More Airline Cuts Ahead ? (Post Gazette 9/13)

[Travelpro72]

I don't know how accurate it is but it showed CLT as having 4.1 million O&D for 2006 per the Business Wire when they were talking about the Fitch rating.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

only stating opinions

It's a fact that since the bulk of operations have gone to PHL the customer service, operations, employee morale of this airline has gone to hell.

Just stating the obvious.

Later,
Eye

 

[Travelpro72]

Also I don't think anyone is saying to bring back the hub in Pittsburgh as it were in the past. They COULD rework flying to ease Philly a bit and let Pittsburgh handle some of the extra. I absolutely think it's done. Tempe is not going to admit to failure nor will they try and fix the old mess that the management before us were in with the county. EVERY other airline is working but US in Pittsburgh. Isn't that strange? They have added parking twice I believe and you STILL don't have enough room. They have added the overflow security in the old "E" gates for all that O&D that isn't there. O&D numbers are higher since before 9/11 WITHOUT Usairways hubbing there. Isn't THAT strange? The airline is a joke. Most Pittsburghers were in shock at first that US was leaving. Nobody gives a Sh!t anymore if they stay or go really. People are obviously flying and the business is obviously there as well. I think US should have at it with their successful Philly HUB. Though it brings in dough as we all know NOBODY can EVER, EVER tell you how much is LOST there. All personal views of the city of Pittsburgh itself or the pirogies and the rest aside the place worked and could have been rightsized, and reworked to be profitable. It's ALL personal and political. PERIOD! ! ! !

 

[bigbusboy]

Does anybody know the O/D numbers in Phoenix/Charlotte compared to PIT....I know they've been posted before on here. Sounds like Doug will do all he can right now to prove that he needs to downsize PIT to almost nothing regardless of the potential in the market. I've flown out of PIT in the am and I can tell you that as soon as SWA started flying to PIT the local traffic has increased dramatically as evident by the lines at the security checkpoints. I think this whole PIT thing is politically and strategically driven more so than local O/D. Having said that, I do strongly believe Doug will slash PIT down to mostly express, some mainline to CLT, PHL, and PHX, and closing the crew base all in the coming months.

A very good question and good points. I will make one other observation though. Ever since the "new" airport opened, the "D" concourse has always had vacant gates on it up for the taking by any airline who wanted them. Southwest and JetBlue only entered the PIT market when they thought US was going out of business. No other airline ever opted to expand or enter the PIT market using these vacant gates. Southwest or any other airline for that matter could have started service at any time, but chose not to.

Your point about DP reducing PIT to mostly express is spot on. But I think it will go one step farther. PHX and possibly LAS will have the only mainline flying because the 170s/190s can't fly that far. The rest of the flying will be on EMBs to the hubs only.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Does anybody know the O/D numbers in Phoenix/Charlotte compared to PIT

There's really two questions when it comes to O&D - total for the airport and US' share of that.

PIT & CLT are close to each other in total O&D, but both are roughly half of PHL. Don't have the specific numbers in front of me, however. Don't know about PHX.

At one time, US had the majority of PIT O&D because of having the preponderance of available non-stop flights vs other airlines only offering connections except to their hubs (a situation that still exists at CLT). At PHL, US has never had a "fortress" hub to the extent that CLT is or PIT once was. So US undoubtedly has less than half the domestic O&D market at PHL. The specific numbers, however, are almost impossible to obtain.

Jim

 

[songbirdstew]

I do strongly believe Doug will slash PIT down to mostly express, some mainline to CLT, PHL, and PHX, and closing the crew base all in the coming months.

and I strongly agree with you...I'm based in PIT, hanging on by a thread and know that next time the ax falls, I'm definitely gone. However, here's the problem that I'm having with this whole decision though if it really is to happen in the next 6 months (say by March).

The 757 time being moved to CLT resulted in 133 F/As transferring down there. The bottom seniority hire date was 1999. The info sent out by the company and AFA said that there will be another transfer offered in DEC right ? For that transfer I know that there are junior F/As 1999 and up who either have been wanting to get in to CLT for a while because their commute would be better or because CLT is a less expensive place to be on RSV than BOS/DCA/LGA.

So, imagine some of those people do get the DEC transfer and go to CLT. They give up their crash pads/apts/etc and make the big move.....THEN, 3 months later the company announces they are once again displacing from PIT or even closing it. Most junior person in PIT has 21 years and can go where ever they want. The commute PIT-PHL is getting bad and say a bunch of those people choose CLT over PHL for that reason to commute to....I know that's what I will be doing.

How fair is it to the junior people to say, "well here's our latest decision and we're taking 100 more out of PIT which bounces you all back up to the bases that you just left."

I watched the 8/22 webcast on the HUB with Dougie waffling about PIT and now I saw this article in the Post-Gazette. So it does look like the end is near for PIT...However if anyone here from management reads this---I know it's alot to ask----- but THINK about what you're doing.

Just my opinion

 

[debbieb]

I hear DAL is planning on trimming their flights out of th burg..Main Line going to RJ's.. !! Hate it For Ya!!

PIT/ATL? I passed the Delta gate on Monday morning on the way to Northwest and it was very crowded, people were waiting for the MD-88 to ATL. PIT/CVG is all RJ's. My NW flight on a DC-9 to MSP was overbooked.

If true, it's not good news, I was planning on moving over to Delta.

I just don't understand why US can't make it work. The flights I am on are close to full, especially to the west coast. They charge more than other airline by far.

 

[Whatnow?]

