Originally Posted by
Tim34
The reason that they are killing of signiture service (especially in MKE) is because 1) Boeing is not making the 717 any more and 2) to have 2X2 seating on a MD-80 would not be profitable unless the prices were extreemly high. When Midwest orders new aircraft they will either be a a319 or a 737 and they will NOT take a row of seats out. Signiture service is a thing of the past. Airtran's CEO said it. The way that Boeing and Airbus are making planes also confirms it.
First, a minor correction. One of the planes Midwest is looking at for the MD80 replacement is the A320, not the A319.
Again, I don't think you can say Midwest is killing-off Signature Service. All 25 of the 717s remain in 2x2 seating and management remains committed to that product offering. The 2x2 seating works on higher yielding business routes. Places like Florida and Las Vegas are about as low yield as you can get and the economics of the 2x2 seating just aren't there. It works okay on the leisure routes if you have planes full of O&D traffic, but even then the profitability is somewhat suspect.
Just because Joe Leonard said Signature Service is a thing of the past doesn't make it so. He seems to have enough problems making his own LCC solidly profitable.
The fact that Boeing is not making the 717 anymore has nothing to do with the viability of Signature Service. Once the MD80 replacements start coming on-line, more 717s will be freed-up to start more business oriented routes.
No one has ever said Midwest will be removing an entire row of seats from the new planes, either. Even if they did, that would still leave the 2x3 seating. What they most likely will do is have an expanded 2x2 seating area (perhaps 30 seats or so) with the rest in the traditional Saver seating arrangement.