticket counter manning between noon and 2pm IIRC). Now they've got the room to exploit that a bit.

 

[Coefficient_Of_Lift]

But what the hell, I always wondered what it would be like if Greyhound got into the air travel business!

Its called Southwest. Stand in line, jockey for position, sit next to someone who hasn't traveled in 8 years, make 4 stops on your way to your destination. Of course, I've never seen Greyhound offer a ridiculous song at the end of the journey - so maybe its not exactly the same.

 

[Bagbelt]

How about BOS? We can't even get toilet paper, and eagle has the best of everything, with our money! Go ahead now everyone and tell me how this job is on the level...

 

[uvagal]

AA's Arpey suggests short-term schedule reductions as new JFK facility opens
Thursday August 30, 2007

American Airlines Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey yesterday suggested that voluntary schedule reductions by airlines could be a way to reduce delays and congestion at New York JFK, one of the US's most delay-prone airports this year.

Arpey, who appeared with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the formal inauguration of AA's new $1.3 billion terminal complex at JFK and the launch of a new tourist campaign for the city, added that flight reductions should occur among those airlines that have grown the most at the airport. "Capacity constraints are realistic in the short run," he told journalists.

http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=10063

Actually, there is more than one elephant in the room, but it's good that one of them is being talked about.

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

You're probably too young to remember Greyhound Air, but it really did exist for a while in the mid-90's.

They shut down after Laidlaw bought up what was still left of Greyhound....

I remember Greyhound Air - it operated in Canada, ~1995/1996/1997. $49 transcon fares (Hamilton-Vancouver via Winnipeg), flights were operated by Kelowna Flightcraft or some other company IIRC.

Was there a Greyhound Air in the USA also?

 

[WingNaPrayer]

Was there a Greyhound Air in the USA also?

Greyhound's venture into the friendly skies began in a grand celebration in July of 1996, with leased Kelowna Flightcraft and facilities staffed by Greyhound personel. Bouyed by the free publicity for the flying dog, along with free bar-b-ques and other festivities for passengers and employees alike, the fledgling operation "took off" for a while.


Sadly, the success of the ad campaign didn't translate into financial success for the flight operation as well. Faced with regulatory hurdles and stiff competition, Greyhound ridership, or more accurately flyership, dwindled after a few months, and the operation was discontinued in the fall of the following year, after Laidlaw announced takeover plans for the Canadian Bus Line. The last flight came to a halt September 21, 1997 and Greyhound flew into aviation history.

http://www.strayhound.com

 

[upsilon]

I can't speak for anyone else but I avoid JFK whenever I can. It is my least favorite airport to have to use and the city isn't high on my list of favorites either.

MIA is my absolutely least favorite. And I know I speak for many others. It is the orifice with the brown ring of all of the AA gateways.

Just because you've built a big new dance hall, doesn't mean you can muscle any more slots for business than you already have.

JFK is not slot controlled.

They'll be subleasing to their competition in the near future because I don't see this terminal generating the business AA thinks it will.

You are way off base. The number of actual gates is not many more than the number at T8 and T9. As Eric and others point out, and as we in New York have been sadly aware, those two terminals never fit together. Originally T8 was AA and T9 was UA (which contracted to the point it could fit into T7 with BA). TWA is gone. AA has been the airline that expanded at JFK.

..all the other JFK carriers know - AA is no threat to their business in New York.

To me that is a throw-away remark - with nothing to back it up.


If one goes with your reasoning, any changes at MIA were equally unneeded.

JFK was built on a concept that didn’t anticipate and doesn’t fit air travel today. But surely you don’t think other domestic airlines are better housed at JFK. The only domestic and international airline with a dedicated terminal is DL. I also fly it to Europe – and the new AA terminal leaves the combination of the former PanAm T3 and T2 without peer as the pits of JFK.

And JetBlue at T6 is often chaotic and now expanding into the space of T5.

AA has its warts; but from a JFK pax standpoint (and it is its biggest gateway) the new T8 (with the elimination of both former T8/T9) is a guarantee that the ‘terminal’ will not be the cause of not flying AA.

Could you say the same for MIA?