US Airways applies for South America service - and rumors

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On 3/8/2003 6:00:35 PM JFK777 wrote:

Is USAIRWAYS going to fly their new A330-200's from PHL or CLT to GRU? The day will come, but not yet, because SAo Paulo is the only worldclass city in South America.
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Please, there are other world class cities in South America. However, if one only had to pick one, no way in hell it would be Sao Paulo. Santiago de Chile is the eptimoe of world class. It has style, grace, culture, and beauty in a combination that no other South American city can match...but wait! Not only that, but it has South America's wealthiest (in terms of per capita) and most stable economy.
 
Brazil is half the GDP IN ALL LATIN AMERICA. SAO PAULO IS HALF OF BRAZIL'S SO, that is 25%, of all the GDP down there. Chile's economy is larger per capita, but not larger then Brazil's. SAO Paulo is served by BA, AF, KLM, SWISS, AL, IB, TP, & LH from Europe. AA, UA, DAL, & CAL from the USA. JAL & KAL from Asia fly there too. SCL is served by AF, IB, & LH; AA and DAL are the only 2 US airlines flying there with no service from Asia (LanCHIle does fly to Auckland and Sydney). Given Sao Paulo's geography, it is far more attractive to fly there, then to Santiago from Europe. When I use the term "WORLDCLASS" I mean a very large city of over 10,000,000 people. Chile is a beautiful country but is hard to feed for a flight to Europe. Iberia and LanChile do fly double daily A340 service to Madrid.
 
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On 3/8/2003 1:23:51 AM MAH4546 wrote:

[They are not making anything complicated. Ft. Lauderdale makes so much more sense. You are talking about a market that is a good double the size of Tampa. South Florida has much stronger ties to Bermuda, as well, and Bermuda is not "the Islands", it is in the Atlantic Ocean, closest to North Carolina. The Bermudan government is guaranteeing 60 seats sold on every A319 flight. They'll do it easily, and make a killing on yields thanks to one company: Tyco. Multi-million dollar company is headquarterd in Bermuda, mainly for tax purposes, but the real work is done in Miami. Just imagine all those happpy Tyco execs that will no longer need to connect.


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[/blockquote]well if you spoke to a bahamian they would tell you they are in the Atlantic also....
but so what Bermuda is a british colony with similar culture to the other old colonies of Britian that are in the Caribbeam with the exception of Cayman thats still a colony
 
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On 3/9/2003 7:20:34 AM JFK777 wrote:

Brazil is half the GDP IN ALL LATIN AMERICA. SAO PAULO IS HALF OF BRAZIL'S SO, that is 25%, of all the GDP down there. Chile's economy is larger per capita, but not larger then Brazil's. SAO Paulo is served by BA, AF, KLM, SWISS, AL, IB, TP, & LH from Europe. AA, UA, DAL, & CAL from the USA. JAL & KAL from Asia fly there too. SCL is served by AF, IB, & LH; AA and DAL are the only 2 US airlines flying there with no service from Asia (LanCHIle does fly to Auckland and Sydney). Given Sao Paulo's geography, it is far more attractive to fly there, then to Santiago from Europe. When I use the term "WORLDCLASS" I mean a very large city of over 10,000,000 people. Chile is a beautiful country but is hard to feed for a flight to Europe. Iberia and LanChile do fly double daily A340 service to Madrid.
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Seriously JFK, the airline excuse just gets plain old (KAL does not fly to GRU, BTW; and LanChile also flies to Papette in Polynessia and Easter Island and has applied for Tokyo service) and ridiculous. Santiago de Chile's geographic location just does not make it a viable hub for LatAm-Europe service. Sao Paulo is a much larger city, one of the largest in the world, they are obviously going to have more airline service. Santiago de Chile is no small city with over 5,000,000 residents. Population is not the only think that makes a city world class. There are so many infinite factors. Look at Rome. Do not tell me this city is not world class, even though it is smaller than Santiago de Chile, Lima, or Bogota. In terms of what a world class city should look like and have, in Latin America, Santiago de Chile best fits the description, not Sao Paulo. It is quality, not quantity, that works.
 
Oh lordy.

My city is bigger and better than your city! Nyahh nyahh!

 
Well, I am in Sao Paulo right now and have been down here on vacation for 3 weeks and I can tell you that it is definately world class. This city is absolutely unbelievable. Sure, there are tons of problems here but I have been to Santiago and they have the same types of problems. But, I don~t know if new air service is warranted unless UA or AA loses some of it~s flights. There always seems to be open seats on all my flights to Sao Paulo. If the economy ever improves here though I think U could be quite profitable down here.
 
Just landed this morning from my incredible week of vacation in Santiago and El Chico Norte. I'll take Santiago any day over Sao Paulo. Great modern airport, fairly good freeway system (for S.A.), and a stable economy (no inflation and 7% unemployment).