AAG announces changes at DCA and LGA

[nycbusdriver]

 I'm pretty sure AA/US would love to keep all these slots.

 
Parker said exactly this at the CLT Pilot Crew News.

 

[Crash Pad DCA]

 

Red herring. Boots don't fly to DCA or LGA, and the few seats that were being booked were for contractors or brass. They can connect just fine or take the corporate jet. Or, as they're doing more and more, they can use video conferencing...
 

Inaccurate statement about boots. You would know better if you actually worked the gate at DCA for FAY, OAJ, etc..

 

[JFK Fleet Service]

I have to agree that this looks an awful lot like déjà vu.  
 
Wasn't the slot swap rationalized in part because US couldn't successfully compete against AA and DL at LGA?    Now that Parker is CEO of the world's largest airline, and gains a bunch of LGA slots, what does he do?   Add flights to key business markets like HOU and mid-sized markets like IND?    Nope.  
 
Instead, he cancels LGA-ATL and re-starts flights to nowheresvilles like CHO and ROA (23 PDEW and 26 PDEW, respectively).   Nearly all of the new adds from LGA are cities already served by DL and all are cities that US served until the slot swap - rationalized because those small towns couldn't support larger equipment.   Those cities didn't make the cut in 2009 when US admitted that it couldn't fly profitably in NYC, and here they are again.
 
As to DCA, well, new AA just relinquished more DCA slots than US acquired in the slot swap, so that was a completely wasted transaction.   Yes, US got $65 million and a GRU frequency, which DL quickly replaced for free in the next route case.  All 52 DCA slot pairs are air carrier slots, so the competition will be able to fly 52 competing flights every day with mainline equipment.    That's going to temper any possible high fares at DCA, except to the various nowheresvilles that new AA will continue to serve.    
 
DL got the best of the Parker/Kirby brain trust in the slot swap, and I have to believe that R Anderson and friends were celebrating again this week.     

This is setting the stage for the gradual pulldown/retreat/surrender in the largest O&D market in the country.
 
Terminal 8 getting traded to DL for magic beans,those shiny new 321T's getting 75 more seats piled in.
 
The America West capacity management/route planning folks are impressive.At failing.

 

[john john]

those shiny new 321T's getting 75 more seats piled in.
 
The America West capacity management/route planning folks are impressive.At failing.

Are you talking about the seat capacity difference between US A321 and AA A321? That is huge gap. No dout Parker will look at that and put his style on the A321

 

[700UW]

Those A321ts are only going to be 12 planes, AA has 60 A321 Classics on order and 131 A321 Neos.
 
Those A321Ts are going to be changed, AA has contracts with many corporations for the JFK to LAX and SFO.
 
Just like UA as the PS 757s.
 
You do know AA fills/fills the 767-200s in First and Business on the LAX flights.

 

[700UW]

http://skift.com/2014/01/19/nyc-laguardia-airport-to-receive-much-needed-3-6-billion-makeover/

 

[FWAAA]

Those A321ts are only going to be 12 planes, AA has 60 A321 Classics on order and 131 A321 Neos.

I believe that there will be more than just 12 A321Ts;   the summer schedule shows 13 daily roundtrips JFK-LAX and 5 daily roundtrips JFK-SFO.  I would guess that the A321T fleet will number between 18 and 20.         

 

[traderjake]

"American only has a 12% share, so in light of the slot divestiture the carrier likely concluded that the capacity used in Atlanta could be more profitably deployed."
 
Of the three carriers, American has the smallest footprint in New York in terms of seat deployment. On a combined basis American and US Airways account for roughly 32% of the seats on offer from LaGuardia, nearly 18% at JFK and almost 6% at Newark. The slot divestitures will have little effect on American’s overall stature in New York.
 
New York LaGuardia Airport capacity by carrier (% of seats): 13-Jan-2014 to 19-Jan-2014

 
 
New York JFK Airport capacity by carrier (% of seats): 13-Jan-2014 to 19-Jan-2014

New York Newark Liberty International Airport capacity by carrier (% of seats): 13-Jan-2014 to 19-Jan-2014

Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation and OAG
 
While Delta is the dominant carrier at LaGuardia (the closest airport to Manhattan), on a combined basis the new American is not far behind Delta with respect to seat deployment (32% for American-US Airways and 35% for Delta). It is a likely bet that as American and US Airways continue to optimise their combined networks, American and Delta will be bumping into one another in more markets from LaGuardia.
 
 
http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/american-airlines-intensifies-competiton-with-delta-air-lines-in-small-markets-from-laguardia-148487

 

[eolesen]

It wouldn't surprise me to see a few of those 32T's hit the off-hours JFK-LHR or BOS-LHR. JFK-LHR is just inside the limit of a standard A321 today, and with the lower load factor, it will probably provide enough reserve fuel (or they can do an alternate release to SNN & BGR, and then re-release when it's back over land).

 

[eolesen]

"American only has a 12% share, so in light of the slot divestiture the carrier likely concluded that the capacity used in Atlanta could be more profitably deployed."

I'm surprised they had that much, given that they were running RJ's up against DL and FL's narrowbody product.

 

[nycbusdriver]

It wouldn't surprise me to see a few of those 32T's hit the off-hours JFK-LHR or BOS-LHR. JFK-LHR is just inside the limit of a standard A321 today, and with the lower load factor, it will probably provide enough reserve fuel (or they can do an alternate release to SNN & BGR, and then re-release when it's back over land).

