US Airways applies for South America service - and rumors

[ITRADE]

Filed with DOT:
Codeshare application (via United) to fly to Montivideo and Buenos Aires in one application and to Sao Paulo and Rio in another application.
There was a post on www.flyertalk.com which quoted a Bermudan or U.K. transport minster to the effect that US will apply to fly FLL-BDA in the coming days.

 

[MAH4546]

[blockquote]
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On 3/7/2003 647 AM ITRADE wrote:

Filed with DOT:

Codeshare application (via United) to fly to Montivideo and Buenos Aires in one application and to Sao Paulo and Rio in another application.

There was a post on www.flyertalk.com which quoted a Bermudan or U.K. transport minster to the effect that US will apply to fly FLL-BDA in the coming days.
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[/blockquote]

They sure will. US will be filing for FLL-BDA next week. Saturday-only, running 7 June through 27 September. Reported in today's Miami Herald as well.

 

[ITRADE]

No landing fees being assessed to US for this.

 

[Light Years]

Why FLL?

 

[RowUnderDCA]

[blockquote]
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On 3/7/2003 10:46:01 AM ITRADE wrote:

No landing fees being assessed to US for this.
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[/blockquote]

Only for a year, the FAA won't let FLL provide a fee waiver for more than a promotional period. Maybe some have gotten away with more than a year for an international destination, but the FAA would look askance at that as a use of what would otherwise be airport revenue. Hopefully, the airport sponsor put out a request for proposals or published its route developmeent program to all carriers. Also, US should not receive any other fee waivers without providing new service... only those associated with THIS NEW service.

 

[Pacemaker]

This is the second or third misleading topic heading that has appeared regarding "US Airways" service.

US Airways airplanes and employees are not going to be flying to South America, United will be.

 

[MAH4546]

As it has been said, FLL has agree to waive landing fees for this flight. MIA would obviously be the better choice. Even though it is more congested and offers the same O&D base, MIA provides a plethora of connections, including some limited USAirways Express flights (though TPA would probably be the only real feeder), plus tons of Star Alliance connections and interline connections. If the flight works, I would not be surprised to see it move to MIA after the free landing fee period is over. MIA-BDA offers potential for more frequency and connections. That is assuming AA doesn't get into that market first.

 

[drifterreno]

United already flies to San Palo. I know for sure--booked someone and put them on the plane yesterday to San Palo--united through Miami

 

[ITRADE]

[blockquote]
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On 3/7/2003 11:06:34 AM Pacemaker wrote:

This is the second or third misleading topic heading that has appeared regarding "US Airways" service.

US Airways airplanes and employees are not going to be flying to South America, United will be.
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[/blockquote]

US Airways employees don't provide air service between DCA and CHS, so why is this any different?

 

[ITRADE]

FLL-BDA confirmed...

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030307/dcf039_1.html

 

[ITRADE]

BTW, looked at fares for late April.

US was lowest at $465 r/t. AA and CO were running about $600 r/t.

 

[GrahamAF]

Why won't they just fly straight from TPA if it is going to be the only true feeder? Save the passenger time of flying to FLL, oh well the airlines always try to make thing more complicated.
I do realize they will save money in the short term but over the long run I think TPA would be a better choice as the last time I was in Airside F they already have Intl' Gates and TPA doesn't have much of any Service to the Islands.

 

[MAH4546]

[blockquote]
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On 3/7/2003 5:30:34 PM GrahamAT wrote:

Why won't they just fly straight from TPA if it is going to be the only true feeder? Save the passenger time of flying to FLL, oh well the airlines always try to make thing more complicated.
I do realize they will save money in the short term but over the long run I think TPA would be a better choice as the last time I was in Airside F they already have Intl' Gates and TPA doesn't have much of any Service to the Islands.
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[/blockquote]

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.

 

[mbmbbost]

...now if they'd just bring back a FLL non-stop or two from the northeast (BOS, LGA) it would make even more sense..They're nuts not to have done this at least for the winter season.

 

[JFK777]

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.