Slot Transaction, E-190 Sale, Crew Base Closures, & Realignment Designed to Shop the Company for Sal

[SpinDoc]

I think this says it all when it comes to the quality of the journalism in this article.

"Lucchino agreed, but noted US Airways' management team is composed of executives from the former American West."

I did find this interesting though.

"The airline lost $40 million in Pittsburgh in 2007, but cuts here stabilized the market, the airline spokesman added."

That's a hefty chunk of change to loose in one city.

The US Airways Shuttle has lost between $10 and $20 million for the past 3 years and they haven't abandoned those markets yet. PIT makes money, but HP will never acknowledge that because they hate employees who view an airline job as a lifetime career. It is their mission to get rid of said "career"employees and outsource them to the lowest bidder (Piedmont, ASIG, or Jetstream)

Oh, and the journalist was not far wrong in stating that US management is from "American West" because Scooter and Doogie like to fashion themselves as Wild Western heroes who are on a mission to save the "American West" way of dumbing down the US Airways product.

US Airways could be a much better company if upper management would just chill out and empower their seasoned employees to take care of the customer, but they can't do that because it conflicts with the HP way of doing business.

 

[700UW]

If PIT made money it would still be a hub and I dont see any airline running to PIT and adding flights, get over it all ready PIT is dead and wont be Mecca anytime soon.

 

[Glucose Intolerant]

The US Airways Shuttle has lost between $10 and $20 million for the past 3 years and they haven't abandoned those markets yet. PIT makes money, but HP will never acknowledge that because they hate employees who view an airline job as a lifetime career. It is their mission to get rid of said "career"employees and outsource them to the lowest bidder (Piedmont, ASIG, or Jetstream)

Oh, and the journalist was not far wrong in stating that US management is from "American West" because Scooter and Doogie like to fashion themselves as Wild Western heroes who are on a mission to save the "American West" way of dumbing down the US Airways product.

US Airways could be a much better company if upper management would just chill out and empower their seasoned employees to take care of the customer, but they can't do that because it conflicts with the HP way of doing business.

SPOT ON

 

[safety stud]

If PIT made money it would still be a hub and I dont see any airline running to PIT and adding flights, get over it all ready PIT is dead and wont be Mecca anytime soon.

The reason PIT isn't making money isn't because of it's employee's! Back in the early 80's The airport commission, State and local governments and USAir developed a plan for the new airport. HOWEVER, Colodny, based the building of the new facility with agreement that the bond payments to the tune of over 600 million would be paid my the airline. When in BK, by our right to do so, we negated that obligation. Since then, State-Local-and Municipal trustee's have done little to allieviate the financial responsibility. Therefore, PIT has one of the highest landing fees of anywhere in the country.

Yet, when SW came to PIT, they gave them a 3 year repreave from paying those fees. You see, it is not the responsibility of the airline for PIT not making money, It is the Airport itself, and those that run and fund it. Had DP, had any BALL's what so ever, he to might have negotiated a plan to get financial relief from the fees. Bottom line, PIT's cost is $13.72 and CLT is $2.02 in landing fees. YOU do the math.

It is a terrible waste that this airline doen't utilize this wonderful facility.
Sad, Very Sad...

Just my opinion...

 

[Travelpro72]

The airport authority is currently doing a study to sell the parking facilities at the airport. The money brought in would pay 100% of the debt which in turn would bring the airlines fees to next to nothing. Well, it's a little late now but maybe it would help attract new service. As for all this shifting and closing leading to a possible merger will remain to be seen. It seems to look that way to me more and more each day.

 

[Dog Wonder]

If PIT made money it would still be a hub

Does the same logic apply to PHX?

 

[FWAAA]

The airport authority is currently doing a study to sell the parking facilities at the airport. The money brought in would pay 100% of the debt which in turn would bring the airlines fees to next to nothing. Well, it's a little late now but maybe it would help attract new service. As for all this shifting and closing leading to a possible merger will remain to be seen. It seems to look that way to me more and more each day.

Here's an article about the appraisal of the parking facilities:

http://investing.businessweek.com/research...mp;symbol=MS:US

I think the $500 million mentioned in the article is a little optimistic, given the $22 million of annual parking revenue.

 

[aptboeses]

The US Airways Shuttle has lost between $10 and $20 million for the past 3 years and they haven't abandoned those markets yet. PIT makes money, but HP will never acknowledge that because they hate employees who view an airline job as a lifetime career. It is their mission to get rid of said "career"employees and outsource them to the lowest bidder (Piedmont, ASIG, or Jetstream)

Oh, and the journalist was not far wrong in stating that US management is from "American West" because Scooter and Doogie like to fashion themselves as Wild Western heroes who are on a mission to save the "American West" way of dumbing down the US Airways product.

