UPDATED: US to Cut 5 Europe Routes, COS, ICT; Reduce LAS
Oct 28, 2009, 9:39 am
#1
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UPDATED: US to Cut 5 Europe Routes, COS, ICT; Reduce LAS
Rumors and innuendo seem to indicate US will be releasing a presser at 1230 today. Potential topics include the shuttering of what is left of LAS, potential downsizing on the East (furloughs due to the E-190 selloff), and maybe a closure of the crew base in LGA.
Any other ideas?
Any other ideas?
Oct 28, 2009, 10:08 am
#2
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Rumors and innuendo seem to indicate US will be releasing a presser at 1230 today. Potential topics include the shuttering of what is left of LAS, potential downsizing on the East (furloughs due to the E-190 selloff), and maybe a closure of the crew base in LGA.
Any other ideas?
Any other ideas?
Seriously - my guess is you're probably dead on concerning LAS and LGA. They're essentially going to shutter most operations there (except the Shuttle) and ditch the crew bases.
They'll spin it by adding that LAS and NYC based customers will still have great service via convenient connections in PHX, DCA, and PHL. When UA did a similar release a few years ago (when they pretty much abandoned NYC including the NRT and LHR flights) they made it seem like this is still great for NYC flyers because of all these convenient connection options via IAD.
Oct 28, 2009, 10:44 am
#3
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: High Point, NC
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At least an internal press release....
The coming changes:
* Reducing Las Vegas (LAS) flights from 64 to 36 daily departures by February 2010 as a result of high fuel prices and continued weak demand associated with Las Vegas.
* Closing Colorado Springs (COS) and Wichita (ICT) and moving that flying to more profitable routes across our four focus cities.
* Redeploying our 15 E-190 aircraft on routes between Boston and Philadelphia and on the Boston -LaGuardia (LGA) leg of the US Airways Shuttle.
* Reducing non-stop flights from Boston (BOS) to the Caribbean at the end of the peak spring travel season in May.
* Suspending five European destinations from Philadelphia: Birmingham, U.K.(BHX); London Gatwick, U.K. (LGW); Milan, Italy (MXP); Shannon, Ireland (SNN); and Stockholm, Sweden (ARN), which have not shown economic resiliency or profitability in the current environment. At the same time we announced US Airways will transition seasonal service to Brussels, Belgium (BRU) and Zurich, Switzerland (ZRH) to year-round service effective in late 2010.
* Returning our Philadelphia-Beijing (PEK) flight authority to the Department of Transportation (DOT) until economic conditions improve, while retaining the option to reapply for this authority in the future.
* Rightsizing and repositioning our crew bases in Philadelphia, Charlotte, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. by closing our crew bases in Boston, LaGuardia and Las Vegas. The Las Vegas and LaGuardia bases will close Jan. 31, 2010, and Boston will close May 2, 2010.
They're still working through the employee impact of these changes, but as many as 1,000 positions will be eliminated across the system.
Jim
The coming changes:
* Reducing Las Vegas (LAS) flights from 64 to 36 daily departures by February 2010 as a result of high fuel prices and continued weak demand associated with Las Vegas.
* Closing Colorado Springs (COS) and Wichita (ICT) and moving that flying to more profitable routes across our four focus cities.
* Redeploying our 15 E-190 aircraft on routes between Boston and Philadelphia and on the Boston -LaGuardia (LGA) leg of the US Airways Shuttle.
* Reducing non-stop flights from Boston (BOS) to the Caribbean at the end of the peak spring travel season in May.
* Suspending five European destinations from Philadelphia: Birmingham, U.K.(BHX); London Gatwick, U.K. (LGW); Milan, Italy (MXP); Shannon, Ireland (SNN); and Stockholm, Sweden (ARN), which have not shown economic resiliency or profitability in the current environment. At the same time we announced US Airways will transition seasonal service to Brussels, Belgium (BRU) and Zurich, Switzerland (ZRH) to year-round service effective in late 2010.
* Returning our Philadelphia-Beijing (PEK) flight authority to the Department of Transportation (DOT) until economic conditions improve, while retaining the option to reapply for this authority in the future.
* Rightsizing and repositioning our crew bases in Philadelphia, Charlotte, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. by closing our crew bases in Boston, LaGuardia and Las Vegas. The Las Vegas and LaGuardia bases will close Jan. 31, 2010, and Boston will close May 2, 2010.