 
 
A round-trip for the A321T airframe from JFK to LHR would take about 15 hours, plus the down time in LHR to turn it around, plus the holding patterns (often) inbound to LHR, and the taxi queues getting back out of there.
 
That doesn't leave a whole lot of time for that airplane to go to LAX and back.  
 
As Parker pointed out (in not so many words,) New York and Los Angeles have the money and the willingness to spend it on these flights.  Not many other cities qualify.  I doubt BOS will ever support a 321T to the west coast.
 
Besides, if this experiment actually works, is there any doubt that Delta and/or JetBlue will attempt the exact same thing, thereby watering down the customer base so that no airline can make a profit with the concept?
 
I still say: "SSS" (Standard Sardine Seating) throughout all the 321Ts by 2015.

 

[FWAAA]

Besides, if this experiment actually works, is there any doubt that Delta and/or JetBlue will attempt the exact same thing, thereby watering down the customer base so that no airline can make a profit with the concept?
 
I still say: "SSS" (Standard Sardine Seating) throughout all the 321Ts by 2015.

Experiment?   3-class transcons like AA is doing with the A321Ts is nothing new.   If it's an experiment, it's now 23 years old, as AA has flown 3-class DC-10s and 767s between JFK and LAX/SFO for 23 years now.   The only recent change is the size of the plane, which enables more frequencies with much lower trip costs than the old 762s.
 
UA sold 3-class transcons alongside AA until Smisek decided to drop F and go with 2-class ps refurbishment.    Delta has been flying lie-flat J 763s during the past few months as it tries to get serious about attracting the big-spending transcon crowd.  VX has been selling pretty nice J seats on its transcons (although its long-term financial success is still up in the air). 
 
Maybe you haven't been paying attention, but jetBlue IS copying the concept with its new "Mint" service that places 16 lie-flat J seats in the front of some of its new A321s and four of those 16 are actually solos with a sliding door for extra privacy.   B6 is going to begin serving tapas to the J class passengers from some big-name NYC eatery.  
 
It may be an experiment for Idiot Parker, but its a proven concept at American Airlines.

 

[nycbusdriver]

Experiment?   3-class transcons like AA is doing with the A321Ts is nothing new.   If it's an experiment, it's now 23 years old, as AA has flown 3-class DC-10s and 767s between JFK and LAX/SFO for 23 years now.   The only recent change is the size of the plane, which enables more frequencies with much lower trip costs than the old 762s.
 
UA sold 3-class transcons alongside AA until Smisek decided to drop F and go with 2-class ps refurbishment.    Delta has been flying lie-flat J 763s during the past few months as it tries to get serious about attracting the big-spending transcon crowd.  VX has been selling pretty nice J seats on its transcons (although its long-term financial success is still up in the air). 
 
Maybe you haven't been paying attention, but jetBlue IS copying the concept with its new "Mint" service that places 16 lie-flat J seats in the front of some of its new A321s and four of those 16 are actually solos with a sliding door for extra privacy.   B6 is going to begin serving tapas to the J class passengers from some big-name NYC eatery.  
 
It may be an experiment for Idiot Parker, but its a proven concept at American Airlines.

 
Your 23 year record with 3 class service included a boatload of coach class fannies in seats.  As MR. PARKER pointed out, the 321T does not have "hedge" that DC-10s and 767s have.  
 
It's called arithmetic.  And that's basically what MR. PARKER told the CLT pilots lasrt week at the Crew News meeting.  Go tell MR. PARKER that he's full of it, and show him your 23 year record.
 
Or, maybe arithmetic isn't a proven concept at AA yet.

 

[700UW]

Does the A321 have the range to fly JFK-LHR and it is ETOPS qualified?
 
As no one flies the A321 from Europe to the US.

 

[eolesen]

It may be an experiment for Idiot Parker, but its a proven concept at American Airlines.

Proven, and often mimicked by others, but only AA has been able to make it work.

I was working at JFK as a gate lead when AA started up the three class DC10 transcon service, which essentially put the international seats onto a domestic-only aircraft.

MGM Grand Air tried going head to head, but they only lasted a few months, before going back to flying sports and gambling charters. I did get to see their deluxe DC-8, and it was quite posh... but it was no match for 10x on AA's three class DC10's.

Pan Am was still in the game then, but they, too, collapsed.

TWA stayed in the transcon market up to the end, using their international aircraft tagged to the west coast, but could only do a couple trips a day timed to their European bank.

UA tried to make PS work, but as noted, Smisek killed it off, in part because of the post-2008 post-bailout austerity measures that a lot of financial institutions put in place, but also because they thought that after the SAG contract was changed to eliminate the requirement for F class travel, there would be no more demand.

How wrong they were... the entertainers still were traveling in F, and the austerity measures for the bankers were somewhat short lived.

VX and DL have stayed in the game, but don't have the contracts with the studios or broadcast networks that AA has been able to hold onto, nor do they have the frequency to meet the flexibility demanded by that type of traveler.


Perhaps it's time for the pm-US folks to consider the fact that AA wasn't run by a bunch of drunken sailors, and that they actually made some good decisions from time to time.

Clearly, keeping the high-service emphasis on the transcons is one of the decisions that was right, and that's a credit to both the planning side of the house, as well as the front line employees who kept the service standards high despite years of bitterness towards management.