Us Airways Reports November Traffic

[the turtle]

Blacken the eye...?

Customers love the new E-170's.

As for use...

Without the E-170's, the large expansion at DCA could NOT happen. Their size and capability allows them to be added into that market there while the larger narrowbodies are still limited by slots.

In PHL, the wide use of rnwys 8/26 and 17/35 by the E-170's has allowed further growth into that major hub with less effect on delays and ground congestion than adding narrowbodies. Have you been through F terminal lately, it is packed with the many new passengers that the E-170's are bringing in.

Reliability is way up, flights are full, our safety record is awesome, and hundreds of otherwise furloughed US Airways employees now have a job. They too gave in the past, and continue to do so now.

So if you do not like MDA, then it must be personal. Because we are doing a great job under far tougher conditions than at your workplace.

Find another target for your pathetic sense of despair.

[post="227098"][/post]​

allow me to paraphrase...."Hi. My name is Rico. I have a hard-on for everything 170. Enjoy your flight."

 

[SVQLBA]

Well, this is UNIT revenue, not total revenue. With GoFares, RASM was certainly going to drop, but the idea is to make up the drop in RASM through an increased LF.

[post="227033"][/post]​

"Unit revenue" is RASM, not yield, so it includes the impact of higher load factor. (Constant yield plus higher load factor would give higher RASM). The fact that RASM dropped (and by so much) meant that US did not make up yield with load factor.

Having load factor go up and RASM drop is not a good combination -- yields must be hurting and I suspect that its not just due to GoFares.

 

[ITRADE]

I've taken the E-170 once and thought it was a terrific ride.

Have the maintenance issues been worked out?

 

[BoeingBoy]

Industry-wide, traffic is increasing. The BTS figures for August (the latest available) show ytd passenger numbers up 7.5%, RPM's up 10.5%. For just the month of August, the number of passengers was up 3.5% and RPM's were up 6.9%.

To paraphrase an old saying, "A rising tide should lift all boats". All else being equal, in this environment the airline with the smallest increase in ASM's (U) should have the largest increase in LF, yet we had the smallest. Likewise, we had the smallest increase in RPM's.

So while the numbers do show an increase year over year, the increase is less than it should be given the industry trends. That is the "booking away" factor.

Jim

 

[RowUnderDCA]

That's what I was thinking, in noting that U is lacking the industry in LF improvement and apparently unit revenue. However, I'm not sure that the press release is careful enough to distinguish between yield and RASM when designated 'unit revenue' although it's safer to assume that 'unit revenue' refers to RASM. Not being in the industry, I'm not familiar with the terms of art.

I had planned on flying the E170 on a short DCA-PHL flight, but changed at the last minute. I was concerned about those long flights particularly out of MCI and IAH... Glad to hear that they are sufficiently comfortable. I hope vff think so, too.

 

[insp89]

You do realize that MDA started flying THIS YEAR...?

[post="227071"][/post]​

....Do you realize you missed the whole point ??? The point being management continues reporting half-truths instead of the WHOLE truth...I'll ask again, Can anyone post MDA's numbers ALONGSIDE USAIRWAY'S numbers to get a True comparison with the other airlines ?? .............................. Rico, Have you ever heard the term Upstreaming ??? Ever heard of Frank Lorenzo ? Ever heard of Eastern Airlines ? Looks like history is repeating itself, But I know, You just don't care.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Rico, Have you ever heard the term Upstreaming ??? Ever heard of Frank Lorenzo ? Ever heard of Eastern Airlines ? Looks like history is repeating itself, But I know, You just don't care.

[post="227193"][/post]​

insp,

You raise an interesting point, and the answer is something I'd love to know.....

From the 3rd quarter report, it appears that over 27% of our passengers never set foot on a mainline airplane (the difference between "system" and "mainline" passenger count).

When those passengers purchase a ticket, who is charged with the cost of selling that ticket, whether bought thru res, ATO, web site, etc?

When those passengers check in at the airport (if there's not a separate counter for Express) who is charged with the cost of checking them in? If there is an Express counter, which Express operator is charged with the cost of checking them in?

When an Emb-170 pulls into C4 at CLT, or a gate anywhere, is the prorated cost of that gate charged to MDA or absorbed by mainline? If it's an Express gate, which Express operator is charged with the cost? Likewise, the cost of the agent(s) working that flight.

The list of questions could go on and on, and of course they apply equally to the affiliated express carriers.

Jim

 

[ClueByFour]

Blacken the eye...?

Customers love the new E-170's.

[post="227098"][/post]​

In comparison to what?

The little ERJs or CRJs? Sure. Mainline metal? Nope.

I've also taken no less than 4 hours of delays on the thing (in very limited domestic flying) because the guys up front were busy rebooting the airplane. Over. And over. And over again.

You cannot shrink to fit. I find it amazing that on a route like PIT-ATL, US will toss perhaps two -170s and an -145 at it daily, and DL is running like 4x MD-80 and the filling 2 or 3x CRJs. It's not merely feeding ATL, folks.

You will note that none of the carriers who have even come close to making money operate the -170 (and B6 ordered the -190, before anybody goes there).