I know this has been done before, but we have alot of newbies and its been awhile.
There are more ways to cut costs than asking for money from employees. Lets list ideas, no matter how small or large they may be, outrageous as they be. Be open to dialogue of why they wouldnt work, and please participate with insight... they are just ideas. Heres some to start:
*Move even more towards a standard fleet. First victims should be the 757 and 767 with A321 and A330-200. That would bring mainline types down to three types (737, A320, A330)
*Standardize which aircraft fly into which stations- most of the stations dont vary too much in capacity demand. Instead of having a 737-300, 400, 320, 757, 321 at different times of the day, why not just make it an Airbus station? This would also allow for more swopping to better meet capacity and avoid lost revenue through empty seats or overbooking compensation... for example if BDL is an oversold A319 and MCO is an empty 321, they could be swopped. I'm sure its more complicated than that, but it seems to make sense?
*Same for Express aircraft and carriers. There are markets that have ERJs, CRJs, DH8, D38, SF3s at different times of day, all different carriers (with different procedures). You can go in some stations and see the manuals of ten different carriers. Wouldnt it be more cost effiecient and standard, plus save training costs and equiptment costs to standardize which carrier and what type flies into stations with the same demand all day?
*Standardize galley equiptment on all Group aircraft (or at least the ones that will be around for awhile)... the same packouts, carts, and supplies could be loaded off an A330 and returned to a CRJ. This would not only cut down on actual equitment, but also time and mistakes. It would also standardize service procedures throughout the system.
*Make a deal with either all of the Star Alliance carriers or just United for standard catering supplies. Imagine the cost savings if 18 different airlines shared the same plastic/styrofoam cups with a Star Alliance logo and all of the airlines logos around the bottom. Its also free worldwide advertising.
*Look into different catering supplies. I know its kind of lame, but do we need to have Coke products? Is there other companies that would sell them cheaper? Cola is cola and Lemon Lime is Sprite if the price is right.
*On some European airlines they give out liitle half size soda cans... not sure if they are available here, but it would cut down on waste, save tons of space allowing double catering, and speed up service (cup and can rather than making it). It also gives the customer the impression that they are getting more (a full can, even if its small).
* I'll never understand why we need all of these different airlines serving the same mission, and I know there is progress in this issue. With union consent, couldnt the CRJs just go to the MAA division? Why have seperate wholly owned airlines (even at MAA) with seperate facilities, management, etc?
*Our CWA friends will have to help me on this one, (and please let me know if I'm suggesting something that would result in jobb loss etc as thats not my intention!) JetBlue has at home reservationists... I know our res is much much more complicated, but could there not be a network of at-home res agents? This eliminates the need for facilities while keeping the manpower we need. Also, mgmts always complaining about down time for airport agents. Could some res work be moved to airports? Possibly hubs, or stations that have long periods of inactivity, they could have little mini call centers in the back.
*Do we need laptop power, airfones etc at every seat? Only three airphones can be used at once anyway, and the LPPs get little use. Why not have them only in Envoy, First, Shuttle, the 330 and selected seats in coach (these could be sold as desirable seats for FFs that dont get upgraded- exit rows, bulkheads and other coveted seats with the addition of lpps, phone, JetConnect etc). The RJs and SJs could feature these too (I believe CoEx does).
