Schedule/Equipment changes
 

While looking to book a MKE-PHL flight in early December, I noticed that the route is all CRJ. That alone was enough to cause me to book on another carrier. However, the route was scheduled to be flown with 2 E170s and 2 CRJs several weeks ago. That's a big cut in capacity, especially considering the route was all mainline two years ago. I also question the move to all CRJ when the competition flies the CRJ and ERJ on the route as well.

Playing around on midwestairlines.com, I noted several other interesting changes:

1) MKE-MSP gets an extra flight, for a total of six roundtrips each weekday. Equipment will be three E170s and three CRJ.

2) The early afternoon MKE-OMA flight is upgraded to an E170 (I'm sure this has everything to do with the utilization on the OMA-DCA leg vs. an increase in demand).

3) DFW is all E170. Several weeks ago it was amix of 717s and E170s.

4) The additional of the fourth flight to PIT has now been yanked. Equipment is two CRJs and 1 E170.

As previously announced, DEN, ATL, OMA, MSP, MCI-BOS, MCI-DCA, MCI-LAX lose all 717 service.

I haven't checked everything, but the bump in capacity on MKE-MSP is a nice change although a bit surprising.

There's enough slack in the 717 schedule to add another flight or two. Not saying anything will happen, but I could see Midwest adding another flight to DCA (they're chasing after another pair of slots) or perhaps a seasonal restoration of RSW service (February-April).

Thanks for catching all this, Blue! Usually Sunday morning is the time to find new schedules, but I didn't check very far this morning.

The new schedule brings MKE up to 93 flights per day, compared to 89 on 9/8.

In addition to the changes which Blue noted, and the addition of MKE-RSW which I posted earlier, the only other notable change is a 3rd MKE-GRB trip.

I'm kind of surprised to see this, although Philadelphia does drop off a lot over winter. I'd be very surprised if larger aircraft did not return next spring.


MKE-MSP is frequently packed these days, and the upsized aircraft makes sense. The addition of a 6th flight fills a gap in the schedule...a better morning flight for MSP-originating business traffic (7:25am in addition to the existing 5:55am flight) and the evening return MKE-MSP at 7:35pm fills the big gap between 3:55pm and 10:10pm. I'm not positive what makes this MKE-MSP service so successful, but it has been.


That actually was already planned...the market is going all E-170 on 11/15.


Today's two daily 170 round-trips between MKE and both CMH and PIT are largely to rotate aircraft and crews back to Republic bases in Columbus and Pittsburgh. Neither market really needs that lift, and the added flight from MKE to PIT at 9:30pm regularly goes out with fewer than 20 people onboard. With this new schedule there is only a single 170 trip to each CMH and PIT, and they will carry a lot less empty space in both markets.


Actually the 717 schedule doesn't have slack...it's essentially unchanged from the 11/15 schedule they had already planned. The expansion comes from some better utilization on the CRJ and the 170 which allows the addition of MKE-RSW plus an additional MKE-MSP and MKE-GRB trip. As for DCA, what they are applying for is to obtain slots to continue the 5th MKE-DCA trip they added last May. They added it using leased slots from Delta which will expire in spring.


Good instincts, Blue!! :)

Thanks for the clarification on the 717 schedule, knope. When I last looked several weeks ago routes like DFW and DEN still had mainline flights. With those now gone and no new additions elsewhere, I assumed there was 717 lift available.

As for the DCA flight, I found the petition after my original post. Earlier this week I heard YX had applied for more DCA slots and assumed (wrongly) that it would be for a new MCI flight.

The Business Journal is reporting this morning that the remaining 9 717s may also be removed from the fleet. Of course, this is pure speculation by the union.

=======================================

Friday, October 24, 2008
Pilot: Midwest’s remaining 717s could be grounded
The Business Journal of Milwaukee - by Rich Rovito
Midwest Airlines plans to eventually ground the nine remaining Boeing 717s in its fleet in 2009, according to a Midwest pilot.

Greg Uselmann, who has worked as a pilot for 25 years, including the past 10 at Midwest Airlines, said he believes it is Midwest’s intent to take the remaining 717s in its fleet out of service in 2009, a move he claimed could lead to even more layoffs at the airline.

Uselmann, who is set to be laid off from Midwest by mid-November, claimed that Midwest entered into short-term leases for the remaining 717s, which he said shows Midwest’s intent to remove the aircraft from the fleet in quick order.

Midwest Air Group Inc., Oak Creek, which operates Midwest Airlines, recently entered into an agreement with Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings Inc. that eventually will result in Midwest replacing all but nine of the 25 Boeing 717s it had in its fleet with smaller Embraer E170 regional jets that it is leasing from Republic.

Under the agreement, which went into effect Oct. 1, the Embraer aircraft are being flown by pilots employed by Republic Airways subsidiary Republic Airlines, not those on Midwest’s payroll.

The layoffs at Midwest are in addition to earlier layoffs of pilots, a move that stemmed from Midwest’s decision to ground all the fuel-guzzling MD-80 aircraft in its fleet.

Midwest spokesman Michael Brophy declined to comment on the status of the leases for the remaining 717s.

However, Brophy said Midwest already has begun bringing the Republic aircraft onto Midwest’s operating certificate, which allows the planes to be flown by Midwest crews, who would be recalled from furlough to resume work.

The process is expected to take eight months to a year, Brophy said.

But that move is contingent on Midwest pilots agreeing to “meaningful” contractual concessions, Brophy said.


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Makes me wonder what fleet options Midwest is banking on? Could there be extra E190's out there somewhere just waiting to be leased by Midwest?

What else does Republic have lying around that they can put into service relatively quickly?

I noticed Sarah Palin is using a E190 chartered from JetBlue.

I believe JetBlue has more E190's on order... Because of the slowing economy, instead of deferring orders maybe they will allow Midwest to sublease the aircraft?

Some of JetBlue's E190s are heading down to Brazil for a new airline start-up. It may help that David Neeleman is running the new airline, but the aircraft became available nonetheless.

In 2003 JetBlue announced a firm order for 100 E190s. Since that time, they have deferred delivery on some aircraft and have sold others to Neeleman's new airline. There might be an opportunity for Midwest to pick-up some of these planes (especially if they installed the live Direct TV on the aircraft).

I guess it all depends on what TPG has planned for Midwest long term.

Something is going on behind the scenes and I bet Midwest is looking to drop the last 717's ASAP. A deal with JetBlue seems to be the most logical to me. Having Direct TV on Midwest Mainline would be a definate plus... :)

Just out of curiosity, what makes you think this?

There are a lot of different scenarios that could unfold for Midwest. Just this past week, Boeing announced that it would serve as a lender of last resort for airlines that couldn't obtain financing for aircraft using conventional methods. Would they want to do business with Midwest?

Then there is the deal with Republic. If Midwest meets certain financial benchmarks, Republic is willing to loan (perhaps invest) additional funds. Could that also mean a bigger partnership with Republic down the road?

In order for TPG to grow Midwest and get a return on their investment, the airline will have to grow. This will only be accomplished by the addition of more aircraft. If Midwest and TPG are thinking long term, fleet planning has to be a priority.