I've been thinking a lot about US's problems, and this is what I've come up with:
Regardless of cost structure, this airline is screwed because of their east coast focus. It has been debated many times before, but you simply cannot have two hubs in the state of PA and be successful! Yes, the money is on the east coast, but you cannot abondon the entire west coast as well.
With the announcement of the PIT demise, here is my plan (assuming a lower cost structure is put in place):
US Air bought PSA in the late 80's to remedy the lack of west coast service problem. The only reason they struggled out west was because they started using east coast aircraft on west coast routes, and there were chronic delays. Thus, PSA was not what it once was.
Take the current PSA airlines, and send all the A/C which they currently have along with all future CRJ 200/700 deliveries to the west coast. Repaint all PSA aircraft in the former PSA color scheme (which US owns), and under the nose put a logo that says "a US Airways company." This would not be a MetroJet, seeing as it would not be "an airline within an airline." In fact, it would be a subsidary with it's own payscale, and would continue to be profitable. PSA airlines could flourish once more, and although the RJ's wouldn't be as large as former PSA equipment, they would still be profitable. I bet 50/70 seaters on former PSA routes would be VERY profitable (does RNO-SFO need mainline flights all the time). In addition, US could run an advertising campaign out west that would connect with the folks out there... something like "PSA is back" and include that smile which nobody will ever forget. In all probability, folks out west could relate more to PSA more than US even today.
Although US's codeshare partner UA serves many of these routes, it really doesn't matter because it is CODESHARE. US bought these routes for a reason back in the 80's, and darnit, go back after all these years. In addition, increase frequencies from major west coast cities to both PHL/CLT to enhance the schedule. US could at least support red-eyes (like JetBlue) from SMF/OAK/PDX/ONT/SJC. If this were done, you would have an inter-west coast route network, no chance of chronic delays (due to dedicated west coast aircraft), and a much larger customer base. If you desired to get from SEA-LAX on US metal only, you would now only have to go through SFO instead of PIT! Also, US would get all the revenue when someone wanted to go from BUR-PHL, because BUR-SFO-PHL would all be on US metal!!!
Since this scenario would pull the PSA equipment out of CLT/PHL, put the MAA planes there (as noted, PIT is gone). Additionally, send all the PIT mainline A/C to go to LGA/DCA/BOS, and the MAA A/C could go to the two east coast hubs. There are currently 107 mainline departures from PIT, and if that were balanced equally between the 3 focus cities (plus the increase in flying time), each of the focus cities could see 35-40 additional mainline flights/day and could recapture the market share they've lost to JetBlue, Song, AA.
MAA could stregthen PHL & CLT significantly. They could take over mainline routes like CLT-ILM, PHL-MHT, and then have the remaining mainline A/C focus on new Caribbean routes and the additional west coast frequencies. Bump SXM-CLT up to 4 flights/day, and then as a result you can bump CLT-SAN up to 4 flight a day as well because of connecting PAX.
For the life of me, please go back to the original plan and put 8 F/C seats in MAA A/C and label it US Airways instead of Express.
How does this plan sound?
Regardless of cost structure, this airline is screwed because of their east coast focus. It has been debated many times before, but you simply cannot have two hubs in the state of PA and be successful! Yes, the money is on the east coast, but you cannot abondon the entire west coast as well.
With the announcement of the PIT demise, here is my plan (assuming a lower cost structure is put in place):
US Air bought PSA in the late 80's to remedy the lack of west coast service problem. The only reason they struggled out west was because they started using east coast aircraft on west coast routes, and there were chronic delays. Thus, PSA was not what it once was.
Take the current PSA airlines, and send all the A/C which they currently have along with all future CRJ 200/700 deliveries to the west coast. Repaint all PSA aircraft in the former PSA color scheme (which US owns), and under the nose put a logo that says "a US Airways company." This would not be a MetroJet, seeing as it would not be "an airline within an airline." In fact, it would be a subsidary with it's own payscale, and would continue to be profitable. PSA airlines could flourish once more, and although the RJ's wouldn't be as large as former PSA equipment, they would still be profitable. I bet 50/70 seaters on former PSA routes would be VERY profitable (does RNO-SFO need mainline flights all the time). In addition, US could run an advertising campaign out west that would connect with the folks out there... something like "PSA is back" and include that smile which nobody will ever forget. In all probability, folks out west could relate more to PSA more than US even today.
Although US's codeshare partner UA serves many of these routes, it really doesn't matter because it is CODESHARE. US bought these routes for a reason back in the 80's, and darnit, go back after all these years. In addition, increase frequencies from major west coast cities to both PHL/CLT to enhance the schedule. US could at least support red-eyes (like JetBlue) from SMF/OAK/PDX/ONT/SJC. If this were done, you would have an inter-west coast route network, no chance of chronic delays (due to dedicated west coast aircraft), and a much larger customer base. If you desired to get from SEA-LAX on US metal only, you would now only have to go through SFO instead of PIT! Also, US would get all the revenue when someone wanted to go from BUR-PHL, because BUR-SFO-PHL would all be on US metal!!!
Since this scenario would pull the PSA equipment out of CLT/PHL, put the MAA planes there (as noted, PIT is gone). Additionally, send all the PIT mainline A/C to go to LGA/DCA/BOS, and the MAA A/C could go to the two east coast hubs. There are currently 107 mainline departures from PIT, and if that were balanced equally between the 3 focus cities (plus the increase in flying time), each of the focus cities could see 35-40 additional mainline flights/day and could recapture the market share they've lost to JetBlue, Song, AA.
MAA could stregthen PHL & CLT significantly. They could take over mainline routes like CLT-ILM, PHL-MHT, and then have the remaining mainline A/C focus on new Caribbean routes and the additional west coast frequencies. Bump SXM-CLT up to 4 flights/day, and then as a result you can bump CLT-SAN up to 4 flight a day as well because of connecting PAX.
For the life of me, please go back to the original plan and put 8 F/C seats in MAA A/C and label it US Airways instead of Express.
How does this plan sound?