They're still working through the employee impact of these changes, but as many as 1,000 positions will be eliminated across the system.
Jim
Oct 28, 2009, 10:44 am
#4
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Bingo. The release just hit.
I'll try to find a copy of it somewhere unless someone can beat me to it.
Mike
ETA: Oops, somebody beat me to it (above)
I'll try to find a copy of it somewhere unless someone can beat me to it.
Mike
ETA: Oops, somebody beat me to it (above)
Oct 28, 2009, 10:50 am
#6
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: COS
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The loss of COS stinks since I'm moving there in January and they'd have made a nice backup...
Oct 28, 2009, 10:54 am
#8
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Between a beverage cart and a crash cart
Posts: 87
An Important Message from CEO Doug Parker
More Information
USNews Now
FAQs
Summary
Press Release
About US (10/28/09)
Oct. 28, 2009
Dear Fellow Employees,
I have several important announcements to share with you today. Attached to this note is a summary and FAQ detailing these changes; however, given the system-wide impact these initiatives will have on our employees and operation I wanted to use this letter to explain why we are making these changes.
As I shared with all of you last Thursday at our quarterly State of the Airline meeting, while we are beginning to see some improvement in the business environment, we still reported a loss for the third quarter and are expected to report another large loss for 2009; and these results come on the heels of an $800 million loss in 2008. It is obvious we cannot continue to operate unprofitably forever, and with fuel prices remaining high and volatile while the global economy rebounds slowly, it is also clear that the path to sustainable profitability will not simply present itself to us. Any airline "waiting for the economy to improve" to cure its problems will continue to struggle, and US Airways will not be one of them.
Over the past 16 months we’ve taken several steps to reach our goal of sustainable profitability. These include reducing capacity, adding new ancillary revenue programs, raising cash, and aggressively managing our costs. We’ve also undertaken projects like the recently announced slot transaction with Delta, which once approved and implemented, will add $75 million to our bottom line.
All of these are the right steps to turn US Airways around, and today we continue those efforts by announcing a realignment intended to focus on our key network strengths at our hubs in Charlotte, Philadelphia and Phoenix, and our focus city at Washington’s National Airport. The Shuttle will also continue to play an important role in our network. This positioning will concentrate our resources in our four largest operating cities, which along with the Shuttle, represent approximately 93 percent of available seat miles (ASMs) today. By the end of 2010 they will encompass 99 percent of our capacity. Specifically the actions we are taking to better align our schedule to our strengths include:
* Reducing Las Vegas (LAS) flights from 64 to 36 daily departures by February 2010 as a result of high fuel prices and continued weak demand associated with Las Vegas.
* Closing Colorado Springs (COS) and Wichita (ICT) and moving that flying to more profitable routes across our four focus cities.
* Redeploying our 15 E-190 aircraft on routes between Boston and Philadelphia and on the Boston -LaGuardia (LGA) leg of the US Airways Shuttle.
* Reducing non-stop flights from Boston (BOS) to the Caribbean at the end of the peak spring travel season in May.
* Suspending five European destinations from Philadelphia: Birmingham, U.K.(BHX); London Gatwick, U.K. (LGW); Milan, Italy (MXP); Shannon, Ireland (SNN); and Stockholm, Sweden (ARN), which have not shown economic resiliency or profitability in the current environment. At the same time we announced US Airways will transition seasonal service to Brussels, Belgium (BRU) and Zurich, Switzerland (ZRH) to year-round service effective in late 2010.
* Returning our Philadelphia-Beijing (PEK) flight authority to the Department of Transportation (DOT) until economic conditions improve, while retaining the option to reapply for this authority in the future.
* Rightsizing and repositioning our crew bases in Philadelphia, Charlotte, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. by closing our crew bases in Boston, LaGuardia and Las Vegas. The Las Vegas and LaGuardia bases will close Jan. 31, 2010, and Boston will close May 2, 2010.
Unfortunately, the changes we are sharing with you today will impact a large number of our fellow employees. While we are still finalizing the details of our 2010 schedule and fleet plan, our initial forecast is that as many as 1,000 positions across the system will be eliminated in the first half of 2010 as these schedule changes are implemented. These reductions include approximately 600 airport passenger and ramp service employees; approximately 200 pilots (that breaks down to an estimated 165 pre-merger US Airways and 35 pre-merger America West pilots) and approximately 150 flight attendants (again, estimating 130 pre-merger US Airways and 20 pre-merger America West flight attendants.) As we work through these changes, we’ll do all we can to minimize the impact of these reductions on our current employees
These are difficult decisions to make because of the impact to some of our fellow employees. They are, however, the right decisions. By focusing on our strengths and eliminating unprofitable flying we will increase the likelihood of returning US Airways to long-term profitability, which is in all of our best interests. As we work through these changes, we’ll do all we can to minimize the impact of these reductions on our current employees.
