USAirways Reports April Traffic

[genejockey]

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On 5/6/2003 5:06:17 PM MarkMyWords wrote:

yeah.....system bookings of 118,000 Monday, 93,000 today, and 97,000 for tomorrow.......but there is no war effect.

178.00 fares to the west coast to spur additonal traffic.....but there is no war effect.

282 million dollar first quarter loss, even after additonal furloughs and concessions......but there is no war effect.

Get your head out of your behind......just because the war is over doesn''t mean that the effects will not linger. You agreed to the war clause as a part of your contract....tough it out like the rest of us. When the war effect is over, you will get your snap back and pay back.

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MarkMyWords:

What you described here is a MANAGEMENT PROBLEM! There is no war effect and you know it. Are you really trying to support your arguement by quoting bookings for a Tuesday and a Wednesday? My goodness, you ought to be embarassed. Loads for the first five days of the month were 71.9%. Last years May loads were 73.6%. Are they high enough to hit the break even target? Of course not, but once again that is definently a MANAGEMENT PROBLEM. Low fares? Management needs to do something to put passengers on the planes...how about fare rationalization, common sense policies, and advertising to reinforce US Airways superior customer service? The work force has provided this company with $1 billion per year in concessions, and roughly $150 million from the "war" pay defferal (interest free loan). Fuel prices have dropped 30% since the war started. I do realize that there is some lag between crude prices and actual fuel costs, so the result of this significant decrease should be seen sometime this month. And what about the $206 million from the federal government? Please don''t tell me about a reimbursement for increased security costs. It is still money that is a give-me. Management has been given all of the tools, now it is time for them to perform. Believe me, I am not trying to take away the accomplishments of management during BK, but personally I am getting tired of management''s major means of turning this airline around is to focus on squeezing the employees for more money. I certainly have not seen any bright ideas from management. As for the 5% interest free loan, I think Dave should provide a brutally honest evaluation after 90 days. At the very least, he should specifiy how this loan is being put to use. Is it being targeted to solve one particular problem, to reduce debt, or simply to survive? No BS, just the bottom line.

 

[MarkMyWords]

Mike,

I am not sure about that contract language, but openings for station managers and supervisors for SDF, DAY, BTV and BHM were all listed as mainline express in COB postings. AVP is going all express in the June Schedule is now all express so I figured it would be a mainline express station too.

To the rest I say this....Yes I know that there are huge problems that need to be addressed and solved by "Management". We are 37 days out of bankruptcy. Things do not happen overnight. Yes, there is still a war effect and YOU need to open your eyes to that. Yes there were many of these problems there PRIOR to the war, but the war compounded the problem even more. I am only able to quote bookings for the dates information is available for, but bookings are down. Innovative ideas such as the Salute to Savings and the Flexibility to chage because of the war were all ideas started by US and were quite successful. The Salute to Savings fares for our military men/women and thier families have overwhelmed the SATO offices and is going to generate definite increases in bookings. These are steps in the right direction. You can''t turn an A330 on a dime, so things will take time.

I couldn''t agree with you more that fares need to be rationalized and we need to stop our heavy reliance on raping business customers for last minute travel needs, but it isn''t that easy. If we try to raise leisure fares and lower business fares, how many other airlines will go along with our "fare rationalization"? If they don''t, and our leisure fares are higher, then we lose leisure bookings. It is a delicate balance and there is not an easy fix for it. Be assured that this issue is being addressed and evaluated, but is not something that will change tomorrow.

You say to set ourselves apart from other airlines. How do you do that and not increase your costs? What would you provide to the customer that would distinguish us from another airline and not cost us anything? Yes I agree that advertising and getting our name out there is extremely important. We do some advertising in the major newspapers and with radio spots. Is that enough, no. But how do you launch a major national advertising plan and not cost money. Would you be willing to continue with your 5% paycut if that meant being able to use that money to do a national advertising promotion? I agree I would like to know where that 5% is going, but I can tell you right now it is going to try and cover daily operational expenses and trying to reduce the losses.

This 206 million dollars that everyone thinks is a give-me......where is the money? Have you seen the check? Are we going to get the full amount? Will it be in cash? Will it be in tax credits? And guess what......we had to draw from our DIP financing to accomplish those security items and we had to pay the money back! There are no freebies here.

