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On 11/10/2002 1:09:16 PM FlyAA777 wrote:
As far as Olympic dropping longhaul, I believe they are dropping Far East service because of the incredibly high crew costs(due to length of the trip and resulting overnights).
If they are able to ditch the two A340s, lets see how they find operating a 2 a/c long haul fleet. If they can't sell them, lets see how they find operating 2 long haul a/c on a schedule that only needs 2 a/c.
4 A340's for ATH-JFK-YYZ over the winter season? They'll loose more $ than AA did last quarter!
I predict a complete longhaul shutdown over the winter. Hopefully, AA can be the first to jump in, and offer daily service May-Oct, and reduced svc.(4 or 5 times/week)Oct-Apr.
Regardless, their highest cost is apparently crewing. For some reason...not sure which, Greek Law, Unions, or whatever, they can't cut their staff.
I've heard that they have something like 4 or 5 times as many employees per a/c as a U.S. airline.
As far as the other ideas go...I agree completely.
MIA-BCN should have lots of feed on both ends! MIA-BCN-TLV is much more direct than MIA-JFK-TLV, and allows pax to take a break in the middle of a relatively long journey.
DFW-AMS would have better and easier connections than ORD or LAX from many west coast and western cities such as SLC, PHX, LAS, SAT, SAN, SEA, PDX, etc...
MIA-CPT/JNB
MIA-HEL!
MIA-SNN/DUB
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MIA-HEL would work very well. Miami's Finnish po****tion is 2nd largest in North America, and it is the #1 or #2 destination for Finnish tourist to the US. Finnair used to fly to MIA 2x a week during the 1990s. I would not be surprised to see them return 3-4x a week with AA codeshare.
MIA-SNN/DUB could also work very well. The Irish are wealthy, especially recently, and, as with the Finnish, they love Miami. Though any MIA-Ireland service would be operated by Aer Lingus, and they have some problems to work out before expanding long-haul, though they are returning to Baltimore this spring.
Olympic's long-haul network is not just JFK and Toronto. Also Johannesburg and Montreal remain. Still nothing like they used to have, though...Boston, Chicago, Tokyo, etc.
Also, once the South American economies recover (and some experts are staying that it the turbulance will not last that long), I think it is about time Belo Horizonte, Montevideo, and Asuncion go non-stop.