US Airways could be a much better company if upper management would just chill out and empower their seasoned employees to take care of the customer, but they can't do that because it conflicts with the HP way of doing business.

First and foremost it's probably important to note that this company is a publicly held company and if it was found to have simply dismissed a "profitable" city just because of it's dislike of career employees the shareholders would revolt. Since that hasn't happened yet I'll go out on a limb and say that that is probably not likely.

I wouldn't be surprised that the Shuttle has lost money in the past three years. Though if you do the numbers you can see why it hasn't been cut yet. Let's assume it lost $20 million in three years. That breaks down to about $2.2 million dollars a year per Shuttle city. Compare that to a $40 million dollar loss per year in PIT. I think any company would be hard pressed to continue operating to any city that was showing that kind of performance.

The Shuttle is a lot like Hawaii, MCO and LAS in the sense that even though they may not always be profit generators on their own but they do add value to the US system as a whole. For example, a business person will choose to fly US exclusively throughout the year because they can accrue miles to use to go to Hawaii, MCO or LAS.

PIT is a great airport and Pittsburgh is a wonderful city but it can't hold it's own as a hub or focus city it becomes a spoke in the network. It is still valuable.

 

[Real tired]

If PIT made money it would still be a hub and I dont see any airline running to PIT and adding flights, get over it all ready PIT is dead and wont be Mecca anytime soon.

Your words hurt.

Especially coming from a FORMER employee based in CLT.

 

[Real tired]

The reason PIT isn't making money isn't because of it's employee's! Back in the early 80's The airport commission, State and local governments and USAir developed a plan for the new airport. HOWEVER, Colodny, based the building of the new facility with agreement that the bond payments to the tune of over 600 million would be paid my the airline. When in BK, by our right to do so, we negated that obligation. Since then, State-Local-and Municipal trustee's have done little to allieviate the financial responsibility. Therefore, PIT has one of the highest landing fees of anywhere in the country.

Yet, when SW came to PIT, they gave them a 3 year repreave from paying those fees. You see, it is not the responsibility of the airline for PIT not making money, It is the Airport itself, and those that run and fund it. Had DP, had any BALL's what so ever, he to might have negotiated a plan to get financial relief from the fees. Bottom line, PIT's cost is $13.72 and CLT is $2.02 in landing fees. YOU do the math.

It is a terrible waste that this airline doen't utilize this wonderful facility.
Sad, Very Sad...

Just my opinion...

More than just an opinion. A very good, factual, spot on post.

 

[john john]

Does the same logic apply to PHX?

The PHXHP hub saved US/east

 

[Dog Wonder]

If PHX is no longer profitable.

How long until it is just another dot on the route map?

 

[safety stud]

The PHXHP hub saved US/east

KoolAid... You need to drink KoolAid...
Lots and Lots of KoolAid...

Just my opinion...

 

[ebwgs]

Carrying this company where? We are losing money and cannot continue for a whole lot longer. PHL and CLT do not make any more money flying a passenger from say EWR to LAX than PHX does doing the same route. Actually, originally the West operation would have made more on that same route.

I do believe the DCA operation is a good strategy going forward, but trust me, what has kept us employed was the fact that the corporate office moved to Tempe.

I'm not trying to get into the west vs. east bashing game. Like it or not we're all one company. I hope like hell that Phoenix rises out of it's doldrums and enhances our company's bottom line. But if you think that Phoenix is on a par with Philly and Charlotte as far as generating profit for the company, then I'll have to politely disagree with you. Given the relative diverse flying north, south and east out of Philly and Charlotte, in addition to the O&D traffic generated out of Philly to the rest of our system, comparing the dollars--or lack thereof--generated by Phoenix relative to Philly and Charlotte is on par with equating the lucky winner of the daily Philly lottery and his/her fleeting wealth to the deep and vast wealth of a Bill Gates or a Warren Buffet. A bit overstated and hyperbolic, but you get my point.

 

[CactUS Mech]

I'm not trying to get into the west vs. east bashing game. Like it or not we're all one company. I hope like hell that Phoenix rises out of it's doldrums and enhances our company's bottom line. But if you think that Phoenix is on a par with Philly and Charlotte as far as generating profit for the company, then I'll have to politely disagree with you. Given the relative diverse flying north, south and east out of Philly and Charlotte, in addition to the O&D traffic generated out of Philly to the rest of our system, comparing the dollars--or lack thereof--generated by Phoenix relative to Philly and Charlotte is on par with equating the lucky winner of the daily Philly lottery and his/her fleeting wealth to the deep and vast wealth of a Bill Gates or a Warren Buffet. A bit overstated and hyperbolic, but you get my point.

Agreed 100%...I just had a friend buy a full fare ticket on US from Phoenix to Madrid connecting through Philly..Phoenix, Philly and Charlotte compliment each other.