PHL-ANC seasonal service!

[flybynite]

They're not.

 

[aptboeses]

Why an awkward silence among the flight attendants? The pilots, I can understand. For them it would be more a silent seething.

Why are the F/As at odds?

There is still a lot of mistrust between the two groups. There have been instances where West f/a's have written up East f/a's and then you have the f/a's who have a personal "interest" in the ongoing seniority dispute with the pilots. There's also that misguided thought that a lot of East f/a's are going to transfer to PHX when the integration is complete. (I think we all know that there will be some but not the big numbers that some fear. We have too many high time, destination snobs on the East that are horrified to have to even think about working a domestic trip.)

I know I always chat up the West crews when we share a van. I've found most of them to be really nice.

 

[Singleflyer]

You don't need to go far to see a moose. Anchorage has 'urban' moose.

 

[SAT2HMO]

As much as I’m excited to see US expanding to ANC and other new destinations from the CLT/PHL bases, I have begun to see a pattern of overflying occur in the past 2-3 years. East-coast bases have gained a lot of flying in traditional “West†markets, such as HNL, ANC, TUS (no more), SMF, PDX, SAT, AUS to name a few. Sadly, I don’t see the same type of connectivity occurring in PHX. In fact, we’ve seen a decrease in PHX flying to ‘East’ cities, such as CLE, BDL, MIA, RDU, etc. I assumed post-merger that we would begin to see announcements like PHX-PVD, PHX-PBI, PHX-YUL, even PHX-FRA to name a few.

Sadly, now PHX is the smallest hub and the least profitable hub based on statistics/company publications. It appears as if PHL/CLT have been obtaining the ‘toys’ since the time of merger, and PHX has been sort of left out of the sandbox. PHX has not had a new destination since 2006 (CLT). (and I’m not really counting MBJ, since it was basically propped up by the Jamaican government) I certainly hope that this doesn’t turn into another story of a low-cost profitable West Coast airline that merged with a high cost East Coast airline and basically shut down as time went on because its combined costs were too high. (PSA, anyone?).

If US Airways wants to focus on its ‘core’, sometimes I get worried that the ‘core’ is somewhere between CLT/PHL and not really interested to keep its network presence in the West. In addition, most of the new aircraft deliveries (other than a handful of A321s out of PHX/LAS) have been based out of the PHL/CLT bases (A330-200s, E190s, ATA 757s).

Again, don’t want to start an E/W fight here, but just wondering if anyone had the same thoughts I’ve been observing.

New PHL destinations post-merger:
LIS
ARN (now cancelled)
ATH
TLV
GLA
BHM (now cancelled)
OSL
ANC
BRU
ZRH
PDX
SMF

New CLT destinations post-merger:
GIG
FCO
CDG
TUS (cancelled)
SMF
PDX
EYW
DAB
HNL
AUS
SAT

New PHX destinations post-merger:
MBJ

 

[aptboeses]

As much as I’m excited to see US expanding to ANC and other new destinations from the CLT/PHL bases, I have begun to see a pattern of overflying occur in the past 2-3 years. East-coast bases have gained a lot of flying in traditional “West†markets, such as HNL, ANC, TUS (no more), SMF, PDX, SAT, AUS to name a few. Sadly, I don’t see the same type of connectivity occurring in PHX. In fact, we’ve seen a decrease in PHX flying to ‘East’ cities, such as CLE, BDL, MIA, RDU, etc. I assumed post-merger that we would begin to see announcements like PHX-PVD, PHX-PBI, PHX-YUL, even PHX-FRA to name a few.

Sadly, now PHX is the smallest hub and the least profitable hub based on statistics/company publications. It appears as if PHL/CLT have been obtaining the ‘toys’ since the time of merger, and PHX has been sort of left out of the sandbox. PHX has not had a new destination since 2006 (CLT). (and I’m not really counting MBJ, since it was basically propped up by the Jamaican government) I certainly hope that this doesn’t turn into another story of a low-cost profitable West Coast airline that merged with a high cost East Coast airline and basically shut down as time went on because its combined costs were too high. (PSA, anyone?).

If US Airways wants to focus on its ‘core’, sometimes I get worried that the ‘core’ is somewhere between CLT/PHL and not really interested to keep its network presence in the West. In addition, most of the new aircraft deliveries (other than a handful of A321s out of PHX/LAS) have been based out of the PHL/CLT bases (A330-200s, E190s, ATA 757s).

Again, don’t want to start an E/W fight here, but just wondering if anyone had the same thoughts I’ve been observing.

New PHL destinations post-merger:
LIS
ARN (now cancelled)
ATH
TLV
GLA
BHM (now cancelled)
OSL
ANC
BRU
ZRH
PDX
SMF

New CLT destinations post-merger:
GIG
FCO
CDG
TUS (cancelled)
SMF
PDX
EYW
DAB
HNL
AUS
SAT

New PHX destinations post-merger:
MBJ

Nine of the PHL destinations are T/A flying and can't be done out of PHX profitably.
The other three are seasonal flights if I'm not mistaken.

Three of the CLT destinations are T/A or South America flying that can't be done out of PHX profitably.
EYW, DAB, AUS and SAT are Express flying for the most part.

US has been trying to connect the dots since the merger. What's the point of forcing someone to connect through PHX if you can make more money by serving it nonstop from your East coast hubs?

And to be fair Arizona, California and Nevada have been hit VERY hard buy the poor economy. When the economy picks up I do expect to see some new destinations out of PHX.

