US Airways Express returns MGW/CKB/PKB

[ClueByFour]

I think Usairways has seen that they can't get away with charging (gouging) the travelling public with fares over $400.00 between PIT-PHL since WN entered the market. So they can now take their mainline aircraft and gouge on a different market and HIDE run from the competition as we always do. Put an rj on it. Yeah they are real money makers. 🙄

This is the essence of the Tempe strategy. It's only working because costs were artificially lowered twice.

Absent the cost reductions, the strategy won't work. It did not work for East, it won't work for the combined entity.

 

[FM2436]

This is a result of the implosion and shutdown of RegionsAir.... who one of the WV airport managers Carolyn Strock was so excited to get in there (and get rid of US Airways Express) but they had a far worse completion rate. And now they've shut down.

I know a little bit about the situation Carolyn Stock was facing. She had Mesa, d/b/a US Airways Express, who was performing horribly in not only PKB, but also MGW and CKB. All three communities went to Sen. Rockefeller demanding that Mesa shape up or ship out. Regions Air was awarded an EAS at PKB/MGW/CLB and flew a Continental Connection into CLE. They performed just as badly as Mesa. At least Colgan is a damn good turboprop regional airline. However, hopefully, Mesa and Regions Air hasn't destroyed the market. MGW is less than 90 miles from the PIT terminal.

 

[wings396]

🙁

The lvia.org website reported 1,206 emplanements and 1,252 deplanements for Colgan/US in March 2007, down from 1,369 and 1,560 in March 2006. That means the flights were only averaging about 40 passengers per day.

The lvia website also shows that Delta/Big Sky will begin service to Boston in July. US ran this for years and recently CO had service. Wings would probably know more about how well these flights performed.

When US operated the BOS flights, they were "Hot and Cold". There were certain times of the year when the loads were decent, but the ABE-BOS market was never a "Barn Burner". I believe that Midway gave it a try for a short while with F-100's, and never had much traffic either. If CO Express gave it a try and decided to pull the flights, I would expect DL to do the same after a while. The numbers above for the ABE-PIT market are pathetic to say the least. At one time those numbers were acheived in 2-3 days with the 5 Mainline flights. As much as I agree that the fares out of ABE are high, there is more to that story than meets the eye. The LVI Airport has inflicted VERY high costs on the Airlines that operate out of there. The landing fees and rent are nearly triple compared to similar Aiprorts in the area such as AVP, MDT, and RDG. For anyone that is familiar with the Airport, they know just how many new carriers come and go from ABE. The Airport lures them in with all of the "Freebies", but once the deal ends the Airlines pack up and leave town. The ABE area is, and has been growing by leaps and bounds, yet the Airport is dying a slow death.
In a recent newspaper article it was stated that the traffic numbers at ABE reached their lowest point for the last 10 years. Something is wrong with this picture to say the least.

 

[CV580ETOPS]

They are also going to stop flying the ABE-PIT market on the same day. I assume that this freed up a few A/C which enabled them to operate these flights.
Just a note on the ABE-PIT service..When they end this service on May 1st, it will end 40 years of service in this market... 🙁 This market was originally operated by TWA, and US took it over when they left ABE in 1967.
At one point there were 5 mainline flights a day from ABE-PIT, and 4 of them ran very high passenger loads. There were MD-80's, 733's, 734's,and F100's operating these routes for many years, and now it isn't even worth operating a Saab 340 on the route.
It is sad to reflect just how far backwards this Airline has gone in the last few years. I'm sure there are many other former US routes that have gone in the same direction.

Do you really think it's a reflection of how "backwards
this airline has gone in the last few years"? Or is it possibly,just possibly that the demographics of the Allentown Bethlehem Easton region has changed with the shutdown of Bethlehem Steel thus eliminating the need for 5 mainline flights a day to PIT. Gotta hand it to you USAir folks,employees and passengers alike,youre nothing if not creative inn bashing your own company. Ya'll might wanna check your Meds <_<

 

[flyJOE]

Do you really think it's a reflection of how "backwards
this airline has gone in the last few years"? Or is it possibly,just possibly that the demographics of the Allentown Bethlehem Easton region has changed with the shutdown of Bethlehem Steel thus eliminating the need for 5 mainline flights a day to PIT.

