flight cuts

What''s interesting is that the company is reopening International bidding for flight attendants because of increased transoceanic flying. Something''s up?
 
reopening the bid has to do mostly with furlough numbers some not returning etc....
 
US Airways to Reduce Capacity in Response to Impact of War
Thursday March 27, 7:30 am ET


ARLINGTON, Va., March 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- US Airways announced today temporary changes to both its transatlantic and domestic schedules in response to the impact of the ongoing war in Iraq.

Transatlantic changes, effective April 1-30, 2003, will affect European operations to and from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Service between Pittsburgh and London (Gatwick) will be suspended for the month of April. In addition, Eastbound service between Pittsburgh and Frankfurt, will not operate on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and westbound service will not operate on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Eastbound Philadelphia-Amsterdam service will not operate on Tuesdays, and westbound service will not operate on Wednesdays.

Domestic schedule changes will be effective April 2 through May 3, 2003, and will affect mostly evening flights departing from Pittsburgh and Charlotte, N.C. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, the last bank of flights departing Charlotte will not operate. On those days, the last flights of the day will depart Charlotte between 7 p.m., and 8 p.m., Eastern time.

The last two banks of departing flights from Pittsburgh will not operate on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between April 2 and May 3, 2003. On those two days of the week, the last departing flights out of Pittsburgh will depart by 6 p.m., Eastern time.

Schedule changes for the first week of April are currently available to the public through computer reservations systems, and adjustments for the period through May 3 will be available beginning Sunday. Customers should contact their booking agent to determine if the schedule adjustments have affected their itinerary. A chart detailing the routes affected by the domestic schedule changes is available online at usairways.com/adjusted_schedule.

Because of the war in Iraq, we have adjusted our operation in a way that limits the impact to our customers, as the schedule changes have been made to off-peak travel days on which we have traditionally lower demand, said B. Ben Baldanza, US Airways senior vice president of marketing and planning. These schedule changes constitute a less than 5 percent reduction in available seat miles, or a 4 percent reduction in total departures.

In the period since September 11, we have reduced our capacity by 28 percent, so we now need to make only minor adjustments to our schedule. We will continue to watch closely demand trends and respond as appropriate.

Separately, US Airways Express will discontinue all service in Kalamazoo, Mich., and Madison, Wis., effective April 5, 2003. US Airways Express will also close its station in Baton Rouge, La., effective May 4, 2003. US Airways Express employees in these locations will be offered positions at other stations in the US Airways Express system.

US Airways will continue to monitor events and ticketing procedures. As a reminder, for those tickets purchased on or before April 2, 2003, US Airways'' Peace of Mind policy allows customers to reschedule wholly unused itineraries for travel through June 17, 2003, without incurring standard change fees. Customers interested in making changes to their travel plans should contact US Airways Reservations at 1-800-428-4322 before April 19, 2003.

US Airways is the nation''s seventh-largest airline, serving nearly 200 communities in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Europe. Most of its route network is concentrated in the eastern U.S., where it is the largest air carrier east of the Mississippi. US Airways, US Airways Shuttle, and the US Airways Express partner carriers operate over 3,300 flights per day. For more information on US Airways flight schedules and fares, contact US Airways online at usairways.com, or call US Airways Reservations at 1-800-428-4322.




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Source: US Airways
 
So, now the CASM will go up, as leased aircraft, gates, ticket counters, ground equipment etc. sit idle, while the bills keep coming in. Soon, the Dave''s will be DEMANDING that further cuts in wages/benefits/workforce are necessary or they will be "forced" to liquidate. The "unfortunate turn of events" will be blamed on "unforeseeable affects of Operation Iraqi Freedom"
and in no way reflect on the skill or determination of management in running US Airways. After all, "Now is not the time to point fingers, we all have to pull together to ensure the survival of the company". It''s just that Dave will be surviving on a Caribbean island while U employees are surviving on foodstamps at the local Dollar Store.
 
"This is a short-term reduction. It''s not affecting jobs," a U.S. Airways spokesman said. Before considering layoffs, "we (would) want to see what further impact the war has on our bookings."
 
Lighten up!!!
The whole world is in turmoil. The airlines must do what it takes to survive. Thank God that there are no employee cutbacks and that this should last, hopefully, for one month. Remember this too in 18 months when its time to elect a new president of these United States.
 
