fly747first

Rumor on the street is that AA and UA's revenue mismanagement teams are having an affair now that Parker is gone LOL. I would imagine that putting their limited brains together won't facilitate any sound strategy.

EWR764

This isn’t about loads, or a subpar 757 product, or financial performance. UA JFK loads on the 757 have been strong (80s-90s) most of this year.

The problem is the foreign airlines that temporarily suspended service to JFK and ceded slots back to the PANYNJ want back in effective this upcoming winter schedule, with exemptions expiring, and UA will lose its rights to take off and land there.

In the intervening 18 months or so since UA relaunched service to JFK, they haven’t been able to secure new slots, despite pulling every possible lever to do so. That’s on United, they have nobody else to blame, even though it wasn’t precipitated by this management team’s move in the first place.

Keep an eye on the case, which is (as of two weeks ago) set to go to a bench trial on 9/27: https://www.reuters.com/legal/govern...rd-2022-06-09/

Specifically, the DOJ is alleging, "The Northeast Alliance combines American’s and JetBlue’s operations at four major airports: Boston Logan, John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty . . . The Northeast Alliance will also allow the parties to pool their gates and takeoff and landing authorizations, known as “slots.” According to the complaint, this unprecedented combination would raise prices and reduce choices for air passengers traveling to and from Boston and New York City."

It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the trial leads to some mandated divestiture at BOS/JFK, and a public auction for those authorities... which would be timely for United at JFK.

as219

Just when I thought I was off the hook with the non-cancellation of LAX-SAN, the other half of my go-to is on the chopping block. Ugh.

JimInOhio

It's an excellent revenue enhancement stategy. Get more slots from the FAA so you can lease those, too, to another carrier when you want to pull out of JFK.

nerd

Since LGA has never been a hub or focus city, why would you expect to see more flights?

Adelphos

NYC is a focus city for UA... NYC includes LGA. All of the domestic airlines that operate a meaningful JFK schedule also operate a meaningful LGA schedule. An NYC (or Westchester or Long Island or whatever) based customer interested in United service at JFK will also be interested in what they may offer at LGA.

nerd

We know that EWR is a hub, but what about LGA and JFK makes NYC a focus city for United?

And I will bet that you can think of a domestic airline that operates a meaningful JFK schedule without a meaningful LGA schedule.

Adelphos

All the United ads I see on cabs and billboards in Manhattan suggest to me New York is a focus city for United. United's efforts to get slots at JFK clearly signal the think the city is important. I was just saying it seems hard to imagine them doing really well throughout the city without a bigger presence at LGA

JFK's biggest domestic airlines are American, Delta and JetBlue, all of which fly a meaningful amount out of LGA as well... (you could argue JetBlue and United have similar presence at LGA, but JetBlue flies to more destinations and coordinates with AA, so they effectively fly to many more places)

mike2003242

United uses hub and spoke model, if you aren't a hub ie JFK/LGA, flights will only go into hubs. Few exceptions but any slots gained at JFK will feed into UA hubs.

jsloan

Actually, it's a hub, served with innumerable destinations from New York Newark Liberty Airport.

I really don't understand this fascination with pretending that Newark is somehow a less worthy airport for New Yorkers than JFK or LGA. I've been to all three of them, and none of them seem likely to win any awards.

If JFK is more convenient for you, great; use it. But United advertises in NYC because for many travelers to/from the city, all three airports are equally inconvenient. LGA even has the ridiculous perimeter rule in place; in fact, I believe United is the only carrier there with daily service beyond the perimeter.

mduell

2/day to each market can't work no matter what the aircraft type is.

Adelphos

Apologies, what I mean by “focus city” is a city where United wants to gain market share, particularly O&D share… In terms of NYC O&D share, not being at JFK and LGA more meaningfully a disadvantage relative to AA/DL.

tcdtcd

I would not call LGA not meaningful to UA. While they fly to only hub cities, the frequency is quite good. For example LGA-ORD is nearly hourly from 630a-9p.

Repooc17

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...port/maps.html

Our hub airports

• Chicago, IL — O'Hare International Airport (ORD)
• Denver, CO — Denver International Airport (DEN)
• Guam — Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport (GUM)
• Houston, TX — Houston/ George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)
• Los Angeles, CA — Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
• New York, NY/Newark, NJ — Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) [our New York area hub]
• San Francisco, CA — San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
• Washington, D.C. — Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)

Other key airports

• Frankfurt, Germany — Frankfurt International Airport (FRA)
• London, United Kingdom — London Heathrow International Airport (LHR)
• New York, NY — LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
• São Paulo, Brazil — Guarulhos International Airport (GRU)
• Tokyo, Japan — Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND)
• Tokyo, Japan — Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT)

WineCountryUA

PANYNJ disagrees, with UA and DL in a tie for the area air travel, B6 #3 and AA a distance #4
AA's retreat from the NYC area has been widely written about.