The 757 time being moved to CLT resulted in 133 F/As transferring down there. The bottom seniority hire date was 1999. The info sent out by the company and AFA said that there will be another transfer offered in DEC right ? For that transfer I know that there are junior F/As 1999 and up who either have been wanting to get in to CLT for a while because their commute would be better or because CLT is a less expensive place to be on RSV than BOS/DCA/LGA.

I wonder if this is how the company proposes closing PIT as a crew base....could it be possible that the next round of CLT transfers in DEC will have exhausted all of the voluntary transfers necessitating another displacement from PIT? Basically, shifting "everybody" around to accomodate emptying out of the PIT base. Eventually leaving PIT with numbers too low to maintain a crew base? The spin from Parker would be that we regret closing the PIT crew base but it was done out of necessity being that there were not enough mainline flights or crews to sustain a crew base in PIT. Sounds like a Parker spin on things, doesn't it?

 

[leprechaun]

Still all this fuss about such an insignificant city. PIT is all done, history. In a few years there be nothing but RJ's flying there. R.I.P. PIT.

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

I understand the dismay at any decision to down size PIT further.

What I don't understand why this would be done if there was no underlying reason( profitablity, O&D, competition ).

Why is this happening? What other reasons are there for them to do this? What theories do people have?

 

[LD3]

Does anybody know the O/D numbers in Phoenix/Charlotte compared to PIT....I know they've been posted before on here. Sounds like Doug will do all he can right now to prove that he needs to downsize PIT to almost nothing regardless of the potential in the market. I've flown out of PIT in the am and I can tell you that as soon as SWA started flying to PIT the local traffic has increased dramatically as evident by the lines at the security checkpoints. I think this whole PIT thing is politically and strategically driven more so than local O/D. Having said that, I do strongly believe Doug will slash PIT down to mostly express, some mainline to CLT, PHL, and PHX, and closing the crew base all in the coming months.

This is what the BTS is showing for the year ending June 2007:

CLT all airlines except US 13.46 mil pax...US only, 16.69 mil pax

PIT all airlines except US 6.84 mil pax...US only, 2.84 mil pax

Take US out of the equation, CLT is moving almost 2x the pax

 

[phillyone]

come on people pit is done and should have been closed before bwi...there they made more money than pit and had alot less flights.. fact i know because i worked there for ten years... its fees are to hight and not enough local traffic.. to support a hub.. i know you all the pit as i did bwi but its time to move... and remember that the other airlines are not running to make pit a hub either...why

 

[AstroLounge]

and I strongly agree with you...I'm based in PIT, hanging on by a thread and know that next time the ax falls, I'm definitely gone. However, here's the problem that I'm having with this whole decision though if it really is to happen in the next 6 months (say by March).

The 757 time being moved to CLT resulted in 133 F/As transferring down there. The bottom seniority hire date was 1999. The info sent out by the company and AFA said that there will be another transfer offered in DEC right ? For that transfer I know that there are junior F/As 1999 and up who either have been wanting to get in to CLT for a while because their commute would be better or because CLT is a less expensive place to be on RSV than BOS/DCA/LGA.

So, imagine some of those people do get the DEC transfer and go to CLT. They give up their crash pads/apts/etc and make the big move.....THEN, 3 months later the company announces they are once again displacing from PIT or even closing it. Most junior person in PIT has 21 years and can go where ever they want. The commute PIT-PHL is getting bad and say a bunch of those people choose CLT over PHL for that reason to commute to....I know that's what I will be doing.

How fair is it to the junior people to say, "well here's our latest decision and we're taking 100 more out of PIT which bounces you all back up to the bases that you just left."

I watched the 8/22 webcast on the HUB with Dougie waffling about PIT and now I saw this article in the Post-Gazette. So it does look like the end is near for PIT...However if anyone here from management reads this---I know it's alot to ask----- but THINK about what you're doing.

Just my opinion

Songbird, YOUR Opinion is MORE than Just an OPINION........it's REALITY. What you envision/predict is exactly what they are doing- screwing with employees, bumping/transferring and creating their own version of "Airline World Order". What eventually will happen is people will get P*ssedOff to the point and quit (which is what their objective is) or bide their time in the interim. Meanwhile, morale PLUMMETS Further and Further in the tank. The Senior people in PIT (those that live in the area) will NEVER transfer on their own (just like the Junior one's didn't before them) until a DISPLACEMENT ORDER is issued. P-e-r-i-o-d. NO WAY, NO HOW and why would/should they. These clowns have never known HOW to staff an airline and the current Management doesn't know HOW to RUN one. And they wonder why no one cares anymore. You can only rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic so many times. This airline does NOT need SIX GD crew bases in the East for an airline of this size.........for year's it should have been been PHL/PIT/CLT. (Employees cannot afford to live in cities like BOS/NY/DCA at the wages THEY are willing to pay).

 

[missthe727]

How fair is it to the junior people to say, "well here's our latest decision and we're taking 100 more out of PIT which bounces you all back up to the bases that you just left."

Aside from that if 1999 was the cut off for NOV transfers then there are probably a lot of F/As 1999 and junior who will want to get into CLT in DEC. I think a lot of those from '99,'00, and '01 are based in LGA/BOS/DCA. It's a heck of a lot cheaper to sit RSV in CLT than those expensive cities...so as many as can, will probably transfer.

Hey look Tempe !!! You've created open positions in these bases that the recalls were supposed to take care of. Once again, those NE bases are short F/As. It's one viscious cycle with those in charge having no idea what they have created until too late.

I agree with Songbird. Think about this one very carefully before you make as$es of yourselves yet again (if you can help it)

 

[AstroLounge]

Making Ass*s of themselves is only NATURAL for them. They prove it, EVERY chance they get.