This is another post trying to rile the rank and file. I see nothing wrong with this. Why operate a flight that is going to bleed more cash than possible. Actually, the flight reductions are much smaller than I would have expected.

Let''s also not complain about the circumstances we find ourselves in. My heart and my prayers go out to the brave men and women who are putting themselves in harm''s way to secure our future so our kids do not have to deal with the evil that this regime possesses. I applaud the President for doing what is right, regardless of how some of our "allies" feel.

Before you complain about any potential layoffs due to this war, remember those killed, injured, and the POWs, and their families. They are doing this for our security and our to secure our future.
 
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On 3/27/2003 12:35:53 PM N628AU wrote:


This is another post trying to rile the rank and file.  I see nothing wrong with this.  Why operate a flight that is going to bleed more cash than possible.  Actually, the flight reductions are much smaller than I would have expected.
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What?

Can''t get west of PIT after 6pm? I guess I''ll be flying AA on Tuesday and Wednesday for the time being?
 
Clue,

I haven''t seen the actual flight reduction schedules, but while not being able to get out west from PIT after 10pm sucks, it is probably entirely necessary. Those flights are usually pretty light in the best of times, easy pickin for non-revs to get to the coast. I imagine with the depressed booking levels (which I still do not understand people''s reluctance to travel), those flights lose more to pay the crews to fly and the fuel to burn than if they just parked the aircraft overnight (and maybe do some maintenance in the down time).

I blame the media for the depressed booking levels. All the press has been how people are backing away from flying during the war. No positive spin on just how secure the major airlines are overall, or how choosing to travel would really help the economy. Kind of reminds me of those Jim Lovell ads after 9/11 they only ran at 3am.
 
Pretty soon they will be flying by appointment only. Hey guys, I know you have to save money, but taking an incomplete network (no national footprint), and further limiting it by reducing services at the end of the business day, can''t be helpful. By the way, does anyone know why "G" upgrade inventory seems to have disappeared from the CRS?
 
Couple of notes:

It appears to be a 6pm bogey. Not 10pm.

Forget about going all the way to the coast. How about ORD, DFW, STL, MCI?

And that''s just from the hubs. Can you imagine having to leave DCA in the early afternoon to make it home to LAX/SFO/SEA a couple of days a week? It''s nuts.

Let''s get those EMBs with the F seats, because as much as it kills me to say that, I''d rater have some service on smaller gauge aircraft than zilch.
 
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On 3/27/2003 10:14:47 PM ClueByFour wrote:

Couple of notes:

It appears to be a 6pm bogey. Not 10pm.

Forget about going all the way to the coast. How about ORD, DFW, STL, MCI?

And that's just from the hubs. Can you imagine having to leave DCA in the early afternoon to make it home to LAX/SFO/SEA a couple of days a week? It's nuts.

Let's get those EMBs with the F seats, because as much as it kills me to say that, I'd rater have some service on smaller gauge aircraft than zilch.

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IMO, this mangement is only making excuses to downsize PIT an CLT, to get ready for the RJ flying later this year. Those planes will be coming as soon as they get thier financing from the ATSB guaranteeing these loans. I suspect somewhere between 100 and 150 planes. They have to start flying them somewhere, and I don't believe at all, that these flights they take out will be coming back as mainline flying for PIT and CLT. They are just getting us ready for this, and I believe more furloughs will have to come along with this from mainline, whether you want to beleive this or not.
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You are talking about 1 flight a day 2 or 3 times a week in most markets (some have 2 or 3 fewer, but not many markets are cut that drastic). Also, although it affects PIT local passengers, many other cities will still have later service via CLT or PHL depending on the market and flight times. (Some CLT flights cut too, but different markets affected). These are the slowest nights of the week and if it is a choice of cutting all service to certain cities or limited, this was a better choice. Starting in April we were already running limited early am/pm flights in some markets on Tu and We anyway.
As far as the G upgrades, we recently changed the booking codes on award travel and I saw some pnrs that hadnt been reworked. It might be that they are limiting the G seats until they get all the award seats rebooked into the correct new booking codes (to match UA classes of service for codeshare flights) so they dont authorize the entire cabin with upgrades in advance.