We are communicating as much information as we can today about these changes so I encourage you to read the attached summary and FAQ. Thanks again for all of your contributions and dedication to making US Airways a great airline.
Doug
More Information
USNews Now
FAQs
Summary
Press Release
About US (10/28/09)
Oct. 28, 2009
Dear Fellow Employees,
I have several important announcements to share with you today. Attached to this note is a summary and FAQ detailing these changes; however, given the system-wide impact these initiatives will have on our employees and operation I wanted to use this letter to explain why we are making these changes.
As I shared with all of you last Thursday at our quarterly State of the Airline meeting, while we are beginning to see some improvement in the business environment, we still reported a loss for the third quarter and are expected to report another large loss for 2009; and these results come on the heels of an $800 million loss in 2008. It is obvious we cannot continue to operate unprofitably forever, and with fuel prices remaining high and volatile while the global economy rebounds slowly, it is also clear that the path to sustainable profitability will not simply present itself to us. Any airline "waiting for the economy to improve" to cure its problems will continue to struggle, and US Airways will not be one of them.
Over the past 16 months we’ve taken several steps to reach our goal of sustainable profitability. These include reducing capacity, adding new ancillary revenue programs, raising cash, and aggressively managing our costs. We’ve also undertaken projects like the recently announced slot transaction with Delta, which once approved and implemented, will add $75 million to our bottom line.
All of these are the right steps to turn US Airways around, and today we continue those efforts by announcing a realignment intended to focus on our key network strengths at our hubs in Charlotte, Philadelphia and Phoenix, and our focus city at Washington’s National Airport. The Shuttle will also continue to play an important role in our network. This positioning will concentrate our resources in our four largest operating cities, which along with the Shuttle, represent approximately 93 percent of available seat miles (ASMs) today. By the end of 2010 they will encompass 99 percent of our capacity. Specifically the actions we are taking to better align our schedule to our strengths include:
* Reducing Las Vegas (LAS) flights from 64 to 36 daily departures by February 2010 as a result of high fuel prices and continued weak demand associated with Las Vegas.
* Closing Colorado Springs (COS) and Wichita (ICT) and moving that flying to more profitable routes across our four focus cities.
* Redeploying our 15 E-190 aircraft on routes between Boston and Philadelphia and on the Boston -LaGuardia (LGA) leg of the US Airways Shuttle.
* Reducing non-stop flights from Boston (BOS) to the Caribbean at the end of the peak spring travel season in May.
* Suspending five European destinations from Philadelphia: Birmingham, U.K.(BHX); London Gatwick, U.K. (LGW); Milan, Italy (MXP); Shannon, Ireland (SNN); and Stockholm, Sweden (ARN), which have not shown economic resiliency or profitability in the current environment. At the same time we announced US Airways will transition seasonal service to Brussels, Belgium (BRU) and Zurich, Switzerland (ZRH) to year-round service effective in late 2010.
* Returning our Philadelphia-Beijing (PEK) flight authority to the Department of Transportation (DOT) until economic conditions improve, while retaining the option to reapply for this authority in the future.
* Rightsizing and repositioning our crew bases in Philadelphia, Charlotte, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. by closing our crew bases in Boston, LaGuardia and Las Vegas. The Las Vegas and LaGuardia bases will close Jan. 31, 2010, and Boston will close May 2, 2010.
Unfortunately, the changes we are sharing with you today will impact a large number of our fellow employees. While we are still finalizing the details of our 2010 schedule and fleet plan, our initial forecast is that as many as 1,000 positions across the system will be eliminated in the first half of 2010 as these schedule changes are implemented. These reductions include approximately 600 airport passenger and ramp service employees; approximately 200 pilots (that breaks down to an estimated 165 pre-merger US Airways and 35 pre-merger America West pilots) and approximately 150 flight attendants (again, estimating 130 pre-merger US Airways and 20 pre-merger America West flight attendants.) As we work through these changes, we’ll do all we can to minimize the impact of these reductions on our current employees
These are difficult decisions to make because of the impact to some of our fellow employees. They are, however, the right decisions. By focusing on our strengths and eliminating unprofitable flying we will increase the likelihood of returning US Airways to long-term profitability, which is in all of our best interests. As we work through these changes, we’ll do all we can to minimize the impact of these reductions on our current employees.
