Interesting (if true) posting on anet

[Dont call me Shirley]

Yes, a great deal of the stuff on anet is pure drivel, but this one caught my eye:

"Allegheny (before the name change) did show interest in the late 1970s in the A-300, but nothing ever came of it.

They had a history of making a big move and backing away - also in the late '70s they considered applying for a London Gatwick
flight from PIT. They even lined up two ex-United DC-8-62s to operate it with, but pulled the application in the end."


http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/5290411/

I had never heard of this, but did hear that USAir upper management scoffed back in '86 at Piedmont's announcement of CLT-LGW flights and 767 order.

Has anyone heard of what the anet poster wrote?

 

[Keroseneuser]

Yes, a great deal of the stuff on anet is pure drivel, but this one caught my eye:

"Allegheny (before the name change) did show interest in the late 1970s in the A-300, but nothing ever came of it.

They had a history of making a big move and backing away - also in the late '70s they considered applying for a London Gatwick
flight from PIT. They even lined up two ex-United DC-8-62s to operate it with, but pulled the application in the end."


http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/5290411/

I had never heard of this, but did hear that USAir upper management scoffed back in '86 at Piedmont's announcement of CLT-LGW flights and 767 order.

Has anyone heard of what the anet poster wrote?

No never heard that one. looking at an old 1979 schedule I have USair only went as far west as PHX. Did not even have anything to the west coast at that time. They only served 3 cities in FLA at the time. Can't see them doing London with a structure like that.
Maybe in the mid 80's instead of the late 70's?

 

[700UW]

Uncle Ed didnt want to be international, he even cancelled the last three 767s PI had on order.

When the bean counters showed how much money the 767 fleet made, they reordered the last three for a $10 million extra per plane.

 

[MidwayMetrolink]

Somewhere, in my old news archives, I have an article on USAir analyzing London service from PIT using a 747. This would have been around 1981-1982. If I remember correctly, there was something going on between the US and Britain that would have allowed for a few more carriers to enter the market. The original Republic was apparently very close to using a couple of DC-10's to operate between DTW and London during this time period. In fact, there is a photo of a news conference with a Republic DC-10 model as the back drop. I won't swear to this, but I believe the whole episode ended with Air Florida being awarded a EWR-LGW route, in addition to their MIA-LGW route. The EWR route authority was never used and eventually was operated by PEOPLExpress.

I have never heard anything about USAir flying the DC-8, but that's not to say it wasn't looked at.

 

[nycbusdriver]

Somewhere, in my old news archives, I have an article on USAir analyzing London service from PIT using a 747. This would have been around 1981-1982. If I remember correctly, there was something going on between the US and Britain that would have allowed for a few more carriers to enter the market. The original Republic was apparently very close to using a couple of DC-10's to operate between DTW and London during this time period. In fact, there is a photo of a news conference with a Republic DC-10 model as the back drop. I won't swear to this, but I believe the whole episode ended with Air Florida being awarded a EWR-LGW route, in addition to their MIA-LGW route. The EWR route authority was never used and eventually was operated by PEOPLExpress.

I have never heard anything about USAir flying the DC-8, but that's not to say it wasn't looked at.

Piedmont (Winston-Salem) looked at DC-8s, too. The re-engined ones with the CFM-56s (or similar).

 

[700UW]

Airbus even painted an A300 in PI's old color scheme but PI bought 767s instead.