Bethlehem Steel has been a non-factor in ABE travel for a long time now. Keep in mind when the ABE-PIT flts were 4-5x a day, PIT was running 500+ flights a day, there was either no CLT service or it was new, & PHL flights were no where what they are now. PIT was frequently used for connections south throughout Florida, ATL, MSY, etc...

Now with 3x a day flights to CLT, including mainline, & several (although unreliable) PHL flights, & the lack of service out of PIT, while very disappointing, it's understandable.

 

[rvolkcpa]

Do you really think it's a reflection of how "backwards
this airline has gone in the last few years"? Or is it possibly,just possibly that the demographics of the Allentown Bethlehem Easton region has changed with the shutdown of Bethlehem Steel thus eliminating the need for 5 mainline flights a day to PIT. Gotta hand it to you USAir folks,employees and passengers alike,youre nothing if not creative inn bashing your own company. Ya'll might wanna check your Meds <_<

The decline is probably more related to US dropping PIT as a hub. We took a number of flights to the west coast from ABE via PIT. It was a great connecting airport. Without US connecting flights at PIT, traffic had to drop. Now when we travel to the west coast from ABE, it's mainly on UA via ORD. The UA afternoon flights between ABE and ORD are subject to weather delays and often run an hour or more late.

We were very loyal to US at ABE partially because of the ABE experience itself (easy parking, friendly staff, lack of congestion, etc.) Now we use US for most flights to Florida, but have used UA via IAD when US fares are too high. For west coast flights we sometimes go to EWR for a nonstop on Alaska rather than connecting from ABE. Our next Florida trip will be an Allegiant nonstop to PIE. If US offered better options to Florida we wouldn't consider this, but we've decided it's worth a try. We're tempted to try Airtran's new service at Stewart.

I was hopeful that all of the employee givebacks in the past few years would make US cost competitive with discount carriers, so they could restore the nonstop ABE-ORD service. Obviously this hasn't happened.

I'd love to see the good old days of easy connections via PIT, but this isn't going to happen.

 

[BuffaloJoe]

I was hopeful that all of the employee givebacks in the past few years would make US cost competitive with discount carriers, so they could restore the nonstop ABE-ORD service. Obviously this hasn't happened.

I'd love to see the good old days of easy connections via PIT, but this isn't going to happen.

I don't remember US having ABE-ORD flights. UA had mainline flights and AA came in in 1991, but AA didn't last that long. But now UA has all RJ service to ORD.

 

[EMBFA]

Why would US have had nonstop flights to ORD? Maybe direct, stop in PIT?

 

[rvolkcpa]

Why would US have had nonstop flights to ORD? Maybe direct, stop in PIT?

I didn't intend to indicate that US ever had ABE-ORD flights. My point was that without decent west coast flights from PIT, ABE passengers often take UA flights to ORD for west coast connections as an alternative to the options via PHL on US. The delays we've experienced traveling via ORD make us wish that connections via ORD were still a viable alternative.

 

[wings396]

Do you really think it's a reflection of how "backwards
this airline has gone in the last few years"? Or is it possibly,just possibly that the demographics of the Allentown Bethlehem Easton region has changed with the shutdown of Bethlehem Steel thus eliminating the need for 5 mainline flights a day to PIT. Gotta hand it to you USAir folks,employees and passengers alike,youre nothing if not creative inn bashing your own company. Ya'll might wanna check your Meds <_<

What kind of a "Jackass" statement is that?? Talk about meds, it is you that needs to take another dose buddy.
The ABE area is booming with housing as well as Industry. Bethlehem Steel died long ago, and wasn't a major factor in ABE traffic for many years already, plus they had a few A/C of their own.
Mack Trucks, Air Products,and Rexroth are just a few major corporations in the Lehigh Valley. There are industrial parks and housing developments popping up all over the place. I had the demographics of the ABE area a few years ago for a study that I did, and you would be surprised what the numbers were. US at ABE had a nonstop MCO flight for a while, and people drove from the areas of AVP, RDG, and Western NJ to take the flight. When the PIT hub was still intact ABE had several PHL flights along with CLT, DCA, MCO, and BOS. Prior to 9/11, most of these flights did very well. While I don't recall the exact numbers any longer, US at ABE boarded in the area of 19k passengers per month a few years ago. I would be willing to bet that number is closer to 10k today if that.
Since you assumed that Bethlehem Steel was the ONLY corporation in the ABE area, it is very obvious that you are clueless as to what you are posting. :blink:

Bethlehem Steel has been a non-factor in ABE travel for a long time now. Keep in mind when the ABE-PIT flts were 4-5x a day, PIT was running 500+ flights a day, there was either no CLT service or it was new, & PHL flights were no where what they are now. PIT was frequently used for connections south throughout Florida, ATL, MSY, etc...

