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Well I for one am tired of seeing US Airways retreat every time competition rears it''s ugly head. MDW should stay open and so should BWI. Now that the company has a couple of bucks they need to get up off the canvas and come out swinging. My home airport ACY is filthy with freakin ComAir jungle jets while US throw 3 flights on Beech 1900''s to PHL. That airport should be OWNED by US to the point where only Spirit and US even bother to fly to it. Same for ATA in PIT and CLT, stay on''em and don''t let''em breath. If I am running US and they come into CLT I start seasonal service to St Pete. I dust off those 757''s take out first and load a high density low yeild flight against there 737-800''s to anyplace they go in FL. same for PHL-MDW, an airline comes to PHL CLT PIT they pay a prce. you have got to make then bleed cash for the right to win our base. They didn''t need Metro Jet they need a marketing department and operations working hand in hand to make money with the equipment on the property TODAY stop letting the competition run over US. at leaset make them knock you out, don''t quit on your stool.
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Bob,
Here''s a tidbit from a Feb.4, 2003 Yahoo finance story on ATA:
"Year-to-Date Operating Results:
Compared with 2001, system-wide RPMs increased 6.1 percent to 12.38 billion, and ASMs increased 8.7 percent to 17.60 billion for the twelve months of 2002. For ATA Holdings Corp., total RASM decreased 7.9 percent to 7.26 cents. Mainline CASM was 7.58 cents. CASM excluding special items noted in the table on page one was 7.07 cents, a decrease of 3.2 percent. "
ATA Cost per Available Seat Mile is 7.58 cents. USA''s is 10.2, projected to 9.9 in 2004. ATA will win with lower fares. ATA gets the Joe Six-pack traveler whose only concern is price, not FF miles, not a possible upgrade to first class. They will also get the business traveler whose company demands that the travel budget must be slashed, take the flight with the lowest fare. USA will get the travelers who are willing to pay a liitle more for FF miles, better service. But that is a dwindling customer base and it won''t be enough to cover costs.