mbmbbost-
I agree with you that US Airways can''t continue to walk away from markets in the face of competition, but it''s also clear that the airline is stuck between a rock and a hard place. As I''ve said before, one of the biggest problems is that CLT is no match for ATL. While CLT is the second-best location for a Southeastern U.S. hub, it simply cannot hold a candle to ATL for O&D traffic generation. And even though Delta runs non-stops from BOS to FLL, PBI, MCO, TPA, and RSW (14 daily flights as of 5/1), they can still manage to fill 10 daily non-stops from BOS to ATL (6 of them on 767''s). If US were to add, say, 10 daily flights to Florida from BOS, there would be a corresponding erosion of traffic via CLT (as well as PHL, though O&D at PHL is much stronger), which would further weaken the CLT hub. If US Airways were to increase overflying of CLT (which is limited to a few flights from DCA at present), CLT would have to be further downsized and would likely look a lot like CVG (and the future PIT).
The historical problem for US Airways has been a cost structure considerably higher than its peers and far higher than the low-cost carriers. A strong presence in high-yield markets helped to temper that disadvantage in the past, but the increased presence of discounters in markets where US had formerly been dominant, combined with DL and CO stealing more of US'' high-yield passengers with RJ''s has left US with few places to retreat to. Hopefully, the airline''s new cost structure will be one which will allow it to compete more effectively. I just don''t know that competing with song, AirTran, American, and potentially jetBlue from BOS to Florida is a good fight to try and pick.