BBC: USAirways files for C11.

Hopefully US Airways can sort themselves out once and for all? Incidentally I watched one of their 762’s arrive at GLA yesterday missing huge chunks of that dark blue paint from the livery across the fuselage.

A bit like My Travel it reminded me that this is an airline facing deep financial problems and it’s starting to show now too.

but how much use would (mainly) East coast based US staff be to Virgin USA, if their HQ is to be in San Fran? That’s one helluva relocation package to put together quickly…

Was the decission to go to San Fran final? I must have missed that.

but how much use would (mainly) East coast based US staff be to Virgin USA, if their HQ is to be in San Fran? That’s one helluva relocation package to put together quickly…

I’ve been thinking (long day at work), could this be a way for Virgin USA to get a kick-start? They could buy planes, gates perhaps even hire ex US staff. Or perhaps just buy the “shuttle”. It is one of the few valuable assets US still has, so it is most likely to be sold. It may not do the long-term survival any good, but it may be the only way to last beyond short to medium term.

USAirways has set up a website to answer questions about this new round of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

http://www.transformingusairways.com/

Flying regional jets on mainline/medium haul routes and offering nothing more than a beverage service. No wonder no one wants to fly them.

RJ’s are not the reason for their troubles. US was very late with implimenting RJ’s across their route structure, much later than their competition. They actually kept RJ’s from their 4 wholy-owned regional carriers until last year. While the rest of us were jetting around in ERJ/CRJ’s, US was providing service in Dash 8’s and Do328’s. Rather then jump on the RJ boom with everyone else, US got caught up in a fight to only allow their own company fly them for 10% less. Well that fight cost them years which is why their first CRJ flight by a wholly-owned regional (PSA) was this year. The rest of the industry has been flying RJ’s since 1995.

US did farm out some of their routes to outside carriers who flew RJ’s (Chautauqua and Mesa) but not for a majority of their short haul flying as they still had 100 turboprops in their system. Actually some of the flying Mesa Airlines picked up was with the B1900D.

US is now scrambling to catch up to the rest of the airlines. They’ve finally started to reap the benefits of small jets but it’s too little too late. To intensify their $$ return we’re seeing them slash their workers salary by 1/3rd or more every year. Now they have mainline pilots flying those EMB-170’s for less then most pilots are paid to fly an EMB-145 at competing regional carrier.

I dont care for US Airways. Now, TWA that was another matter. I loved that airline and it was allowed to be bullied into an almalgamaion and its name took away and its route hubs diminidhed.

USAirways has made a rod for its own back. Flying regional jets on mainline/medium haul routes and offering nothing more than a beverage service. No wonder no one wants to fly them.

Why US Airways will not survive

Here’s the problem that US Airways faces:

I live in Boston and US Airways has a large presense at Logan Airport. A good number of their flights are under two hours. With the security requirements in place in the United States, it no longer makes sense to fly any flight under 1.5 hours. It often is faster to drive. Their big money maker prior to 9/11 was the Boston-Washington-New York shuttle. While I continue to fly to D.C. (I just flew to Dulles on Independence Air this weekend), I don’t to New York; its just not worth it (I must admit I flew Continental to Newark because of the Path connection to New York which made Newark prior to 9/11 a faster link to New York City).

There are of course other problems. Southwest Airlines is a big one. They now have a growing presense in Philadelphia, which is going to hurt them a lot. I wish Southwest flew to Logan. They fly to Providence and Manchester, NH, but because I live down town, I am not going to drive (or take the T to Providence).

I travel a lot, and I will not book US Airways on anything more than a month in advance right now, because I am not sure they will be around, or the non-stop flight will become a connection–I don’t do connections! They also got out of the Florida non stop market from Logan, which I think was a big mistake. I have a condo in south west Florida 75 miles south of Tampa (in Englewood–lucky me, huriccane number two coming this week–GRRRR!), and I go down to Tampa probably six times a year. I flew Metrojet all the time, now I have to use Delta; AND I HATE DELTA!.

Personally I do not care if they live or die. If they die, someone else will take their place. They are not a great airline any way; no US carrier is (I correct my self, Southwest is a great airline, one of the best). I want convenient and inexpensive transportation. I am not brand conscious. I will always fly the carrier that costs less. I will not waste my money on a plane seat, even when going 5000 miles from Boston to Honolulu. I would rather spend my money at the destination and not on the plane. I am always amazed people fly business or first class. I assume their company’s pay for it.

I should also add that management at US Airways made a disasterous purchase of PSA about 15 years ago or so. They bought the west coast carrier, destroyed it, and now pretty much do not serve the west coast any more except on east-west flights from their east coast hubs. That was a stupid and expensive move on management’s part which hurt their bottom line.

Bkonner

Us Airways has always been the thorn in the side of BA. They despiretly hoped it would become a feeder network in the USA for them and even brough Barbara Cassini (of Go fame) to try and sort everything out but they were soo imcompatable with different booking systems, a very diverse fleet etc and a failing client base with the USA as CO, AA, UA etc overtook their market bit by bit!

ohh no will they survive? i hope so if not a great airline will disapear and thousands of people out of the job. although this is also partly down to the staff not accepting concessions could be the wost decision they made as they could lose their jobs and lose there pay because of their decision.