December's traffic results for LCC

[kid5mule]

As I read the December traffic and fourth quarter results for LCC, I was somewhat dismayed. Our combined airline flew 1.3 million fewer passengers during the fourth quarter as compared to 4th quarter results of 2004. Even more striking were the December results as they signal the true consequences of downsizing US Airways mainline (East) from 287 to 220 aircraft. For December, US Airways (East) boarded 1.6 million fewer passengers than Dec of 2004. Would anyone like to project what our earning will look like for the fouth quarter?

Additionally, US Airways (east) has downsized from 460 aircraft in 1989 to 220 aircraft in 2006. Are we downsizing to profitibility?

 

[BoeingBoy]

You're right - the December traffic results for the East operation weren't too good. One would have hoped that reducing the fleet would translate to higher load factors, but we managed to lose passengers as fast as we cut capacity (or more accurately we lost RPM's as fast as we cut ASM's).

For the financial results, it will all depend on unit revenue. Presumably it was up since one would also hope that having less seats to sale would mean offering fewer of the cheapest tickets (resulting in higher average fares), but we'll just have to wait for the quarterly report to find out.

Jim

 

[autofixer]

I guess we can add "downsizing" to the long list of management failures at U.

PSA purchase, Piedmont Purchase, Business Select, Trump Shuttle, Sabre, Metrojet, $1 Billion stock buy back (now worthless), 50 seat RJs, MidAtlantic, Total loss of 'good will' with employees...

 

[kid5mule]

What is problematic is that Mr. Parker has touted LCC saving $200 mil in lease agreements by parking the aircraft. If you don't have the seats to sell (7.4% loss of revenues miles/negative 1.3 million passengers for Dec) where do profits come from? How many millions have we lost in the month of December alone? How can we continue to rely on RJ aircraft that have a 6.4% cancellation rate and can't haul pax and bags when the weather is bad.(By the way this applies to the EMB-190 also, CLT baggage personnel are taking bags off on a regular basis to accommodate W/B issues.) Does Mr. Parker know what the word "service" means and that we are in a service industry?

 

[Snafu]

What is problematic is that Mr. Parker has touted LCC saving $200 mil in lease agreements by parking the aircraft. If you don't have the seats to sell (7.4% loss of revenues miles/negative 1.3 million passengers for Dec) where do profits come from? How many millions have we lost in the month of December alone? How can we continue to rely on RJ aircraft that have a 6.4% cancellation rate and can't haul pax and bags when the weather is bad.(By the way this applies to the EMB-190 also, CLT baggage personnel are taking bags off on a regular basis to accommodate W/B issues.) Does Mr. Parker know what the word "service" means and that we are in a service industry?

Could it have anything to do with the PHL "meltdown" last year?? Maybe pax were a little skeptical about booking because of that??? Just a thought and/or a different spin on it.

 

[fly with US]

By the way this applies to the EMB-190 also, CLT baggage personnel are taking bags off on a regular basis to accommodate W/B issues.)

Uh, are you talking about the CRJ-900? We don't have the 190.

 

[Singleflyer]

The airline has lost some of my business because of the 5:30PM departure of MHT to PHL going from maineline to an RJ. In some cases if have been able to route through DCA, other times it goes to another airline.

Since my company purchases Y & B fares for me, I choose the airline by equipment, and I will never again take a two legged RJ flight.

Therefore the downsizing has lost some, not alot, of my business, and I am high yeild business.

 

[autofixer]

I for one, was shocked the first time I saw a CRJ900 flying to Sarasota, FL. I realized that it was more important to continue the "downsizing", than customer service. We now fly them out of CLT to the following: SRQ, ILM, BNA, GSO, IAD, MEM and a host of other places. I mean, SARASOTA AND DULLES? What are they thinking? Just because an airplane has 90 seats, does not a DC9 make. It is painfully obvious that Doug has no clue of how the business traveler on the East Coast thinks.