Is US Airways Due for a Major Route Restructuring?

[Pacemaker]

The real blame lies with the unions though, US ALPA for being wussies and US AFA for being too dumb to even have thier own scope clause. What kind of union for a mainly short haul, small narrowbody airline allows outside contractors to fly up to 93 small narrowbodies with near transcon range- in fact the same type as the smallest aircraft in the fleet? Duh, only at this place...

Thank you....

 

[T-bone]

It is interesting to note that Mohawk and Allegheny flew the short North East routes as their bread and butter and Airways can't make money with the same routes. It's also interesting to note that when asked by employees why Airways was giving Pittsburgh to WN lock, stock, and barrel Doug replied that Airways could not compete against WN. Hmm, can't compete against an airline that pays it's employees radically more across all job categories except management-----go figure.

 

[Phoenix]

Does anyone know who taught WN to be WN?

Great photos. Less smog in the PSA photo.

But perhaps more deserved smug.

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

But perhaps more deserved smug.

?

 

[saabslime]

US needs to make radical changes including the retirement of its reservation systems, complete fleet overhaul, complete inflight offering overhaul, route structure overhaul, etc. Is the current management team the ones to do it, HELL NO. Without the above mentioned changes, US will be swimming in red ink during the next recession. But, what do I know, I am just a lowly flight attendant.

Yep, and you can't fix stupid

 

[PHX PHLyer]

It is interesting to note that Mohawk and Allegheny flew the short North East routes as their bread and butter and Airways can't make money with the same routes. It's also interesting to note that when asked by employees why Airways was giving Pittsburgh to WN lock, stock, and barrel Doug replied that Airways could not compete against WN. Hmm, can't compete against an airline that pays it's employees radically more across all job categories except management-----go figure.

Ever think that the industry is a maybe just a little more different then back then? You would have to be crazy to think that the industry dynamics that existed back in those days would still hold true today. And even populations and demographics in general in the US have changed drastically. Just because it worked 30 years ago does not mean it can now. C'mon, instead of being so quick to jump on the bandwagon and call management inept at the drop of a hat (despite whether they actually are or are not), maybe you should use your noggin a little bit more and think about today and stop dreaming of an idealistic world 30 years ago.

And one of the reasons WN is so highly paid is their productivity. Employees fly more hours on average than any other work group. Here are some stats: 67.9 employees per plane for WN vs. 103.6 per plane for AA (I don't have US statistics in front of me but know they are similar to AA). Despite high pay, WN has relatively low labor costs. Once again this is AA data, but is similar to US, but WN pilots fly an average of 68-70 hours per month whereas AA pilots fly an average of 45 hours per month

 

[sfb]

And one of the reasons WN is so highly paid is their productivity. Employees fly more hours on average than any other work group. Here are some stats: 67.9 employees per plane for WN vs. 103.6 per plane for AA (I don't have US statistics in front of me but know they are similar to AA). Despite high pay, WN has relatively low labor costs. Once again this is AA data, but is similar to US, but WN pilots fly an average of 68-70 hours per month whereas AA pilots fly an average of 45 hours per month

Well, pray tell, why exactly is it that Southwest's employees are so productive? A Southwest 737-700/-300 requires the same number of flight crew as a US Airways A319/737-300. Who makes the schedules and decides how many employees are needed for given tasks? Would that be management?

Perhaps a more useful metric (given that Southwest does not fly widebodies which would require more employees per plane) is the average number of ASM's produced by each employee per quarter; at US, that number was about 550,000 in Q2. At WN, they generated 750,000 ASM's per employee in Q2 and improved to 760,000 per employee in Q3. And WN doesn't outsource/offshore its reservations.

 

[Pacemaker]

Well, pray tell, why exactly is it that Southwest's employees are so productive?

US Airways management chooses to operate a legacy airline on a regional airline route structure. Aircraft utilization, stage length, taxi times, etc... all suffer as a result.

 

[Pacemaker]

Well, pray tell, why exactly is it that Southwest's employees are so productive?

US Airways management chooses to operate a legacy airline on a regional airline route structure. Aircraft utilization, stage length, taxi times, etc... all suffer as a result.