US Airways hubs before merger?

 
Old Feb 12, 2007, 6:09 am
  #16  
 
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Allegheny County did a lot to keep US Airways in Pgh. I think US Airways screwed the city and county.

It is a shame what happened to the airport after US decided to make it just a focus city.

That was my home airport until 2003.
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Old Feb 12, 2007, 6:41 am
  #17  
 
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Originally Posted by safetymom
Allegheny County did a lot to keep US Airways in Pgh. I think US Airways screwed the city and county.

It is a shame what happened to the airport after US decided to make it just a focus city.

That was my home airport until 2003.
I tend to agree...it's really quite a shame (and an inconvenience!) that PIT has lost almost all international service and direct flights have been greatly reduced. I'd rather connect through/fly out of PIT any day before dealing with the mess at PHL!
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Old Feb 12, 2007, 6:58 am
  #18  
 
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Up until late 2004, PIT was a full-fledged hub for US. It's still possible on many routes to connect in PIT, though flights from there to many destinations run with far less frequency than those from CLT and PHL. I still connect in PIT whenever possible (though from RIC it means at least one segment, usually two, on an RJ). The reasonably priced restaurants, the wi-fi, and the lightly loaded flights are why I prefer PIT to CLT. I've transited PIT twice in the past month and both times the airport's been deserted, especially around the US Airways gates. Southwest's flights to MCO and MDW appeared to be completely full, though, based on the crowds of people I witnessed lining up to board at their gates on A concourse. Seems like much of Pittsburgh's O&D traffic is now using airlines other than US...even the DL and NW gates on D have more pax waiting at certain hours than some of the US gates.

PIT-RIC flights must be a huge money loser for Trans States/US as all flights I've taken on that route since the dehubbing of PIT in '04 seem to be at least half non-rev (pilots and FAs commuting between Trans States' RIC and PIT crew bases, plus many pilots from other airlines who live in Richmond and connect in PIT to wherever their base may be).
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Old Feb 12, 2007, 7:10 am
  #19  
 
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DWilliamson5002,

Absolutely. I was putting the size of the BWI operation today into a "what it was" context. Didn't mean to imply that we should still have all those gates and not use them.

Jim
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Old Feb 12, 2007, 7:11 am
  #20  
 
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Lets face it: there's more than enough blame to go around. Yes usair screwed the county, but how naive were the county to expect things to continue as they were without locking usair into a deal? The people who really got shafted were the allegheny county taxpayers: we've ended up with a spanking new airport that is deserted most of the time (yet where is sometimes seems almost impossible to park). Actually, if I had to choose a "most culpable" it would be the AC commisioners: usair is a business with a duty to look out for their shareholders - it was the commisioner's job to look out for the rest of us (speaking as an AC taxpayer).
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Old Feb 12, 2007, 8:35 am
  #21  
 
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Originally Posted by joshua-bwi
Actually, the BWI hub was reduced greatly following the arrival of WN in 1993. At some point (correct me if I'm wrong) probably around 1995 or 96, US began their MetroJet mess and based it out of BWI as a direct response to WN. Tht lasted a few years until MetroJet ceased operations and US all but left BWI. I guess things got a little better after the merger with the addition of the HP routes...
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetroJet

MetroJet began operations on June 1st 1998
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Old Feb 12, 2007, 9:04 am
  #22  
 
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Originally Posted by grahampros
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetroJet

MetroJet began operations on June 1st 1998
I love Wikipedia! It knows everything!

Speaking of MetroJet...sure seems like US is trying to do this again to the whole airline!

