Shuttle America Pulls Plug On Pit

[Rob]

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/8749937.htm

So it starts.

 

[airbiiguy]

what happens to the other "SA only" cities like TOL..., etc?

 

[USFlyer]

Codeshare with UA out of ORD and IAD.

 

[airbiiguy]

you are saying UA will add cities like TOL , hahahah, iad-tol on a saab? I think not!

 

[Light Years]

This is old news. The article says they have 20 planes, 9 are being sent to the desert (they all belong there) and 10 are going to United Express service presumedly to replace ACA turboprop flying. So basically out of the US Express program without officially announcing it.

I dont think anyone is shedding any tears over this. The professionalism of some of thier crews matched thier smelly rickety planes, although I'm told they've improved at least operationally. They are still pretty embarrassing though.

I'd assume most of the turboprop flying will return to the Dash 8s (Bizarre! The company flying its own aircraft on its own routes! ). The newly merged Piedmont will be the only operator of large turboprops, with the exception of Colgan who seem more centered in New England and Trans States I think has a small handful of J41s in US colours.

Fort Wayne and the few other "PIT only" cities remain a mystery. Theres likely not a market or space to send RJS from CLT or PHL to a TOL or FWA. They may stay as part of the focus city at PIT- look at BOS for example which has a lot of unique Express service, but without a full blown hub to connect to I doubt there's sufficient traffic to support two-stop travel. Most of those midwestern cities are much better served by United through ORD, however its worth pointing out that UA doesnt serve TOL.

 

[funguy2]

Maybe a Step 1 in the rationalization of US Express carriers? I can dream...

 

[Light Years]

Wouldnt that be nice? It would make a whole lot of sense. I hate that any of it is contracted, but now that we have MAA and PSA rapidly adding jets, do we really need a few planes here and there from every two-bit regional under the sun?

Does anyone know what percentages and sizes the affiliate Express carriers are? I think Mesa is the biggest, I'm not sure of the rest.

With Shuttle America gone, that leaves:

Mesa (ERJ145/CRJ)- I believe they have about 60 or so RJs flying for us, so they are likely not going anywhere soon. No one wants Ornstein anywhere near the property, its like having a housekeeper who steals your valuables and reads your diary when your not home. He's sneaky and up to something.

Chautauqua (ERJ145)- Not sure how many planes they have for US, I suspect they fly out of the focus cities alot but I do see them in PIT and PHL. CHQ's got its finger in everyone's pie, Delta, American, and now United too. Perhaps they'll go with thier sister airline Shuttle America and put all thier planes in bankrupt United's weakest hub.

Trans States (ERJ145/J41)- They cant possibly be all that big in USX, they seem to only be in PIT. Good candidate to leave program with PIT downsizing.

Colgan- (SF340/B1900) As mentioned above Colgan does alot of service to New England and the very northeast that is exclusive to Boston, plus Cape Cod and such which if I recall is popular service. They also participate in US covering more cities in West Virginia out of PIT than they do total west of the Mississippi (LOL), not sure if that will stay.

Air Midwest (B1900) See Mesa. Not sure what the future holds for B1900 and EAS service in general, or the small-town PA and WV service from PIT.

 

[ringmaruf]

Chautauqua flies 29 ERJ-145s for US.

Trans States flies about 17 ERJ-145s and also 7 J41s for US.

 

[WSurf]

Thats what so amazing! Here you have US Airways losing money, and 7 or more contract carriers making money off of us. Now we have 4 wholly owns, that will in the future have so many airplanes that there will be no need to contract. Drop all the contract carriers, keep all the money in house and lets try and turn this place around. Really, the performance of the contract carriers are sad. And when pax board they dont know there on Mesa, chat., trans states, they think they are on US Airways, lets clean house, keep profits within and kick some arse. If U can get there crap together, they could kick some major rear on the east coast... More wine please

 

[funguy2]

In my opinion, voiding contracts with Express carriers like Colgan, Chautauqua, Trans States, Mesa, etc, would be a much better use of any "pre-packaged" Ch. 11 bankruptcy than any S.1113 Labor negotiations. If US goes back to BK, I would look for this. Perhaps, if they had a better plan going into BK, they could have done this back then...

Or maybe they can pull a PIT? Even though we are out of BK, we retained this right, and we are exercising it! That's what they did to PIT/ACAA. Maybe they can pull that card again? Unlikely given the amount of time gone by (They played this card on PIT/ACAA 1-2 months after emergence from BK).

 

[the turtle]

another "let's bash the contract carriers" thread.

yawn

old news.

 

[funguy2]

another "let's bash the contract carriers" thread.

yawn

old news.

I, for one, am not bashing the contract carriers. I just don't think US Airways needs 10 Express carriers (WO'ed and contract). I think this makes the system unnecessarily complex. If the most cost-effective best solution for the company was to IPO MDA, PSA, and ALG/PDT... Fine by me... But they have to keep track of 10 airlines, 10 contracts, etc, etc, as opposed to CO and AMR who have 3 or 4 partners. I think US Airways could consolidate its Express service down to 2-3 RJ operators and 2-3 prop operators, and that would make the system less complex, and easier to manage.

 

[RWerksman]

Mesa (ERJ145/CRJ)- I believe they have about 60 or so RJs flying for us, so they are likely not going anywhere soon. No one wants Ornstein anywhere near the property, its like having a housekeeper who steals your valuables and reads your diary when your not home. He's sneaky and up to something.

lol

I almost peed my pants when I read this.

 

[ITRADE]

what happens to the other "SA only" cities like TOL..., etc?

Good question.

SA serves a good number of cities: TTN, MDT, SCE, AVP, BGM, SYR, BUF, ERI, CLE, CAK, TOL, FWA, CMH, IND, LEX, HTS, and CRW. Remember, that service to some of these cities is mixed schedule between SA and other carriers

Some of the larger cities (i.e. SYR and IND) could well see a transition to ERJs courtesy of PSA.

As to the others, Colgan could pick up some if they can take additional aircraft deliveries. Trans States is always game although US's relationship with them is on-again/off-again.

Alternately, assuming that PI/AL can get its act together, I could see the possible retention of a few extra Dash-8s to cover PIT flying. However, for some of these cities a Dash 8 with 37 seats is a 20% capacity jump over the Saabs. That could be a make and break issue for that particular route.

I think that BED-TTN is a goner. In fact, TTN might be a goner as well.

 

[dashflyer]

Piedmont and Allegheny won't have the aircraft or pilots to cover that flying. The attrition rate at both carriers is atrocious. If the two carriers ever decide to merge, the combined fleet would be about 55-60 aircraft. Although the story changes daily on the lease return of Dash-8's.

While it's nice to see another contract carrier go away, it just opens the market for more Mesa opportunities.