If a US Airways makeover works, area passengers would see more direct flights and cheaper tickets
TED REED
Charlotte passengers should benefit if US Airways manages to remake itself as a low-fare airline with more point-to-point service and less emphasis on connecting flights. Not only would the airline gradually adopt lower fares here, it also would offer more flights.
Most of the talk about the airline's latest restructuring plan has focused on its operations in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Pittsburgh International Airport is losing its hub, meaning few passengers will connect there.
At Philadelphia International Airport, US Airways will focus less on connecting traffic because it believes low fares will generate more local traffic. Fares have been falling rapidly in Philadelphia because low-fare king Southwest Airlines began flying there May 9.
US Airways' operations at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, already its largest hub, will change, too. While connecting traffic becomes less important in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, "US Airways will grow Charlotte and make it our primary connecting operation," the airline said last week in an employee newsletter.
As for fares, airline executives told union leaders this month that increasing competition from low-fare carriers means most U.S. markets will see lower fares by 2007. From conversations I've had with airline officials, it seems their goal is to move faster than that in Charlotte -- home of the highest fares in the nation -- although they have not laid out a timetable.
The number of Charlotte flights would grow for two reasons. US Airways wants to increase its profitable Caribbean flying, which operates primarily from Charlotte. The airline also says it will move some Pittsburgh flights to either Charlotte or Philadelphia. That could mean more flights from Charlotte to the West Coast or to smaller cities whose passengers now connect through Pittsburgh.
The plan could mean that US Airways will increase the number of "banks" at the Charlotte hub, and make each bank smaller. In airline parlance, banks are the clusters of flights that make up a hub system. In a bank, dozens of flights arrive and depart in a narrow timeframe, usually around an hour, allowing passengers to connect between flights.
Currently, the airline operates eight banks in Charlotte, starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 9:55 p.m. In each bank, an average of 58 flights arrives and departs.
Charlotte Aviation Director Jerry Orr said the airline may well move to 10 banks, the number it operated two years ago. "You want as many banks as you can squeeze in," he said. "If you jam the banks closer together, it's more efficient. You can keep the airplanes in the air more and you get more productivity out of the ground people."
For local passengers, more banks could mean even more frequent flights to key destinations such as New York La Guardia and Washington National airports. But Orr said there's a downside: With banks jammed closer together, runways are constantly in use, allowing less margin to accommodate late planes and increasing the chance of delays or cancellations.
Here are plans for US Airways' other key cities:
• In Philadelphia, "domestic flights will not be bunched up ... to accommodate connections, but scheduled more on a `rolling' basis targeted at local customers," the airline's newsletter said.
Because low fares will stimulate more local traffic in a heavily populated area, US Airways can rely more on local passengers rather than having planes wait for connecting passengers to arrive on incoming flights.
• Pittsburgh will have fewer flights and fewer nonstop destinations. The airline will offer flights geared to the demands of Pittsburgh travelers rather than connecting travelers.
• New York and Washington are the nation's largest local markets for airline passengers, while Boston is eighth. US Airways has large shares of the gates and counter space at La Guardia, Reagan National and Logan airports, and large shares of the assigned takeoff and departure times, known as "slots," at La Guardia and National.
The airline wants to use these assets to serve the routes flown by local residents. For instance, it would likely add flights between New York and Detroit, a route where it doesn't fly now.
TED REED
Charlotte passengers should benefit if US Airways manages to remake itself as a low-fare airline with more point-to-point service and less emphasis on connecting flights. Not only would the airline gradually adopt lower fares here, it also would offer more flights.
Most of the talk about the airline's latest restructuring plan has focused on its operations in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Pittsburgh International Airport is losing its hub, meaning few passengers will connect there.
At Philadelphia International Airport, US Airways will focus less on connecting traffic because it believes low fares will generate more local traffic. Fares have been falling rapidly in Philadelphia because low-fare king Southwest Airlines began flying there May 9.
US Airways' operations at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, already its largest hub, will change, too. While connecting traffic becomes less important in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, "US Airways will grow Charlotte and make it our primary connecting operation," the airline said last week in an employee newsletter.
As for fares, airline executives told union leaders this month that increasing competition from low-fare carriers means most U.S. markets will see lower fares by 2007. From conversations I've had with airline officials, it seems their goal is to move faster than that in Charlotte -- home of the highest fares in the nation -- although they have not laid out a timetable.
The number of Charlotte flights would grow for two reasons. US Airways wants to increase its profitable Caribbean flying, which operates primarily from Charlotte. The airline also says it will move some Pittsburgh flights to either Charlotte or Philadelphia. That could mean more flights from Charlotte to the West Coast or to smaller cities whose passengers now connect through Pittsburgh.
The plan could mean that US Airways will increase the number of "banks" at the Charlotte hub, and make each bank smaller. In airline parlance, banks are the clusters of flights that make up a hub system. In a bank, dozens of flights arrive and depart in a narrow timeframe, usually around an hour, allowing passengers to connect between flights.
Currently, the airline operates eight banks in Charlotte, starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 9:55 p.m. In each bank, an average of 58 flights arrives and departs.
Charlotte Aviation Director Jerry Orr said the airline may well move to 10 banks, the number it operated two years ago. "You want as many banks as you can squeeze in," he said. "If you jam the banks closer together, it's more efficient. You can keep the airplanes in the air more and you get more productivity out of the ground people."
For local passengers, more banks could mean even more frequent flights to key destinations such as New York La Guardia and Washington National airports. But Orr said there's a downside: With banks jammed closer together, runways are constantly in use, allowing less margin to accommodate late planes and increasing the chance of delays or cancellations.
Here are plans for US Airways' other key cities:
• In Philadelphia, "domestic flights will not be bunched up ... to accommodate connections, but scheduled more on a `rolling' basis targeted at local customers," the airline's newsletter said.
Because low fares will stimulate more local traffic in a heavily populated area, US Airways can rely more on local passengers rather than having planes wait for connecting passengers to arrive on incoming flights.
• Pittsburgh will have fewer flights and fewer nonstop destinations. The airline will offer flights geared to the demands of Pittsburgh travelers rather than connecting travelers.
• New York and Washington are the nation's largest local markets for airline passengers, while Boston is eighth. US Airways has large shares of the gates and counter space at La Guardia, Reagan National and Logan airports, and large shares of the assigned takeoff and departure times, known as "slots," at La Guardia and National.
The airline wants to use these assets to serve the routes flown by local residents. For instance, it would likely add flights between New York and Detroit, a route where it doesn't fly now.