US...IT DIDN'T WORK THEN AND IT WON'T WORK NOW!!!
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Old Feb 12, 2007, 9:16 am
  #23  
 
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Originally Posted by jucundus
Hello, everyone!
As a CP who's flown out of PIT a lot since 2003, I can lay a large part of the blame (or credit, I guess, if you hate PIT) at the feet of Allegheny County. True, the post-9/11 downturn in revenue at the AirMall shops made it hard to keep paying for the "new" airport, but the people on the Airport Authority Board did very little to try and keep US Airways in Pittsburgh. I guess the job losses have been hashed through again and again on this and other forums, but the pre-merger corporate people were certainly not alone in their responsibility for trashing what (I thought was) a good hub. The county itself bears a huge burden of guilt on this one, IMHO, for their rather pricey terms on the lease renewals. (Correct me, please, if I'm wrong.)
As a former resident of the area, I can tell you you are wrong.

US dumped the leases on an airport that was built to their exact specifications in the early 1990s. The board, properly, did not bend over and take it from US twice: they threatened to leave in the early 1990s if the hub was not built to their needs, and then proceeded to dump the leases in BK at literally the 11th hour and 59th minute (the last day of the first BK)--after assurances were made that the leases would be assumed.

Entirely on US.
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Old Feb 12, 2007, 9:38 am
  #24  
 
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Originally Posted by BoeingBoy
Ditto. I'd only add that US rejected the PIT leases just before emerging from BK1 at the end of March 2004, and that's when the downsizing of PIT began in earnest.

Jim

Didn't they emerge from BK in 2003? And then re-enter in fall 2004?
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Old Feb 12, 2007, 9:42 am
  #25  
 
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Originally Posted by DWilliamson5002
Who is 2nd and 3rd biggest behind WN at BWI? US has to be one of them.
I believe that US is 6th or 7th. I remember reading this on the BWI airport homepage, but the link to the statistics page seems to be broken on the site when I checked again this morning.
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Old Feb 12, 2007, 9:48 am
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by GotCalcio4
Didn't they emerge from BK in 2003? And then re-enter in fall 2004?
You are absolutely correct. I missed that typo. Sorry all.

Jim
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Old Feb 12, 2007, 11:53 am
  #27  
 
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Ideal US hubs?

In a perfect world, where would our hubs/focus cities be (in addition to your hometown )?

Current:
CLT
PHL
LAS
PHX
LGA
BOS
PIT

Ideal (imo):
SEA (more of an international gateway - for all the new asia routes!)
PHL
CLT
LAS
MIA/FLL
LGA

Last edited by mlatuchie; Feb 12, 2007 at 12:00 pm
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Old Feb 12, 2007, 12:02 pm
  #28  
 
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Originally Posted by GotCalcio4
I believe that US is 6th or 7th. I remember reading this on the BWI airport homepage, but the link to the statistics page seems to be broken on the site when I checked again this morning.
I was reading a little about is else where I believe that they or 3 or 4. US was one of the few that carried over a million people last year out of BWI. They didnt break it down but for the top 2 airlines.

AirTrain was 2 with 2.1 Million
Southwest was 1 with 10.7 million

Thanks to JetBlue and Airtran I have been able to start flying out of RIC instead of making the 2.5 hour journey to BWI. The arrival of those two in RIC has made it the #1 airline in RIC. Amazing that two low fare carriers make another legacy airline better or cheaper if you like. Delta use to be #1 at RIC for years but they arent as price competitive as US has been here.
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Old Feb 12, 2007, 10:27 pm
  #29  
 
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Originally Posted by DWilliamson5002
Yeah but isnt that pretty good, I mean they only fly to 4 places from BWI so 8 to 10 gates would be enough for that I would say and they use near all of them dont they? Who is 2nd and 3rd biggest behind WN at BWI? US has to be one of them.

At places I am at most of the time on US they dont even use but like 4 gates out of the 7 to 10 they have (exc. hubs and DCA).

Here at home RIC they use 3 gates out of the, I believe 7 they have.
Airtran is the # 2 carrier behind WN. US might be # 3.
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Old Feb 13, 2007, 8:27 am
  #30  
 
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It really is a shame about PIT (IMHO one of the nicer airports). I started flying US back in 2000 and it was mostly because I was living there at the time. Considering what a disaster PHL can be I would argue that US should have built up PIT and dropped PHL.
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