- Banned
- #91
Doesn't Lakefield live in FLL?
Posted on Sun, Aug. 22, 2004
US Airways plans Fort Lauderdale hub
Will be jumping off point to Caribbean, Latin America
TED REED
Staff Writer
Even as it struggles to reduce the high costs that threaten its survival, US Airways is hatching plans to establish a small Caribbean and Latin American hub at Florida's Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
The nation's seventh-largest airline is scheduled to announce Monday that the hub will open early in 2005, with service to about 15 new cities in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and the Northeast. It currently serves four cities, including Charlotte, from Fort Lauderdale.
"We see opportunities to expand our Caribbean and Latin American presence out of South Florida and we intend to build on those opportunities," US Airways spokesman David Castelveter said Saturday.
The airline's plans were first reported in The Miami Herald. Airplanes will become available as US Airways continues to reduce its operations in Pittsburgh.
The South Florida strategy is being unveiled as US Airways continues its efforts to convince its four largest unions to accept $800 million in annual pay cuts, part of an effort to reduce annual costs by $1.5 billion.
The airline emerged from bankruptcy in 2003 but is still losing money. On Friday, rating agency Standard & Poor's lowered ratings on its credit, already at junk bond levels, for the third time this year.
Negotiators for US Airways and its pilots continued to talk Saturday, trying to hammer out a deal that would save the airline $295 million annually. Pilots would become the first union to reach agreement on a cost-cutting deal.
Jack Stephan, spokesman for the US Airways chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association, said pilots made a new proposal Friday, but declined to provide details or to specify a date when the talks might conclude. "We're prepared to go as long as it takes," he said.
US Airways has its largest hub in Charlotte, where it employs 5,743 and operates nonstop flights from Charlotte/Douglas International Airport to 118 destinations including 18 in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Castelveter said establishment of the South Florida hub would have a minimal impact on Charlotte. US Airways recently announced plans to add three more Charlotte-Caribbean flights -- to Barbados; George Town, Bahamas; and Liberia, Costa Rica -- by mid-February.
The Fort Lauderdale flights would be aimed primarily at the large South Florida population with ties to the Caribbean and Latin America, Castelveter said. Connections also would be offered to a handful of Northeast destinations.
"US Airways has already built strength throughout the Caribbean and they have developed a fair amount of expertise in those markets, so this makes enormous sense," said David Field, Americas editor of London-based Airline Business magazine.
Darryl Jenkins, aviation consultant and professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., noted the airline is making money in the Caribbean. "They need to go more places where they can make money," he said.
Among U.S. airlines, US Airways has the second-largest Caribbean presence. American Airlines is first in the region, which it serves primarily from its hub at Miami International Airport.
The fast-growing Fort Lauderdale airport has outpaced Miami in attracting low-cost, low-fare domestic carriers such as Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways, and now will be able to compete internationally.
US Airways' destinations will include: Cancun, Mexico; Guatemala City, Guatemala; Panama City; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Kingston, Jamaica; and Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
US Airways is under severe financial pressure.
It must pay about $130 million to its pension plans by Sept. 15, and it must meet financial requirements associated with $720 million in federal loan guarantees on Sept. 30.
It has said it may file a second time for bankruptcy protection, which would enable it to delay the pension payments.
Also, a bankruptcy court can set aside existing labor contracts and force negotiations on new ones.
US Airways has been formulating its South Florida strategy for months, Jenkins said. Nevertheless, the announcement comes days after Chairman David Bronner said if the airline can't secure four labor agreements by mid-September, it will be forced into bankruptcy court and may never emerge.
Field called the unveiling of the new strategy "a bold statement" that gives the airline a chance to reassure passengers that it plans to remain in business.
Posted on Sun, Aug. 22, 2004
US Airways plans Fort Lauderdale hub
Will be jumping off point to Caribbean, Latin America
TED REED
Staff Writer
Even as it struggles to reduce the high costs that threaten its survival, US Airways is hatching plans to establish a small Caribbean and Latin American hub at Florida's Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
The nation's seventh-largest airline is scheduled to announce Monday that the hub will open early in 2005, with service to about 15 new cities in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and the Northeast. It currently serves four cities, including Charlotte, from Fort Lauderdale.
"We see opportunities to expand our Caribbean and Latin American presence out of South Florida and we intend to build on those opportunities," US Airways spokesman David Castelveter said Saturday.
The airline's plans were first reported in The Miami Herald. Airplanes will become available as US Airways continues to reduce its operations in Pittsburgh.
The South Florida strategy is being unveiled as US Airways continues its efforts to convince its four largest unions to accept $800 million in annual pay cuts, part of an effort to reduce annual costs by $1.5 billion.
The airline emerged from bankruptcy in 2003 but is still losing money. On Friday, rating agency Standard & Poor's lowered ratings on its credit, already at junk bond levels, for the third time this year.
Negotiators for US Airways and its pilots continued to talk Saturday, trying to hammer out a deal that would save the airline $295 million annually. Pilots would become the first union to reach agreement on a cost-cutting deal.
Jack Stephan, spokesman for the US Airways chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association, said pilots made a new proposal Friday, but declined to provide details or to specify a date when the talks might conclude. "We're prepared to go as long as it takes," he said.
US Airways has its largest hub in Charlotte, where it employs 5,743 and operates nonstop flights from Charlotte/Douglas International Airport to 118 destinations including 18 in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Castelveter said establishment of the South Florida hub would have a minimal impact on Charlotte. US Airways recently announced plans to add three more Charlotte-Caribbean flights -- to Barbados; George Town, Bahamas; and Liberia, Costa Rica -- by mid-February.
The Fort Lauderdale flights would be aimed primarily at the large South Florida population with ties to the Caribbean and Latin America, Castelveter said. Connections also would be offered to a handful of Northeast destinations.
"US Airways has already built strength throughout the Caribbean and they have developed a fair amount of expertise in those markets, so this makes enormous sense," said David Field, Americas editor of London-based Airline Business magazine.
Darryl Jenkins, aviation consultant and professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., noted the airline is making money in the Caribbean. "They need to go more places where they can make money," he said.
Among U.S. airlines, US Airways has the second-largest Caribbean presence. American Airlines is first in the region, which it serves primarily from its hub at Miami International Airport.
The fast-growing Fort Lauderdale airport has outpaced Miami in attracting low-cost, low-fare domestic carriers such as Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways, and now will be able to compete internationally.
US Airways' destinations will include: Cancun, Mexico; Guatemala City, Guatemala; Panama City; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Kingston, Jamaica; and Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
US Airways is under severe financial pressure.
It must pay about $130 million to its pension plans by Sept. 15, and it must meet financial requirements associated with $720 million in federal loan guarantees on Sept. 30.
It has said it may file a second time for bankruptcy protection, which would enable it to delay the pension payments.
Also, a bankruptcy court can set aside existing labor contracts and force negotiations on new ones.
US Airways has been formulating its South Florida strategy for months, Jenkins said. Nevertheless, the announcement comes days after Chairman David Bronner said if the airline can't secure four labor agreements by mid-September, it will be forced into bankruptcy court and may never emerge.
Field called the unveiling of the new strategy "a bold statement" that gives the airline a chance to reassure passengers that it plans to remain in business.
