Originally Posted by
LovePrunes
Not just competition, but escalating costs to do business in the state of CA. The FA base at LAX is already capped - no transfers in from anywhere, even from SFO when they recently closed SFO base.
I think it's more about money than competition. The laws in CA will likely lead to a much smaller AA at LA beyond key O&D. Good for AA; they have a solid option to ramp up more at "nearby" PHX, where UA can't really exit the state to DEN as easily.... (and that's if AA ever does what I think they eventually will). PHX has a rosy future for AA.
I am guessing that my original quote may have been from an employee meeting AA execs gave last week. In it, there was mention that the LAX TPAC biz is down due to over competition from foreign carriers with little prospect of the situation changing in the near term future. Pure speculation, but there is the idea that DFW is too far for California ppl to connect but that PHX might offer some sort of compromise.