Better Use Of Code Share To Cut Cost

[deltawatch]

Better use of code share to cut cost. The two airlines should focus on CLT, ORD, PHL, and DEN as hubs. Quit worrying so much about IAD and PIT. Start trading evenly some routes and making better use of ground personal.

U should dump PIT and start feeding ORD. UAL should turn over some routes to U like RIC-ORD, ORF-ORD, GSO-ORD, and RDU-ORD and so on. This keeps all 275 of U’s mainline A/C busy after dumping PIT. UAL should pull their employees out of these cities and let U ground personal handle it. If UAL still wants to serve IAD out of these cities let U handle the ground, but rather than UAL trying to hold on to IAD as a hub I think they should move that focus to PHL. Share it with U.

U should turn over some routes out of SEA, LAX, SFO, DEN etc. to UAL; let UAL fly DEN-PHL, SEA-PHL, PHL-LAX, SEA-CLT, and CLT-LAX. U should pull its ground personal out of these west coast cities. Let UAL employees handle it.

U should find new feed from the east coast to DEN. Example RIC-DEN.
UAL should find some new feed to PHL , CLT. Example COLORADO SPRINGS-PHL.

U should look for point to point opportunities out of lager cities like DCA, LGA, BOS for the RJ’s.

This would take full advantage of the code share arrangement.

You get the picture. Better use of ground personal. Which ever airline is dominates in the cities gets all the ground work.

 

[N628AU]

Won't work. By eliminating longer haul flights (LAX-PHL, SEA-CLT), you simply increase CASM.

 

[mbmbbost]

Won't work. By eliminating longer haul flights (LAX-PHL, SEA-CLT), you simply increase CASM.

I don't necessarily agree with the strategy, but also am not convinced that CASM would suffer so much. A lot of very short haul east coast flights into the hubs would be replaced with flights to DEN under this scenario wouldn't it? I also suspect there is something fundamentally flawed with looking at CASM on the whole. If those LAX-PHL and SEA-CLT were mostly O&D traffic I could see it, but are they? Could all these lower CASM flights exist without the high cost east coast flights that feed them?

 

[N628AU]

Here are a couple of problems with your scenario. Lets assume you have one four and a half hour flight vs. running 3 90 minute segments.

Your fuel burn is going to be higher with more takeoffs.

The planes will be less efficient as they will be sitting on the ground in hubs longer.

It takes more employees (at least under current work rules) to operate three 90 minute flight segments than one 4 and half hour segment.

Are you going to have enough traffic on those shorter segments to fill larger aircraft.

I do agree that some scheduling enhancments could probably make better use of the codeshare. A friend of mine has a corporate travel deal with UA, but can rarely use US to leave CLT to a US hub city to get to places like PDX because it has him sit too long. I would also like to see more flights out of US strongholds like BOS, LGA, and DCA to ORD, DEN, SFO, and LAX (assuming slot exemptions can be had) to connect people to US destinations in the west.