East Asia

[Airline Employee]

US Air back in the early 90s was awarded PIT-NRT, did not have a plane for the route and the Pilots blocked a wet lease so the route was given up.

Wow, I did not know that. So, USAirways has an unused "landing slot" or "gate" for NRT. I'll bet that the CEO doesn't even know that they have it. They were saying that they'd love to fly to NRT. I think PHX, LAS & PHL would be nice additions for them. They really need more international traffic.

 

[700UW]

No, the route authority was returned to the government and never used, they have nothing in NRT and no rights to it.

 

[Onestep2flt]

So, I guess the story goes full circle. Had forgot about that one 700. Always the cart in front of the horse.

 

[FutureUScapt]

For those who are interested and sort of the supplement 700's post:

US in 1998 again proposed nonstop service to NRT on its own metal, this time with service from PHL which would've begun in 2000. However, this was contingent upon ALPA agreeing to codesharing on UA/AA flights to NRT and KIX. When ALPA refused to budge, US backed off its intentions to fly PHL-NRT.




Also, more slots are supposed to become available in NRT starting in 2010. That same year, Haneda airport is slated to open up to international service with the completion of a new runway there.

 

[nycbusdriver]

For those who are interested and sort of the supplement 700's post:

US in 1998 again proposed nonstop service to NRT on its own metal, this time with service from PHL which would've begun in 2000. However, this was contingent upon ALPA agreeing to codesharing on UA/AA flights to NRT and KIX. When ALPA refused to budge, US backed off its intentions to fly PHL-NRT.

Wrong. The reason the USAirways pilots rejected the deal is that the PHL-NRT route was going to be wet leased to UAL. Wolf wanted his cake and eat it, too. Why should the USAirways pilots be willing to outsource premium jobs that could have been done in house given the right equipment? It made no sense, then, and it would make no sense today. The the airline wants a PHL-NRT route under their banner, then they can comply with the contract they signed with the pilots. In the immortal words of Doug Parker, "You get what you negotiate." The USAirways pilots negotiated and GOT scope protection. Those were USAirwways pilots' jobs, not UAL pilots'.

 

[FutureUScapt]

Wrong. The reason the USAirways pilots rejected the deal is that the PHL-NRT route was going to be wet leased to UAL. Wolf wanted his cake and eat it, too. Why should the USAirways pilots be willing to outsource premium jobs that could have been done in house given the right equipment? It made no sense, then, and it would make no sense today. The the airline wants a PHL-NRT route under their banner, then they can comply with the contract they signed with the pilots. In the immortal words of Doug Parker, "You get what you negotiate." The USAirways pilots negotiated and GOT scope protection. Those were USAirwways pilots' jobs, not UAL pilots'.

Hmmm, I'm surprised I don't remember that part of it, though I'm pretty sure the code-sharing issue was a sore spot as well. Just to clarify, I do agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments though.

 

[Art at ISP]

At this point, it probably would not make good sense to start flying to Asia--traffic is declining to the point where incumbent carriers may be cutting capacity even further.

To add a new player charging the same prices with a product which is not up to par for the market would probably cause even greater losses.

If and when the market recovers, perhaps, but one could hope by then that the issues with product and customer service in general would have been addressed.

We have seen some very positive steps in the customer service area of late, but there is much more to be done.

 

[Freighterguynow]

http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/access/train/index.html

I stand corrected must've been underground! Still, 90 minutes on a train from Tokyo proves my point.

 

[gaucho99]

In one of the earnings webcasts last year....I think it was either second or third quarter, somenone asked the question about starting service to Tokyo. The answer, (and I don't recall who said it) was that our hubs are not idealy situated for extensive Asia service. He said we are better off concentrating on Europe and maybe South America.