US Airways Trims Capacity for 2nd Half

[USA320Pilot]

US Airways Trims Capacity for 2nd Half

Click here for the story.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

 

[BoeingBoy]

From May 10th AboutUS:

Q. Where will the seven exiting 737s come from, the east or west
base?

A. A little of both. According to the Fleet Outlook Report, the next 737 to leave the west fleet is tail number 312 in September. The east fleet will see aircraft 522, 525, 503 retire in August and 515 in September. East aircraft 592 goes to the golden terminal in the sky in October, and 501 and 502 (also east) follow suit in November.

Jim

 

[A320 Driver]

From May 10th AboutUS:

Q. Where will the seven exiting 737s come from, the east or west
base?

A. A little of both. According to the Fleet Outlook Report, the next 737 to leave the west fleet is tail number 312 in September. The east fleet will see aircraft 522, 525, 503 retire in August and 515 in September. East aircraft 592 goes to the golden terminal in the sky in October, and 501 and 502 (also east) follow suit in November.

Jim

I guess their idea of trimming capacity is parking aircraft and not replacing them. We can't train pilot's fast enough to cover the schedule and parking airplanes is not going to help.


A320 Driver B)

 

[BoeingBoy]

They may not be the last.....

From the last annual report:

"As of December 31, 2006, AWA and US Airways had 28 and 86 aircraft, respectively, that have lease expirations prior to the end of 2009."

Jim

 

[N924PS]

They may not be the last.....

From the last annual report:

"As of December 31, 2006, AWA and US Airways had 28 and 86 aircraft, respectively, that have lease expirations prior to the end of 2009."

Jim

Jim,

Do you know what the diposition of the B757 fleet might be ?

 

[BoeingBoy]

Only in general terms.....

I've read here that some 757's will be returned within the next 9-12 months. Longer range they say there'll only be 20 757's in the fleet, all ETOPs, but no timeframe. That was mentioned along with the Airbus order announcement.

June 18 AboutUS:

Q. What existing narrowbody airplanes will be retired and when?

A. The entire fleet of both East and West 737-300/400 planes will be retired between 2008 and the end of 2012 under the current plan. We also plan to eliminate the oldest B757s from the fleet, which would leave us with 20 757s to be used on Hawaii, European and certain transcon routes.

Q. How can we retire the 757s given the A320 does not perform the same flights?

A. Many of our 757s are aging and should be retired from commercial service over the next few years due to high maintenance costs. We’ll keep a fleet of 20 or so to operate missions the A320 family absolutely cannot do. And we continue to search for younger 757s on the used market to fill all our needs.

Jim

 

[N924PS]

Thanks Jim.

It's too bad the marketplace and Boeing management forced the end of the B757. An upgraded B757 would be a fantastic machine, way better that the B737-900.

Hard to believe that neither Boeing or Airbus offers an aircraft that matches the mighty 757.

Hope you are enjoying retirement. We're all glad you stay active in USAviation. Your posts are always factual and on point.

924

 

[BoeingBoy]

Thanks.

My guess is that Boeing figures the 737-900ER is a suitable replacement for shorter range operations (about the same capacity) and the 787-8 is a suitable replacement for longer range missions (a little more capacity but probably better economics).

Jim

 

[YVINTERN]

Thanks.

My guess is that Boeing figures the 737-900ER is a suitable replacement for shorter range operations (about the same capacity) and the 787-8 is a suitable replacement for longer range missions (a little more capacity but probably better economics).

Jim

Too bad they went Screwbus Sonny Jim

 

[EMBFA]

Wow, what a shock that the capacity reduction comes in the form of 737s and not by getting rid of some of the 800 contract regional jets clogging up the airports and skies.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Actually, express is going to grow, with a projected gain of 14 E175's (Republic) vs a loss of 5 E170's (Republic), 2 E145's (Chataugua), and 2 CRJ200's (???).

Jim

 

[EMBFA]

Actually, express is going to grow, with a projected gain of 14 E175's (Republic) vs a loss of 5 E170's (Republic), 2 E145's (Chataugua), and 2 CRJ200's (???).

Jim

Again, shocker. <_<

 

[ringmaruf]

Actually, express is going to grow, with a projected gain of 14 E175's (Republic) vs a loss of 5 E170's (Republic), 2 E145's (Chataugua), and 2 CRJ200's (???).

Jim

The 2 CR2s that are leaving are coming from Mesa's PHX operation.

 

[Crzipilot]

Does that include the forced reductions, of having to ground airplanes due to lack of crews????? PSA has 5 out now, albiet 2 are mtx tracks, but starting this month they pulled 3 airplanes out of the schedule. And surprise surprise, still Junior Manning people.

 

[BoeingBoy]

While the investor guidance those numbers come from doesn't specify, I assume not since all the fleet numbers seem to be airplanes on the property and not just those flying.

It seems like most of the 2% reduction in flying is going to come from reduced utilization, which could include PSA not flying all the planes. Mainline only loses 2 aircraft with 6 E190's replacing the 8 737-300's, while Express has a net gain of 5 aircraft, with larger planes replacing smaller ones (E175's replacing E145's and CRJ200's). So just looking at seats in the fleet it's about a wash.

Jim