 

[NiceLandingCaptain]

The Great Alaskan Bush Company. An Alaskan tradition.......

 

[Freighterguynow]

East-coast bases have gained a lot of flying in traditional “Westâ€￾ markets, such as HNL, ANC,


So you think direct flights between Charlotte (a city you never served) and Hawaii or Philadelphia direct Alaska are 'West' markets?

 

[SAT2HMO]

aptboeses - thanks for the reply. By no means was I implying that we should have started PHX-ARN or PHX-GIG instead of from the respective bases. What I would have liked to see, however, is more nonstop growth connectivity from PHX to newer destinations. Areas that were pre-merger strongholds, like PBI, PVD, RDU. Instead, it seems like a lot of connectivity to PHX has been decreased with the elimination of RDU, MIA, CLE, IAD, BDL, and decreases in numerous cities in FLA, CMH, BWI, etc. I know the argument can be said that "it's more efficient to route people through CLT/PHL" to connect to these cities, BUT, at the same time, I see more frequencies on nonstops PHL/CLT to the West coast (ie: overflying PHX), meaning that it's not efficient to route people though PHX. As an example, the airline used to route East coast passengers to the West coast through PHX/LAS. Now, frequency/capacity has increased between PHL/CLT to LAX/SAN/LAS/SFO and we've seen a reduction on, for example LAX-PHX from 12 flts/day to 6 flts/day. The same pattern can be observed with the services to ANC, HNL, PDX, TUS to name a few.

Freighterguy - One of my friends is PHX-based and he mentions that much of the new flying is given to East coast bases and company isn't really expanding flying/growth out of the PHX base. Any hub needs to have prime connectivity or good O&D to survive. Since PHX has neither that is stellar compared to other 'jewels' in the airline industry like ORD, EWR, etc, US Airways has to keep connectivity at PHX if it wants to maintain a competitive advantage against Mr. Bags Fly Free. I'm not that concerned whether flying goes East/West, I'm much more concerned to see more East coast connectivity overflying PHX and really diminishing the need to have a hub in the first place. It's how CMH died for HP and many other bases with other airlines.

 

[Dog Wonder]

You would rather have customers connect through PHX than fly non stop from East to West?

 

[cltflyer1]

Could 762 make Anc from Clt?

 

[FutureUScapt]

Could 762 make Anc from Clt?

I sure hope so, or else the planned nonstops to HNL and GIG are going to be in a world of trouble!

 

[BoeingBoy]

The 757 could make it in theory, at least assuming pretty direct routing. Like westbound flights from Europe, strong enough headwinds would cause fuel stops. There are also fewer alternates near ANC than there are in the northeastern U.S. which could cause problems when weather is bad along the south/southeast AK coast.

Jim

 

[Hope777]

As much as I’m excited to see US expanding to ANC and other new destinations from the CLT/PHL bases, I have begun to see a pattern of overflying occur in the past 2-3 years. East-coast bases have gained a lot of flying in traditional “West†markets, such as HNL, ANC, TUS (no more), SMF, PDX, SAT, AUS to name a few. Sadly, I don’t see the same type of connectivity occurring in PHX. In fact, we’ve seen a decrease in PHX flying to ‘East’ cities, such as CLE, BDL, MIA, RDU, etc. I assumed post-merger that we would begin to see announcements like PHX-PVD, PHX-PBI, PHX-YUL, even PHX-FRA to name a few.

Sadly, now PHX is the smallest hub and the least profitable hub based on statistics/company publications. It appears as if PHL/CLT have been obtaining the ‘toys’ since the time of merger, and PHX has been sort of left out of the sandbox. PHX has not had a new destination since 2006 (CLT). (and I’m not really counting MBJ, since it was basically propped up by the Jamaican government) I certainly hope that this doesn’t turn into another story of a low-cost profitable West Coast airline that merged with a high cost East Coast airline and basically shut down as time went on because its combined costs were too high. (PSA, anyone?).

If US Airways wants to focus on its ‘core’, sometimes I get worried that the ‘core’ is somewhere between CLT/PHL and not really interested to keep its network presence in the West. In addition, most of the new aircraft deliveries (other than a handful of A321s out of PHX/LAS) have been based out of the PHL/CLT bases (A330-200s, E190s, ATA 757s).

Again, don’t want to start an E/W fight here, but just wondering if anyone had the same thoughts I’ve been observing.

New PHL destinations post-merger:
LIS
ARN (now cancelled)
ATH
TLV
GLA
BHM (now cancelled)
OSL
ANC
BRU
ZRH
PDX
SMF

New CLT destinations post-merger:
GIG
FCO
CDG
TUS (cancelled)
SMF
PDX
EYW
DAB
HNL
AUS
SAT

New PHX destinations post-merger:
MBJ

I guess Flying Point to Point from CLT, such as CLT-EWR is not NEW Flying for America West?

 

[ExPit]

I guess Flying Point to Point from CLT, such as CLT-EWR is not NEW Flying for America West?

TUS, SMF, PDF, DAB, AUS and SAT are not new to the EAST. We used to have great overnights in those cities. I think it's just re-entry to old markets

 

[Coach Cabin]

I guess Flying Point to Point from CLT, such as CLT-EWR is not NEW Flying for America West?

Yep, just like PHX-SJD is new flying for the east. The block hours for both sides have remained (relatively) static. Same amount of flying, just different city pairs. It's been 5 years. Isn't it time we get past this "our flying, your flying" bs?