The 178.00 fares are a competitive response to HP and does it matter who is trying spur the traffic? HP, US, UA, AA. No matter who started it, it is the same reasoning. We need to get butts in the seats. There will always be competitive responses such as this. So how do you balance that with a rationalized fare structure? There is such a fine line here. And yes I know....it is not for you to decide or say...thta is what we are paying management for. I am confident that these questions and issues are being addressed at the highest levels and we will rationalize fares and rid ourselves of antiquated rules, but it is going to take some time and delicate balancing.

 

[diogenes]

Mike W is correct. All employees ''expressed'' prior to 1/1/03 (FAY, AVL, etc) were NOT given the mainline express option - they went straight to work for express, under express rules. Only stations ''expressed'' since 1/1/03 (CLE, MKE) have the mainline express option.

I am unaware of any stations other than CLE and MKE being expressed on the June schedule. There are rumblings on other threads about addional station (IAM and CWA) furloughs soon. Any facts out there? My instincts say the big green weinie is coming soon.

 

[RedOne]

Let''s see. Since 911, someone said approx. thousands of employees laid off.
How many VP''s did we have 9-11....how many do we have now? (Oh, I forget... they actually are vital to our survival...."low life" isn''t!) Would it help to save money if the same percentage of them were sent to mainline express?

 

[MarkMyWords]

I stand corrected. ABE is not all express yet. They have 1 jet a day to CLT. I wouldn''t hold out much hope that it will be considered mainline much longer. Also DTW is going down to 3 mainline jets a day in June.

 

[PITbull]

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On 5/6/2003 759 PM MarkMyWords wrote:

Where do I fit in? I am a part of the solution. I come to work everyday, giving it 110% to try and turn things around to get some of these 18K employees back. I have never lost sight of the fact that so many people suffer much greater losses then I do. That is why you will never hear me complain about the additional 5%, I know I am very fortunate.

So, how do you figure that our concessions are going to pay for this phantom RJ order that hasn''t been placed yet? Where is this 206 million that we supposedly got a check for? With bookings under 100K today and tomorrow, where is the No War Effect?


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Mark,

Now you can EAT your words...Post Gazette May 7 article Business section....

www.postgazette.com

Scroll to the bottom.

USAirways Operating Losses Narrow by: Frank Reeves

Bottom of the ariticle: Quote from Siegel: "On a more optimistic note, Siegel SAID the airline expected to announce this month the purchase of REGIONAL JETS. Many of these regional jets are expected to be part of the carrier''s newly created subsidiary, Mid Atlantic Airways, BASED IN PITTSBURGH".


OK?

 

[MarkMyWords]

Once again, if we were making a profit and placed an RJ order, I would agree with you. We continue to lose money even after concessions, so I stand by my statement that these concessions were made to save the jobs of the 29K people still employeed here. Without those concessions WE would not have a job right now.

Do you know for a fact that we will be purchasing these airplanes or will they be leased through a third party such as GE?

 

[PITbull]

Bob,

To you its a lost battle, and that''s fine. For me, it is an on going present situation. I don''t want to get in to it with you as again, with all due respect it is not for PAX consumption. I realize these are public boards, and many groups of people view this board who just peruse who have nothing to do with U and some who don''t even fly U as a PAX.. But there are many Unionists on these boards as well as U labor leaders and members. This is yet another forum we use to comunicate with each other and mangement. We also use other venues as well besides these boards.

There are some folks who would rather move on with it, and those who still want to disucss it. That''s their perogative and mine as well. If you don''t want to see this, just pass over me.

Like I said, we did not agree to take this money out for the reasons U has taken it. And I will continue to remind them of it whether it falls to deaf ears by some or many.

 

[PITbull]

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On 5/7/2003 4:05:48 PM MarkMyWords wrote:


The 5% is for the war effect, not for RJ's. The same war effect you can't seem to conceptualize.

Please show me where one penny of the 282 million dollar Q1 loss was spent on new RJ's. Are you saying that we hid money somewhere to buy RJ's? With 1.2 billion in cash on hand and we are not in the black yet, where are we going to get the money to buy these RJ's. WE ARE STILL LOSING MONEY and are projected to do so for the entire year. Yes there is a huge order for RJ's coming. But who will fund these, ie GE, MESA, RSA, etc. Why can't you see that your concessions saved your job! Without those concessions the doors would have been shut and you and I would be having a different debate from the unemployment line.