We are communicating as much information as we can today about these changes so I encourage you to read the attached summary and FAQ. Thanks again for all of your contributions and dedication to making US Airways a great airline.
Doug
Oct 28, 2009, 11:00 am
#9
Moderator: Coupon Connection & S.P.A.M
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It's not just the economy, Douggie. US and other airlines refuse to stand up to the TSA and tell them to stop harassing your passengers. As a result, you have far fewer customers than you should.
Oct 28, 2009, 11:10 am
#10
Original Poster
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A few things:
1. We knew the China thing was a non-starter. That pretty much was confirmed.
2. Operationally, the shuttle is going to suffer from this. Maybe BoeingBoy can correct me if I'm wrong on this, but without a crew base in LGA or BOS, it means no crews sitting reserve. Which means if a pilot times out or is sick, someone has to be deadheaded in to fly it away. (I don't think the east contracts allow for satellite bases or a LAS like arrangement--could be wrong here).
3. It seems to me that if WN wanted to do it, now would be a spectacular time to go into CLT. It wold certainly reduce the "profitable" flying somewhat.
4. How much can one shrink an airline network before it becomes useless to those who don't live in PHX, CLT, PHL, or DCA? In that same vein, has an airline ever shrunk to profitability? In that same vein, does this remind anyone of the PSA/Piedmont shrinkage?
5. Forget about shorting airline stocks, buy up seats on PIT/BOS to DCA/PHL, and sell them at outrageous costs to commuting pilots and flight attendants. The rough just got rougher for east pilots and flight attendants.
1. We knew the China thing was a non-starter. That pretty much was confirmed.
2. Operationally, the shuttle is going to suffer from this. Maybe BoeingBoy can correct me if I'm wrong on this, but without a crew base in LGA or BOS, it means no crews sitting reserve. Which means if a pilot times out or is sick, someone has to be deadheaded in to fly it away. (I don't think the east contracts allow for satellite bases or a LAS like arrangement--could be wrong here).
3. It seems to me that if WN wanted to do it, now would be a spectacular time to go into CLT. It wold certainly reduce the "profitable" flying somewhat.
4. How much can one shrink an airline network before it becomes useless to those who don't live in PHX, CLT, PHL, or DCA? In that same vein, has an airline ever shrunk to profitability? In that same vein, does this remind anyone of the PSA/Piedmont shrinkage?
5. Forget about shorting airline stocks, buy up seats on PIT/BOS to DCA/PHL, and sell them at outrageous costs to commuting pilots and flight attendants. The rough just got rougher for east pilots and flight attendants.
Oct 28, 2009, 11:15 am
#11
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Reston, VA
Programs: US Silver, HH Gold
Posts: 120
They have already started that BOS-Carribbean cut way earlier than May. My parents' BOS-PLS nonstop return on a Sunday in Janurary is now PLS-CLT-BOS. They also cut the Sunday PLS-PHL.
Oct 28, 2009, 11:20 am
#12
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: High Point, NC
Programs: None
Posts: 9,171
I did get a giggle out of one line in the public press release:
"US Airways has a proud history of serving Charlotte, N.C. that was solidified when it merged with the former Piedmont Airlines in 1989."
Maybe Doug needs a history lesson - US Air (the name at that time) didn't serve CLT until the PI/US merger.
Jim
Oct 28, 2009, 11:46 am
#13
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 851
Ugh. Could care less except for the reduced LAS schedule. If they cut DCA-LAS nonstop (only once per day now, but always packed) then this CP is taking his business to UAL. (As of now DCA-LAS-DCA nonstops are showing up on schedule well into 2010).
Oct 28, 2009, 11:50 am
#14
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I have long held the theory that once WN gets a foothold in CLT, it's over for US. I do remember reading that WN can't enter CLT due to gate availability. I've not heard any further updates about any gates coming open for WN to pick up. Is there anything more to that story that I might have missed?
Oct 28, 2009, 11:51 am
#15
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: PIT
Posts: 10,922
Will this put LAS at fewer daily departures than PIT.? At least until US axes some more PIT departures...
Last edited by chicagorich; Oct 28, 2009 at 11:57 am
