Press releases and statements for the next 5 years

AirplaneFan

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Aug 20, 2002
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This is a humourous summirization of the press releases I expect to see over the next 4 years.

2003

August - Continental load factor was up to a record 87.5%

September - Continental announces it is right sizing its fleet size downward 5.4%

September 16 - United announes that it will offer its customers premium (pricey) service to and from IAD with its new regional jet line. Each seat is guaranteed to have both two aisles and a window seat.

September 17 - United managers offer a retraction realizing that it is impossible for any seats to have be adjoined by both two aisles and a window.

Oct. 1 - Jet Blue announces one daily nonstop between SEA and ATL

Oct 2 - Delta announces six daily nonstops between ATL and SEA, two between ATL and GEG and one between ATL and Vancouver. Delta said that plans to add all these flights were in the works for months.

November - Southwest anounces they will add the new city of Richmond to their network in April.

Dec 1 - JetBlue announces that they will start JFK - LAX nonstops
Dec 2 - American Airlines announces that it will match all JetBlue fares.
Dec 2 - American Airlines stock plunges 34%

2004

Jan - US Airways asks Pennsylvania for more financial help otherwise they will have to close a hub. US Airways complains that its not fair that people are driving between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia avoiding all the PFC charges that passengers who fly have to pay. Pennsylvania and US Airways come to an agreement with Pennsylvania doubling the tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike with the money turned over to subsidize US Airways.
The Pennsylvania governor tells the audience that it will have two US Airways hubs for a long time to come.

March - US Airways closes the Pittsburgh hub.

April - Southwest announces it will add the cities of Greenville and Charleston to its network this year.

May - Delta Air Lines, announces another new carrier to compete against the low fare carriers called Harmony it will join other carriers in the Delta family of airlines: Delta, Song, Delta Express, Delta Shuttle, Delta Connection, ATA and ComAir.

June - JetBlue announces flights from Chicago O''Hare to New York, Ft. Lauderdale, Washington DC, Atlanta, Long Beach and Oakland. United and American airlines scream to the airport authority to not let them in, but they are refused. It turns out Chicagoans like low-fares.

July 3 - Continental says that it was profitable for the last two weeks of June and Wednesday, July 2nd between 2:15 and 5:00.

July 15 - Southwest announces that it will start flying from Houston Intercontinental airport to 7 destinations: Baltimore, Nashville, Orlando, Chicago Midway, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles

August - United Airlines signs a $20 million dollar, five-year deal with the USTA to rename its stadium at the US Open after UAL.

Sept - US Airways announces that it ran an 88% load factor will cut service by 4%.

Sept - United reports its 18th consecutive quarterly loss, but CEO Tilton proclaims that it will be out of bankruptcy by the first quarter of the next year. The US economy has a quarterly GDP growth of 4.1% and unemployement rate falls to 4.6%.

Nov - Jim Wright''s son is defeated for a run at the Congress. He was running on a platform of passing a revision to the Wright Amendment. It would prevent SW from overflying any state where it does not provide service. The citizenry of Dallas and Ft. Worth voted that they wanted to have lower fares instead of subsidizing American Airlines.

2005

Jan - American announces it wants to be more of a point to point carrier. It is putting all of its Boeing 767''s and 757''s in the desert and is now purchasing 400 Argentinian RJ''s 30 seaters. American Airlines says that they are doing this because of overwhelming customer demand.

March - Southwest is now the leading US carrier in terms of domestic passengers carried in the United States. Continental , Northwest, US Airways, United, Delta and American refuse to acknowledge this fact instead continuing to call Southwest a niche carrier and will only measure themselves against themselves.

2006

Delta announces another new carrier to compete with the low fare carriers called Tenor. It will fly the a 12 passenger regional jet produced in Iceland. Each seat will have its own seat warmer

2007

American is in bankruptcy with its CEO lamenting the fact that they need more time to reorganize the airline around the concept of making it a low-fare carrier. He said that after spending $12.3 million on a McKenzie study AA now knows what its customers really want. However, they don''t have enough time to restructure their airline around this revolutionizing concept.