*It seems as there will always be a need for turboprops larger than 19 seats for very short routes... lets say there is one or two turboprop operators like Colgan Air. Brand these as US Connection, a different product than the RJs. Replace gallies with smaller versions and stock them with Coke, Sprite, Water and Orange Juice bottles only. This also saves alot of weight on these aircraft. Our Express brand is very inconsistant and confusing to our customers, from the B1900 to the E170. The Connection branding of the 19 and 30 seaters would help that, and I still think the rest should just be US Airways, (but this is my cost saving novel and not my usual branding one
)
Ok, enough for now, I will think of more though. (Light Years hand falls off :blink: )
There are more ways to cut costs than asking for money from employees. Lets list ideas, no matter how small or large they may be, outrageous as they be. Be open to dialogue of why they wouldnt work, and please participate with insight... they are just ideas. Heres some to start:
*Move even more towards a standard fleet. First victims should be the 757 and 767 with A321 and A330-200. That would bring mainline types down to three types (737, A320, A330)
*Standardize which aircraft fly into which stations- most of the stations dont vary too much in capacity demand. Instead of having a 737-300, 400, 320, 757, 321 at different times of the day, why not just make it an Airbus station? This would also allow for more swopping to better meet capacity and avoid lost revenue through empty seats or overbooking compensation... for example if BDL is an oversold A319 and MCO is an empty 321, they could be swopped. I'm sure its more complicated than that, but it seems to make sense?
*Same for Express aircraft and carriers. There are markets that have ERJs, CRJs, DH8, D38, SF3s at different times of day, all different carriers (with different procedures). You can go in some stations and see the manuals of ten different carriers. Wouldnt it be more cost effiecient and standard, plus save training costs and equiptment costs to standardize which carrier and what type flies into stations with the same demand all day?
*Standardize galley equiptment on all Group aircraft (or at least the ones that will be around for awhile)... the same packouts, carts, and supplies could be loaded off an A330 and returned to a CRJ. This would not only cut down on actual equitment, but also time and mistakes. It would also standardize service procedures throughout the system.
*Make a deal with either all of the Star Alliance carriers or just United for standard catering supplies. Imagine the cost savings if 18 different airlines shared the same plastic/styrofoam cups with a Star Alliance logo and all of the airlines logos around the bottom. Its also free worldwide advertising.
*Look into different catering supplies. I know its kind of lame, but do we need to have Coke products? Is there other companies that would sell them cheaper? Cola is cola and Lemon Lime is Sprite if the price is right.
*On some European airlines they give out liitle half size soda cans... not sure if they are available here, but it would cut down on waste, save tons of space allowing double catering, and speed up service (cup and can rather than making it). It also gives the customer the impression that they are getting more (a full can, even if its small).
* I'll never understand why we need all of these different airlines serving the same mission, and I know there is progress in this issue. With union consent, couldnt the CRJs just go to the MAA division? Why have seperate wholly owned airlines (even at MAA) with seperate facilities, management, etc?
*Our CWA friends will have to help me on this one, (and please let me know if I'm suggesting something that would result in jobb loss etc as thats not my intention!) JetBlue has at home reservationists... I know our res is much much more complicated, but could there not be a network of at-home res agents? This eliminates the need for facilities while keeping the manpower we need. Also, mgmts always complaining about down time for airport agents. Could some res work be moved to airports? Possibly hubs, or stations that have long periods of inactivity, they could have little mini call centers in the back.
*Do we need laptop power, airfones etc at every seat? Only three airphones can be used at once anyway, and the LPPs get little use. Why not have them only in Envoy, First, Shuttle, the 330 and selected seats in coach (these could be sold as desirable seats for FFs that dont get upgraded- exit rows, bulkheads and other coveted seats with the addition of lpps, phone, JetConnect etc). The RJs and SJs could feature these too (I believe CoEx does).
*It seems as there will always be a need for turboprops larger than 19 seats for very short routes... lets say there is one or two turboprop operators like Colgan Air. Brand these as US Connection, a different product than the RJs. Replace gallies with smaller versions and stock them with Coke, Sprite, Water and Orange Juice bottles only. This also saves alot of weight on these aircraft. Our Express brand is very inconsistant and confusing to our customers, from the B1900 to the E170. The Connection branding of the 19 and 30 seaters would help that, and I still think the rest should just be US Airways, (but this is my cost saving novel and not my usual branding one
)Ok, enough for now, I will think of more though. (Light Years hand falls off :blink: )
