New Airline-Old Name, People Express

[SparrowHawk]

Low-cost airline with familiar name hopes to fly

Monday - 2/13/2012, 7:32pm ET

By BROCK VERGAKIS and SAMANTHA BOMKAMP
Associated Press

NORFOLK, Va. - The name PeoplExpress conjures up thoughts of cheap fares, packed planes and bare-bones service.

If regulators agree, the name will be back this summer, attached to an airline that hopes to borrow from the old playbook while avoiding some of the mistakes that doomed one of the pioneers of the no frills airline business.

PeoplExpress Airlines announced Monday that it will be headquartered at Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport in southeastern Virginia. The airline plans to offer flights on the East Coast this summer. But a successful launch is far from a sure thing. It still needs approval from the U.S. government. And it still needs to secure financing.

Entire Article

Kind of an interesting business model so far as I read. Long shot if you ask me. Thoughts?

 

[ChockJockey]

Entire Article

Kind of an interesting business model so far as I read. Long shot if you ask me. Thoughts?

I wish they'd hurry up and get that airline going so we can merge with them.

 

[etops1]

I wish they'd hurry up and get that airline going so we can merge with them.

lol!!

 

[LD3]

Entire Article

Thoughts?

Yeh, move to the SW forum since they are such an influence.....

 

[john john]

Entire Article

Kind of an interesting business model so far as I read. Long shot if you ask me. Thoughts?

History of America West airlines


http://www.psa-history.org/awa/history.html
A combination of ideas were used in the formation of America West. Cross-utilization of employees, brought to new extremes by PEOPLExpress, would be a major feature of America West. Pilots would also work dispatch, while Customer Service Representatives (CSR) would work as flight attendants, ramp agents, gate agents, ticket agents, or reservation agents - depending on the day.
Another feature of America West, borrowed from PEOPLExpress and PSA, was on-board ticketing. Passengers could buy tickets before their flight, or onboard. Gate desks were replaced with a large, circular counter, called the "Seat Assignment Center" - but quickly nicknamed the Queen Mary. While on-board ticketing was a good idea at the time, it led to more problems - such as breaking change, or balancing out the tickets. On-board ticketing survived a year, before being replaced with a traditional ticketing

 

[BoeingBoy]

Kind of an interesting business model so far as I read. Long shot if you ask me. Thoughts?

While much is being made of the name, to me it depends on whether management is smart enough to carve out a niche and stay in it. The original PE tried to break out if it's niche and the result is obvious. Of more recent start-ups, FL (thanks to buying and taking the name of Airtran) did ok with a mostly network model while Allegient has done very well with it's older planes, point to point model. And both have lasted a lot longer than the original PE.

Jim

 

[SparrowHawk]

While much is being made of the name, to me it depends on whether management is smart enough to carve out a niche and stay in it. The original PE tried to break out if it's niche and the result is obvious. Of more recent start-ups, FL (thanks to buying and taking the name of Airtran) did ok with a mostly network model while Allegient has done very well with it's older planes, point to point model. And both have lasted a lot longer than the original PE.

Jim

It's a tried and true approach to go where the competition isn't. Whether you're in the airline or Schmatta (rag Trade) or any business if you can fill a specific niche you can prosper. The one thing I found confusing is the use of B-737-400's. Seems a bit large for small city markets? Maybe it's because there are about eight bajillion of them on the used market and the price is right??

So for the sake of discussion let's say this airline gets going, how does this effect US?

 

[BoeingBoy]

The one thing I found confusing is the use of B-737-400's. Seems a bit large for small city markets?

They are relatively inexpensive. But Allegient uses MD80's which are about the same capacity and look at a lot of the cities they serve. A lot of it is picking when to serve the smaller cities - they may not support high frequency daily service but have enough traffic for several days a week with 1-2 flights/day. When you're only paying $200 per day in lease costs you can afford to let the plane sit more than when you're paying $2000 and up per day for a new plane.

Jim

 

[wings396]

It's a tried and true approach to go where the competition isn't. Whether you're in the airline or Schmatta (rag Trade) or any business if you can fill a specific niche you can prosper. The one thing I found confusing is the use of B-737-400's. Seems a bit large for small city markets? Maybe it's because there are about eight bajillion of them on the used market and the price is right??

So for the sake of discussion let's say this airline gets going, how does this effect US?

There are not that many 400's sitting around out there. As far as I know, US and AK were the only US based carriers to have them. I know that a couple of the old US ones were scrapped a few years back. Granted that US will be parking more of them this year, and I suppose they could get them on the cheap.

 

[AAviator]

About 30-35K/month lease rate. Thats average... If someone wanted to score a few more bucks out of an airframe before being scaped, why separate the fools at PE from some of their money?

 

[LGA777]

A couple of comments from different things I have read. First while all initial service will be from PHF they also plan on several Focus cities and sounds like after PHF then PIT would likely be next. Even though it an expensive airport to operate from their are a lot of markets that don't have non-stop service now that might support it especially at the right fare.

And as far as the 734 I read they are trying to acquire all or most of Qantas's fairly new 15 strong 734 fleet. I was surprised to read the oldest first flew in 1990 and the newest in 1996 with most being 3 to 6 years younger than US's newest 734. Pretty sure these are well maintained birds as well.

While I think this outfit will likely actually get off the ground will be interesting to see how big they actually get and how long they are around for.

Cheers

LGA777

 

[wings396]

Depending on who's feet they step on, they may get squashed in a hurry. Not a good time to start a new airline with all of the mergers that have taken place along with fuel costs.
If SWA couldn't make a big hit in PIT, I doubt that this new outfit will either....

 

[EXT PWR]

I give them less than a 50% chance to get off the ground. They don't have financing yet and who in there right mind would waste money like that with oil at $103 a barrel.

 

[Kev3188]

Despite flying to "main" airports, and a different A/C type, this just seems like another version of Skybus. Time'll tell, I guess...

 

[JFK Fleet Service]

Oh yay,*another* low fare,low frill airline coming to liberate the masses from the tyranny of high airfares...

Does the industry need *another* new entrant serving tertiary airports?