BoeingBoy
Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2003
- Messages
- 16,512
- Reaction score
- 5,865
Prince,
Many have made the same comment - why can't PIT be used to relieve PHL of some of the connecting traffic, and the flights that entails. Honestly, I've thought (and probably said) the same thing.
Realistically, however, I'm not so sure that it could be accomplished - expecially given our fleet limitations (a fixed fixed number for now). Moving more flights to PIT means less flights somewhere else - like PHL. Good for PHL operationally but bad otherwise. Why? There's probably not enough O&D from PHL to justify half the non-stop service we have there - so those would become economically unjustifiable without the connecting traffic. The solution seems simple - route PHL O&D passengers to/from the west/southwest thru PIT with connections - but this loses whatever fare premium we can still get by offering the PHL O&D traffic N/S service. Since PHL generates more O&D traffic than PIT (where we could then get the N/S fare premium), the result would be a net loss I suspect.
Possibly some "hybrid" system would work - instead of 5 N/S flights PHL-DFW per day and none PIT-DFW, have 3 from PHL & 2 from PIT. Some times of the day, the PHL O&D passengers would get a N/S and others they'd connect in PIT/CLT (and same for the PIT O&D pax). While I certainly don't have the data (or the smarts, despite your kind words) to know if this would work or not, much less how to implement it, it's a thought.
Of course, one other problem with our static mainline fleet is that adding capacity in any market means one of two things - taking it from another market or using RJ's. Adding all these RJ's just clogs up the works at PHL and CLT. I would suspect that any market with 6 or more Express flights per day could use some mainline metal at some times while reducing the total number of flights - thus relieving congestion in PHL/CLT. Unfortunately, we're back to that static mainline fleet again. Traffic has been steadily recovering since 911 and has now surpassed pre-911 levels, but the only planes we've added are RJ's. Our combined fleet is no bigger than the pre-911 East fleet.
Jim
[edited to add to the fleet issue]
Unfortunately, previous East management left us in something of a bind, fleetwise, that probably won't be solved until we have some sustained profitability. East once had over 400 mainline aircraft - 417 at the end of 2000 with the smallest being the F100. The combined fleet at the end of this year is expected to be 360 - including the E190. During this period, we've added Caribbean/LA service, some TA service, and the West cities that we either had never served or stopped serving - all with less mainline equipment.
Many have made the same comment - why can't PIT be used to relieve PHL of some of the connecting traffic, and the flights that entails. Honestly, I've thought (and probably said) the same thing.
Realistically, however, I'm not so sure that it could be accomplished - expecially given our fleet limitations (a fixed fixed number for now). Moving more flights to PIT means less flights somewhere else - like PHL. Good for PHL operationally but bad otherwise. Why? There's probably not enough O&D from PHL to justify half the non-stop service we have there - so those would become economically unjustifiable without the connecting traffic. The solution seems simple - route PHL O&D passengers to/from the west/southwest thru PIT with connections - but this loses whatever fare premium we can still get by offering the PHL O&D traffic N/S service. Since PHL generates more O&D traffic than PIT (where we could then get the N/S fare premium), the result would be a net loss I suspect.
Possibly some "hybrid" system would work - instead of 5 N/S flights PHL-DFW per day and none PIT-DFW, have 3 from PHL & 2 from PIT. Some times of the day, the PHL O&D passengers would get a N/S and others they'd connect in PIT/CLT (and same for the PIT O&D pax). While I certainly don't have the data (or the smarts, despite your kind words) to know if this would work or not, much less how to implement it, it's a thought.
Of course, one other problem with our static mainline fleet is that adding capacity in any market means one of two things - taking it from another market or using RJ's. Adding all these RJ's just clogs up the works at PHL and CLT. I would suspect that any market with 6 or more Express flights per day could use some mainline metal at some times while reducing the total number of flights - thus relieving congestion in PHL/CLT. Unfortunately, we're back to that static mainline fleet again. Traffic has been steadily recovering since 911 and has now surpassed pre-911 levels, but the only planes we've added are RJ's. Our combined fleet is no bigger than the pre-911 East fleet.
Jim
[edited to add to the fleet issue]
Unfortunately, previous East management left us in something of a bind, fleetwise, that probably won't be solved until we have some sustained profitability. East once had over 400 mainline aircraft - 417 at the end of 2000 with the smallest being the F100. The combined fleet at the end of this year is expected to be 360 - including the E190. During this period, we've added Caribbean/LA service, some TA service, and the West cities that we either had never served or stopped serving - all with less mainline equipment.
