US Airways to cut more flights here
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
US Airways intends to eliminate 13 more nonstop departures after the holidays, including routes to Dallas and Detroit, and drop the airline's Pittsburgh presence below 200 daily flights for the first time in recent memory.
Before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Pittsburgh was the largest city in US Airways' route system, with 542 daily departures. In January, when the airline trims its local offerings to 191 flights, Pittsburgh International will slip to the fifth-largest airport in the US Airways system, after Charlotte, N.C.; Philadelphia; Phoenix; and New York's LaGuardia Airport, which will have 203 daily US Airways flights.
With 204 daily departures from Pittsburgh this month, US Airways is still the region's dominant carrier, offering just less than six out of every 10 flights (down from nine of 10 flights at the decade's start). But after traffic plunged in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the airline opted to shift more of its flights to bigger cities along the East Coast and strip Pittsburgh of its status as a "hub," creating opportunities for new competition from low-cost carriers and lower prices for Pittsburgh-area travelers.
With the latest cuts, most of which take effect Jan. 10, US Airways will have shed more than 350 Pittsburgh flights since 9/11, including all direct service to Europe.
The latest reductions will do away with three daily flights to Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport and four flights a day to Detroit Metropolitan Airport currently offered by US Airways contract carrier Trans States Airlines. The Detroit flights officially will stop on Jan. 2, according to a Trans States spokesman.
Detroit will continue to be served by bankrupt Northwest Airlines, which offers six flights a day and plans to add one more in January, according to the Allegheny County Airport Authority. Dallas will continue to be served by American Airlines commuter carrier American Eagle, which has five daily flights and intends to add another in December.
At US Airways, Dallas and Detroit service is ending strictly for financial reasons. Despite emerging from its second bankruptcy in September, US Airways continues to struggle with high fuel prices and industrywide turmoil -- it recently reported an $87 million loss for the third quarter, wider than the $29 million loss posted during the same period a year ago.
"When a market is underperforming, we simply can't afford to keep it," said US Airways spokesman Phil Gee. "We're still hemorrhaging and losing money, and there doesn't seem to be any relief on the horizon with fuel costs. We have to be vigilant in what markets we continue to service."
New US Airways Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker has said he had no intention of making "major changes" in Pittsburgh and that travelers should have more opportunities to connect to places on the West Coast via Phoenix, now a major US Airways hub.
But Pittsburgh no longer is a major East-West connector for the airline, which recently moved its headquarters from Arlington, Va., to Tempe, Ariz., as part of a late September merger with America West Airlines.
US Airways pulled its direct routes to San Diego and Seattle in August, leaving nonstop service only to Los Angeles and San Francisco from Pittsburgh. In January, the one San Francisco flight will drop to four days a week.
US Airways also plans to take away two of its eight daily flights to Charlotte, one of its five daily flights to Orlando, Fla.; one of its three daily flights to Tampa, Fla.; and one of its six daily flights to Richmond, Va.
US Airways is not pulling back everywhere, however. This month it reinstated one daily flight to Ithaca, N.Y., and two daily flights to both Elmira and Binghamton, N.Y. Service to all three cities stopped during US Airways' second bankruptcy last November.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
US Airways intends to eliminate 13 more nonstop departures after the holidays, including routes to Dallas and Detroit, and drop the airline's Pittsburgh presence below 200 daily flights for the first time in recent memory.
Before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Pittsburgh was the largest city in US Airways' route system, with 542 daily departures. In January, when the airline trims its local offerings to 191 flights, Pittsburgh International will slip to the fifth-largest airport in the US Airways system, after Charlotte, N.C.; Philadelphia; Phoenix; and New York's LaGuardia Airport, which will have 203 daily US Airways flights.
With 204 daily departures from Pittsburgh this month, US Airways is still the region's dominant carrier, offering just less than six out of every 10 flights (down from nine of 10 flights at the decade's start). But after traffic plunged in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the airline opted to shift more of its flights to bigger cities along the East Coast and strip Pittsburgh of its status as a "hub," creating opportunities for new competition from low-cost carriers and lower prices for Pittsburgh-area travelers.
With the latest cuts, most of which take effect Jan. 10, US Airways will have shed more than 350 Pittsburgh flights since 9/11, including all direct service to Europe.
The latest reductions will do away with three daily flights to Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport and four flights a day to Detroit Metropolitan Airport currently offered by US Airways contract carrier Trans States Airlines. The Detroit flights officially will stop on Jan. 2, according to a Trans States spokesman.
Detroit will continue to be served by bankrupt Northwest Airlines, which offers six flights a day and plans to add one more in January, according to the Allegheny County Airport Authority. Dallas will continue to be served by American Airlines commuter carrier American Eagle, which has five daily flights and intends to add another in December.
At US Airways, Dallas and Detroit service is ending strictly for financial reasons. Despite emerging from its second bankruptcy in September, US Airways continues to struggle with high fuel prices and industrywide turmoil -- it recently reported an $87 million loss for the third quarter, wider than the $29 million loss posted during the same period a year ago.
"When a market is underperforming, we simply can't afford to keep it," said US Airways spokesman Phil Gee. "We're still hemorrhaging and losing money, and there doesn't seem to be any relief on the horizon with fuel costs. We have to be vigilant in what markets we continue to service."
New US Airways Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker has said he had no intention of making "major changes" in Pittsburgh and that travelers should have more opportunities to connect to places on the West Coast via Phoenix, now a major US Airways hub.
But Pittsburgh no longer is a major East-West connector for the airline, which recently moved its headquarters from Arlington, Va., to Tempe, Ariz., as part of a late September merger with America West Airlines.
US Airways pulled its direct routes to San Diego and Seattle in August, leaving nonstop service only to Los Angeles and San Francisco from Pittsburgh. In January, the one San Francisco flight will drop to four days a week.
US Airways also plans to take away two of its eight daily flights to Charlotte, one of its five daily flights to Orlando, Fla.; one of its three daily flights to Tampa, Fla.; and one of its six daily flights to Richmond, Va.
US Airways is not pulling back everywhere, however. This month it reinstated one daily flight to Ithaca, N.Y., and two daily flights to both Elmira and Binghamton, N.Y. Service to all three cities stopped during US Airways' second bankruptcy last November.