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Mark,

That's your take on how I had my job saved..not mine. My job was saved by a junior person, that is who I owe. Take that noise and feed it to someone else whose afraid of living. As you can see, it doesn't work with me. And surely my job was NOT saved by taking 5% in April of my wages. The concessions were agreed by the majority, and so be it. The 5% was for a war effect on our airline, not what would have normally occured anyway. The concessions is not my beef, its the 5% return, Medical PPO coverages, and the new sick penalty WHICH YOU KNOW WAS NOT THE PROPOSAL.

 

[PITbull]

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On 5/7/2003 2:28:06 PM MarkMyWords wrote:

Once again, if we were making a profit and placed an RJ order, I would agree with you. We continue to lose money even after concessions, so I stand by my statement that these concessions were made to save the jobs of the 29K people still employeed here. Without those concessions WE would not have a job right now.

Do you know for a fact that we will be purchasing these airplanes or will they be leased through a third party such as GE?

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On 5/7/2003 2:28:06 PM MarkMyWords wrote:

Once again, if we were making a profit and placed an RJ order, I would agree with you. We continue to lose money even after concessions, so I stand by my statement that these concessions were made to save the jobs of the 29K people still employeed here. Without those concessions WE would not have a job right now.

Do you know for a fact that we will be purchasing these airplanes or will they be leased through a third party such as GE?

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So marky,

Run this by me again? Just why did the co. take our 5%? Cause they can't make a profit? How does one make a profit if your buying RJs? Someone has to put the orders in for purchase. The 5% WAS NOT FOR THE COMPANY TO TAKE, IN ORDER TO MAKE A PROFIT or because they didn't. It was a cushion for the company for any adverse effects that a sustaining war would have on the industry and specifically our airline.

What I can't tolerate is folks who sit here and try to "snow" me on the numbers as if I have no intellect to discern the difference between a bunch of BS and facts....what then is your take on that ariticle. You asked me where I got the information that we were going to buy these phatom RJs? Now your trying to imply that yes they're coming but not with profits but with possibly GE funding? Did you bother to read the article to determine WHY there was no profits?

I will not repsond to if you are going to continue to "spin" what is being publically reported.

I am not asking you to agree with me when it comes to my point with Labor. As I have stated before, I defend labor as a laborist with the same conviction you defend management as management. So I will agree with you...THAT WE DISAGREE. PERIOD.

 

[MarkMyWords]

The 5% is for the war effect, not for RJ's. The same war effect you can't seem to conceptualize.

Please show me where one penny of the 282 million dollar Q1 loss was spent on new RJ's. Are you saying that we hid money somewhere to buy RJ's? With 1.2 billion in cash on hand and we are not in the black yet, where are we going to get the money to buy these RJ's. WE ARE STILL LOSING MONEY and are projected to do so for the entire year. Yes there is a huge order for RJ's coming. But who will fund these, ie GE, MESA, RSA, etc. Why can't you see that your concessions saved your job! Without those concessions the doors would have been shut and you and I would be having a different debate from the unemployment line.

 

[CLIPPEDWINGS]

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On 5/7/2003 12:28:46 PM RedOne wrote:

Let's see.  Since 911, someone said approx. thousands of employees laid off.
How many VP's did we have 9-11....how many do we have now?  (Oh, I forget... they actually are vital to our survival...."low life" isn't!)  Would it help to save money if the same percentage of them were sent to mainline express?

_______
I couldn't agree with you more.  Dave must think we are all morons and we don't see this.  There are so many fewer employees, but we keep adding more VP's.  It only goes to prove that Dave and his morons don't know what they are doing.  Therefore, they need more people to help them clean up the mess that they are creating.  Dave..get you deleted together already will you!!!!!!!!1
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[REACC1]

Evidently, Airtran and Southwest are not experiencing the same "war effect" that U is. Their loads are up. Maybe the money gurus will fix the airline once they have everyone experssed out. I see the spin, ''the rj''s saved us''.

 

[Diesel8]

"The airline''s costs per available seat mile, the key measure used to determine costs, was 11.99 cents a mile, down 7 percent from the same quarter a year earlier." Quoted from an article.

YOY results have not improved much, loss is roughly the same. Even figuring CASM without fuel, it is still over 10 cents, which appears too high, particularily considering how much the good people of USAir have given. Hopefully, the RASM will increase.

 

[supercruiser]

>>I am only able to quote bookings for the dates information is available for, but bookings are down.