SOUTHWEST Adding BIG at PIT! Who didn't know that

[Doc]

It is being reported on the local news by the Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato this morning that within the next two weeks Southwest will be announcing that they will be adding big-time at PIT, as many as 60-65 flights a day...over time....

He says that Southwest execs. have told them PIT has been the fastest growing new market for WN of any other market for WN ever.....

The WN architects are in the PIT airport right now expanding their ticket counter.....and looking for homes in the area....
It's too bad that Dougweiser and boys just can't figure out how to run an airline successfully in todays environment.....

Also the figures for the 18+ excess gates US Airways paid short-term leases on to run the express operation finally came out today in the post-gazette 5.5 million per-year.....

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07278/823072-147.stm

Boy if Doug and the boys would have just listened to the committee that told them how to save millions, things would be a bit different today...

This will be great news for the Prince-of-Pawobs and co-workers---who would you rather work for-------That's a no-brainer-----

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't PIT charge a ridiculous PSGR airport fee and that's one of the reasons we bailed on PIT......

 

[Jimmy Neutron]

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't PIT charge a ridiculous PSGR airport fee and that's one of the reasons we bailed on PIT......

You are partially correct.......The per passenger fee is directly related to the number of flights and passengers moving through the airport......

When US had 500+ flights a day, the fees were a bit higher then other airports but not much......

Then every time US pulled flights out, the fees went up along with the flight cuts......

So basically US kept crying wolf while it was their own decisions that created the problem in the 1st place......

Then they chose to cancel the leases on the gates during the 2nd BK and since that time have paid higher month-to-month lease rates for 20+ gates instead of the much lower long-term lease rates they had in place.......They also walked away from one of the best deals in the entire country when it came to revenue sharing as included in the leases were a cut of other incoming revenues at the airport such as parking revenue......

As you can see, it was managements decision to break these deals and then they continue to try and turn it around on everyone else and place blame anywhere they can except where it should be....with themselves......

As for the situation now...as I stated before a committee in PIT approached this management team nearly two years ago and showed them how the costs in PIT could be lowered significantly, by doing exactly what they are finally doing now....Dumping the 18 excess very high cost short-term leased gates, eliminating a sub-contracted group of 350 employees (this group had around 500 when the committee met) combining all the flights under 1 umbrella basically shaving around 7-8 million a year alone in excess unneeded costs........


Mr. Gray blamed local officials for US Airways' long, slow exodus, saying they "blew it big time." Airports in Charlotte and Philadelphia, he said, have lower costs to handle connecting traffic, and "I truly believe that has been a major factor in this whole process."

Mr. Onorato said, "It was US Airways that made the decision to pull out the hub after this region subsidized, gave all kinds of incentives ... gave US Airways a monopoly, 90 percent of the gates. After all of that they said, 'Oh, by the way, we don't want to be here.' Not only that, they go into bankruptcy and coming out of bankruptcy we're the only city that they canceled all their leases.

"This was their decision. No one blew it. The only one that blew it was US Airways. They blew it because they couldn't figure out how to run their company."

The problem now is that since the committee met two years ago, management continued their onslaught of feeder flight cuts so much that there is basically nothing left now.....Had this management team listened and continued to work with the committee instead of stonewalling it, PIT would probably look quite different today and may have actually been a very successful focus city for the airline...

Although mainline is somewhat salvaged by this latest move, I feel it's only a matter of time before Doug and Co. cry some more and continue the downsize.....one just need to listen to comments made in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07277/822782-28.stm

Is this, he was asked, the last of the cuts?

"You never say never," Mr. Parker said. At the same time, "we certainly don't anticipate further cuts going forward. ... We don't want to go through this pain. We are getting to what we think is the right size."

And how many times has he said that before?

 

[Old PSA]

Boy, this all sound so familiar. US Air picked apart PSA's operation on the West Coast and then wonder why it didn't get better. Then they cut again, "to the bone" this time and it go worse. They cut again and again and now there's nothing left of the old PSA routes. Tempe can't figure out the Northeast, can't make Philly work, can't make PIT work. Southwest doesn't have to do marketing studies, they just have to follow US around and fill in the holes US leaves behind.

If the regional jets are so good, why aren't they all over the West Coast. And if they aren't so good, why don't they move them to the West and put the bigger equipment where the money is, they keep saying Philly is the big money station.

 

[Jimmy Neutron]

You are absolutely correct----Tempe couldn't figure out 1st grade math in the way they were running the PIT station so don't expect them to figure out anything else that may actually be intelligent...

About the only thing they do know how to do well is sh*t on their employees and customers.....Expect more of the same until the idiots at the top are replaced....

 

[ClueByFour]

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't PIT charge a ridiculous PSGR airport fee and that's one of the reasons we bailed on PIT......

PIT's fees are a direct result of the terminal that was built to suit to USAir's specifications.

