Bailing Out On Ailing Us Airways

[cavalier]

Article



This is telling, from the Article: "Still, he's "lamenting the demise" of US Airways' hub at Pittsburgh International. "As bad as US Airways is, in a lot of ways I think we'll miss them. There was a time when I felt like I supported US Airways. I wanted them to stay."

 

[Winglet]

I hope that six footer enjoys his little seat and no headroom in the RJ . . . and enjoys getting on three different airlines to get where he wants to go. Enjoy it pal, it's what you and the rest of the American public want.

 

[shaka]

I don't think the american public wants it, I think its more a matter of airline economics.

 

[Light Years]

Article
This is telling, from the Article: "Still, he's "lamenting the demise" of US Airways' hub at Pittsburgh International. "As bad as US Airways is, in a lot of ways I think we'll miss them. There was a time when I felt like I supported US Airways. I wanted them to stay."

[post="187867"][/post]​

Ok, I'm sorry... "as bad as US Airways is"? Operationally and service wise, for the past decade US Airways service has been consistent with, or for the most part BETTER than the other major carriers. Airlines in America, particularly your hometown one, have always been punching bags.

Is US Airways "bad" because they are finally getting rid of a hub that should never have been? I don't see any of the other "good" airlines lining up to provide the 'burgh with non-stop flights.

US has screwed PIT with the airport, but they artificially brought business and prestige to the place for years, for no other reason than sentiment. Because 80 years ago some dude flew some mail from PIT to Ohio or something and it became Allegheny Airlines. PIT was once a great regional hub for a regional airline, but US Airways should have instead used the opportunities they once had at IND, LAX, SFO, SAN, and MIA.

If I were a resident of Pittsburgh I would still try to support the airline that employs by far more than any other in the area, even after cuts, ever will. The airline still provides more jobs and non-stop service that would not be replaced (SEA-PIT? SJU-PIT? DEN-PIT? right...).

As bad as the traffic is, as low as the yields are, and as declining the city of Pittsburgh is, we'll miss it too.

 

[ClueByFour]

As bad as the traffic is, as low as the yields are, and as declining the city of Pittsburgh is, we'll miss it too.

[post="187952"][/post]​

The traffic is better than CLT (at least the O&D) is. The yields are declining only in the limited face of LCC presence at PIT.

Now that we've gotten reality out of the way, let's talk about this guy's perception of US being "bad." Might that be driven by CCY's move to cancel the PIT leases at the 11th hour? Not everyone judges the airline based on the performance of the frontline employees, you know.

US is keeping 220+ flights/day at PIT for a very specific reason--if they pull any more flights, someone will make a run at making PIT a focus city, and if it's LUV, you can turn the lights out today, transformation plan or no transformation plan.

 

[Light Years]

What saves CLT is it's location (not in PA or a few miles from it like the other ones), it's ability to bring cities into the network not servable from the northeast (southern and some midwestern destinations), low costs, good weather, a growing economy, a missing link network-wise for Star, a growing hispanic population, growing business ties with Europe, very supportive city, lower cost of living, and a great alternative to ATL.

I would have liked to have seen PIT grow into a CVG style connecting hub, with RJs flowing in traffic from the midwest, but US never got a foothold in that type of East-West flying. Instead they ended up with two duplicate feed networks in PHL and PIT (well, save a few West Virginia stops). The only difference being PHL had enough O&D to connect people to somewhere, and grow the network internationally and PIT didn't. PIT was no longer bringing anything to the table aside from being a relief hub to CLT and PIT. The addition of United and ORD as a connecting hub, alliance or merger wise, made it even more redundant. If it hadn't been United/Star that they partnered with, it would have been Northwest and DTW. I'm not sure if they really made an effort to turn PIT into a true midwest-east hub or not, it certainly was the perfect facility for it, with some of the best of the workforce, and it's a shame.

 

[Rob]

"as bad as US Airways is..."

I bet the man who said that is over 45. I think the "bad" connotation depends a lot on the age of the speaker. To me, bottle blond US Air(ways) has never grown far from its dark Allegheny roots. Younger people, OTOH, have no memories of Convairs, crashes, the stewardess swan dive over Connecticut, barf bags, lost bag rates > 50% in NY airports, "coffee, tea, or milk" - and all this at first class fares.

 

[Light Years]

Good point... one only has to look at how the company is viewed in places where they are relative newcomers with a good product (Europe, where they have a very good reputation), and say, New York State or Pennsylvania where they gouged people and provided below average service for decades.

I have to ask though, what was the stewardess swan dive over Connecticut?

 

[Kev3188]

I have to ask though, what was the stewardess swan dive over Connecticut?

[post="188021"][/post]​

I'm wondering the same thing....

 

[Light Years]

I'm incredibly curious as to the "stewardess swan dive"? This isn't the time I had too many gin and tonics in Hartford is it? 😛

 

[air chief]

I'm wondering the same thing....

[post="188033"][/post]​

Back in the early 60s..Allegheny was operating either a Convair 340 or 440 in vicinity of BDL..the rear door wasnt porperly shut and it came open while in flight..ejecting the fltt attendant

 

[Light Years]

Oh my God! Should I even ask if she survived?

 

[X-U]

"I would have liked to have seen PIT grow into a CVG style connecting hub"

I don't think DL is doing as well at CVG as many seem to believe. On a recent trip through CVG, I noticed an article in the local paper bemoaning the fact that CVG has the second highest costs per passenger in the nation. It was also noted that many passengers in the area are avoiding CVG and DLs high fares by driving to nearby airports with LCC service, including CMH, DAY, IND, LEX and SDF.

So one has to wonder, is the plan to throw RJs into PIT and call it a focus city a viable one?

 

[Light Years]

Interesting. CVG does allow Delta to bring midwest places into the east coast network, but as an nearly all-RJ hub, it would'nt surprise me if the cost were high.

It just amazes me some of the city pairs they are able to pull off out of there- Appleton WI for one, and I think they even get out to Omaha and Lincon. US at PIT was not even able to support Madison, nor Omaha... Delta is even able to support some of those upper/central midwest (NW territitory) from ATL. How are they able to do support such a larger network from similar hubs while US can't? Of course ATL is a bigger hub with more O&D than CLT, but comparing DL and US in the east, DL seems to be able to stretch the network so much further than US.

 

[JS]

Interesting. CVG does allow Delta to bring midwest places into the east coast network, but as an nearly all-RJ hub, it would'nt surprise me if the cost were high.

It just amazes me some of the city pairs they are able to pull off out of there- Appleton WI for one, and I think they even get out to Omaha and Lincon. US at PIT was not even able to support Madison, nor Omaha... Delta is even able to support some of those upper/central midwest (NW territitory) from ATL. How are they able to do support such a larger network from similar hubs while US can't? Of course ATL is a bigger hub with more O&D than CLT, but comparing DL and US in the east, DL seems to be able to stretch the network so much further than US.

[post="188416"][/post]​

It's only because Delta is a much larger airline. Same reason Delta flies to many more places than AirTran even though they both have an ATL hub.