Now with 3x a day flights to CLT, including mainline, & several (although unreliable) PHL flights, & the lack of service out of PIT, while very disappointing, it's understandable.

Actually, there was CLT and PHL service coupled with PIT.
The PIT hub took people to the west coast as well the midwest. CLT took the Southeast traffic as well as the Islands and part of the Fla. traffic. PHL took the rest of the Fla. traffic and made connections to all of the Northeast cities, and some West Coast. Believe me, it was a good setup for a while and it worked. Just prior to 9/11 there were 3 737-400's that originated in the AM, and all did very well. They went to PIT, CLT, and MCO.

 

[ABEFLYER]

The third fastest growing area in the NE (following only NYC and PHL area) and US cuts service rather than grow it. Does that make any sense? In retailing you want to be in a growing market to increase profits, but Tempe seems to like shrinking to profitability. I guess for the US apologists that they just move where they can gouge people like the US of old, since it means short time profits at the expense of long term stability.

 

[Dog Wonder]

The third fastest growing area in the NE (following only NYC and PHL area) and US cuts service rather than grow it. Does that make any sense? In retailing you want to be in a growing market to increase profits, but Tempe seems to like shrinking to profitability. I guess for the US apologists that they just move where they can gouge people like the US of old, since it means short time profits at the expense of long term stability.

It doesn't make any sense. Philly is an alleged gold mine. ABE is easily within driving distance.

Tempe's knowledge of geography stops at the Arizona border.

 

[BuffaloJoe]

The third fastest growing area in the NE (following only NYC and PHL area) and US cuts service rather than grow it. Does that make any sense? In retailing you want to be in a growing market to increase profits, but Tempe seems to like shrinking to profitability. I guess for the US apologists that they just move where they can gouge people like the US of old, since it means short time profits at the expense of long term stability.

I believe Berks is the fastest growing area in PA. The 422 Corridor is starting to get built up pretty fast. But then again most of the new housing and population growth here in Berks is people that commute to work. And we have non-existant public transportation. RDG lost USx back in 2002 to LNS cause LNS can do EAS service. Air Midwest screwed the fliers out of here, with their POS B1900's. Cities as Williamsport, Altoona , Wilkes Barre have air service and RDG doesn't sucks. When US was here in RDG I flew US almost exclusively, but now that I have to drive to PHL I fly who has the best flights around MY schedule. ABE is a pain as PHL, but in PHL I have more options. ABE being getting there from where I live, 222 isn't like it was 10 years ago, its bad. 222 South of RDG improved alot, but they have to do something up between Allentown and Reading. But my grandchildren will be retiring when that happens.

 

[wings396]

This is a link to an article in a major ABE area newspaper that supports what some here have posted about growth in the region. I know that there were a few others including a good one about the airport a few weeks back, and I will see if I can find it in the archives.



http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_5po...ll=all-news-hed

 

[FutureUScapt]

I think Usairways has seen that they can't get away with charging (gouging) the travelling public with fares over $400.00 between PIT-PHL since WN entered the market. So they can now take their mainline aircraft and gouge on a different market and HIDE run from the competition as we always do. Put an rj on it. Yeah they are real money makers. 🙄

I think you've hit the nail on the head. If US continues this strategy, there going to run out of places to hide in a few years. Parker has already said that US has no interest in expanding domestically to compete with true LCCs and I think we've seen that US doesn't have the product to compete internationally with the legacy/foreign carriers. That will put US in a bad position in a few years.



Also, to those interested (from faremeasure.com):

Southwest Airlines not only carries the most passengers on this route, the airline is also the low-fare carrier. This means you should start your search with this airline.

During the most recent reporting period, Southwest Airlines had 52.58% of the market between Philadelphia, PA and Pittsburgh, PA and passengers paid an average one-way fare of $77.13.

And they've only been in the market for a little over a year...