 

[Travelpro72]

US cried the blues about the fees as they cut flights the fees went up. THEIR FAULT. They are cutting express flights from smaller airports around PA, VA, WV, OH and NY. Any idea what the fares were on those flights? Those flights which carried predominately local traffic in and out of PIT to those cities were FULL most often and MOST were paying pretty high fares. THEIR FAULT. They leased MORE gates than they needed ONLY to say that the real estate was underutilized and too costly. HELLO MORONS. THIS is the kind of $h!t that WAS going on. THEIR FAULT. Was this all intentional? Well maybe not, they just had NO idea on how to make it work. They can't make ANYTHING or any HUB work so far. As mentioned above, can't handle int'l, can't fix PHL, CLT is getting worse, complaints are through the roof. Try to utilize PIT...yeah sure. As for the troubles between US and PIT triggered long before the merger HONESTLY what has America West management improved on here since they took the wheel? NOTHING! ! That's what. Southwest will do just what they have done in the past with US. They will beat us because they listen to their employees and their customers. Simply put they are better at the game. If anyone thinks that there won't be more cutback in PIT from US your sadly mistaken. As soon as WN moves into the next market that US has we'll leave there too. Run and hide, run and hide. How long can you continue to do that? As for the flight to LAX in PHL on WN with 40some people, well maybe US is full most times since they have the largest presence. I'm sure if WN goes into that market in PIT US will surely pull out. Us ALWAYS pulls out to quick.

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

This has been going on for years beginning with the revered "Uncle Ed".

Why it should be such a shock now leaves me wondering-

no one cared before why would people care now?

 

[US1YFARE]

"This was their decision. No one blew it. The only one that blew it was US Airways. They blew it because they couldn't figure out how to run their company."

well, that is certainly true...they haven't figured out how to operate a non-regional carrier.

"You never say never," Mr. Parker said. At the same time, "we certainly don't anticipate further cuts going forward. ... We don't want to go through this pain. We are getting to what we think is the right size."

And how many times has he said that before?

Sounds like more cuts to me in preparation for right sizing themselves for a merger. Boohoo, we had to layoff so many people because of the overcapacity. You have to let us merge. We can't continue to operate like we are--how many more jobs will be lost without a merger. And, We are small now and can't compete unless we join with UA or NW or whoever.

 

[avion]

totally amazing.. enough about PIT its gone never to return let WN do whatever they want there US does not care even Doug has said in the beginning he does not care about WN. no one runs from WN anymore.... get over it.. US has the cash cow of PHL where the money is made ... WN is cutting back service in PHL NOV 17 and including with that their nonstops to California now if you cant make money in the PHL West coast route and US can then WN is the one running... Tempe has said US is cutting PIT and the others can pick up the slack that is totally different mentality that the Crystal Palace of the old management did when they just left BWI and what that rich loser Dave Siegel said when he said WN is coming to Philly to kill us..... Yah right... im just glad that the cold weather is coming back and those ground and f/a s at WN go back to wearing pants again alot of them should not be in shorts.... have a nice day..

 

[zethya]

...WN is cutting back service in PHL NOV 17 and including with that their nonstops to California now if you cant make money in the PHL West coast route and US can then WN is the one running...

Although I agree with your comments, the reduction at PHL by WN was/is for only, as I recall, 3 or 4 total flights (cities). I would assume they are preparing to expand fairly quickly sometime next year (2008) after all the pressure they put on the airport to get 4 additional gates in Term "E", the lack of which they say was preventing growth to their anticipated 100+ daily flights. The gates should be available to them by December (2007) at the latest. We'll see how this plays out.

 

[UWCactus]

This is one thing that the East never really knew of. Southwest and Parker have competed for many many years and none of that will change. America West knew exactly how to compete with Southwest for long term survival and will continue to do it now.

 

[legacy-to-LCC]

America West knew exactly how to compete with Southwest for long term survival and will continue to do it now.

by abandoning a market? how clever...
is that what an mba from vandy teaches you?!?!?!?!

 

[US1YFARE]

This is one thing that the East never really knew of. Southwest and Parker have competed for many many years and none of that will change. America West knew exactly how to compete with Southwest for long term survival and will continue to do it now.

WN seems to be the only airline that you even try to compete with...you've ignored the real competition that is winning away your high fare paying previously loyal customer base.

 

[legacy-to-LCC]

WN seems to be the only airline that you even try to compete with...you've ignored the real competition that is winning away your high fare paying previously loyal customer base.

betty, these westies will never get it, will they?!?!?!

 

[hack73]

I was on the committee to reduce costs in PIT and the new management would never listen to us. Camille Soto and Ross Bonnanno took our proposal and used it for the groundwork for the reductions in PIT.The main thing that they are doing wrong is not having enough service to primary markets, eliminating service to ORD is crazy , we had 3 a day and they were full. It looks like that they are going to try to merge with UA again.
Also Southwest will be very successful in PIT because they run an efficient operation with reasonable fares.PIT will be down to service to the primary hubs within a year.