Another Mainline Station Gone...

[BIGDOG]

I sure hope tht you folks that FLY on USAIRWAYS out of ABE will

keep flying on Us.

Why you may ask ?

Because my $13.00 an hour job depends upon passengers flying.

You as a passenger think you are taking a hit on flying smaller airplanes.

We the workers are taking a 5 dollar per hour pay cut to stay with a Job
in this JOBLESS MARKET.

YES,USAIRWAY HAD THE MARKET OUT OF ABE.

YES, WE HAD THE PASSENGERS.

YES WE THE WORKERS WERE GRATEFUL.

NO USAIRWAYS MANGEMENT ITSN'T GRATEFUL.
MANGEMENT DESTROYED WHAT WE HAD.

KEEP FLYING WITH US AT ABE AND WE WILL DO ARE BEST.

DESPITE WHAT UPPER MANGEMENT HAS DONE.

TO HELP WHOEVER FLIES WITH US.

 

[ngneer]

It seems like ABE is in a similar state that ISP was back around '97 or so. US was the ISP's largest carrier, then they dropped all mainline service and only had Express flights. SWA moved in and now operates 24 flights/day and is expanding the airport, building 8 new gates for themselves. Nibble, nibble, one airport at a time, USAir keeps losing ground.

 

[wings396]

That is exactly what is going to happen at ABE. Southwest has been to the airport checking it out a few times, and I expect the Airport to strike a deal with them very soon. There are plenty of vacant Jetways for their taking. All we need is a portable set of stairs for the RJ's to use in the rain and snow. As we all know our management has no plan to fight them, so it will be easy for them to move right in. I don't think our Management will realize the full impact of this until they see their PHL boardings start to slide downhill. They still have the mentality that everyone will drive to congested PHL to fly on us. Kind of the same thinking that the ISP passengers would drive into the city for LGA.

 

[Phoenix]

Let me understand this - boardings have dropped by 14,000 pax per month and they should keep 100+ seat airplanes flying out of there? This isn't rocket science. I don't care how much you fiddle with the schedules and frequencies and cities served.

What airlines embraced the RJ concept in the early/mid 90's? DL (with Comair) and CO (with Express). Guess what airlines have also managed to build up good enough reserves to keep them out of BK over the last 3 years? Yup - DL and CO.

US management and the unions should have been more proactive on the RJ issue years ago. Rakesh presented it nicely in Aug. 2001 on how the 'others' have taken the RJ concept and ran with it.

I'm not saying one side was more right or wrong in handling this whole RJ thing over the years, but in hindsight it may have staved off some of the furloughs.

What airlines embraced the RJ concept in the early/mid 90's? DL (with Comair) and CO (with Express). Guess what airlines have also managed to build up good enough reserves to keep them out of BK over the last 3 years? Yup - DL and CO.

Uhh... What airline didn't ever fly an RJ but is kicking everyone's butt yet paying wages far in excess of RJ slave wages?

 

[Dilligas]

US management and the unions should have been more proactive on the RJ issue years ago. Rakesh presented it nicely in Aug. 2001 on how the 'others' have taken the RJ concept and ran with it.

I'm not saying one side was more right or wrong in handling this whole RJ thing over the years, but in hindsight it may have staved off some of the furloughs.

Hey, I love hindsight too. It's always 20/20.

I do think management owns this one. The U pilots did give W/G the greenlight on RJ's. They could have had hundreds, with our pilots doing the flying.

They chose not to be proactive. They wanted RJ's, they got 'em. They wanted parity plus one, for the most part, they got it. (AFA politely declined the kool aide).

Once they got what they wanted, what did they do with it?