US Airways looks to trim global seats

[john john]

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20...obal_seats.html

After slashing domestic seat capacity in the last year, US Airways said yesterday that it was looking to trim international seats and flight frequencies after the summer because of the deteriorating global economy.

The airline plans to trim 4 percent to 6 percent of its capacity - seats and flights - in 2009, on top of last year's reduction of 6 percent to 8 percent in mainline domestic seat capacity.
Yesterday, Kirby said there were "misperceptions" about the labor agreements. An additional 4 percent to 5 percent of capacity can be chopped without violating minimum-fleet-size agreements with unions, he said.
330’s ?????
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/03/16/...ays-Outlook.php
But they need financing for five A330s. He said they are talking to Airbus about the possibility that it might finance the plane, which the airline needs for its long-haul destinations such as Tel Aviv.
He said leases are expiring on its 10 Boeing 767s, which it uses on international flights. Replacing those with smaller planes would cut international further, if needed, he said.

 

[nycbusdriver]

He said leases are expiring on its 10 Boeing 767s, which it uses on international flights. Replacing those with smaller planes would cut international further, if needed, he said.

What smaller planes have the range of the 767? Stretching one's luck with the sadly inadequate 757s will be false economy as more fuels stops and diverts occur because the aircraft is scheduled on routes for which it was never intended by the manufacturer.

But this company has never been averse from sprinting past a $20 bill in the gutter to snatch a nickel on the sidewalk, then offer themselves $100 bonuses for the successful effort on grabbing the nickel.

 

[zethya]

This is absurd. Is Kirby saying indirectly that US did not already have financing in place for the five 332 deliveries scheduled within the next 9 months and that TLV could be scratched if new financing is not found??
I could see that being the case for the 2010 deliveries, but not 2009. Someone really dropped the ball here IMO. Further, what if CLT-GIG is approved? Are they planning on moving 2 767s from Europe without 332 replacements? There has to be more to this than was quoted in the article.

 

[ChockJockey]

Were we not being just last year that international is where all the money is?

 

[ableoneable]

Were we not being just last year that international is where all the money is?

That was then, this is now.

All the major carriers have made it known that international and domestic revenue have switched places in the last nine months. USAir is not alone in drawing down international capacity faster and steeper than domestic capacity.

 

[freedom]

US airways can look for money whereever they like , but there's none to be found in a global depression ... we will contract , contract , contract until we are no more ....and there's nothing any of us can do to stop it ... :unsure:

 

[ussnark]

All the major carriers have made it known that international and domestic revenue have switched places in the last nine months.

No. They have not "switched places". International revenue has trended lower, but has not equaled the hole domestic expectations has dug.

Try reading the numbers, before pontificating. SWA will, eventually, kill HP, HP being so horribly bad. No question there. Rational management would have killed PHX a while ago, in fact, the merger might have been the assertion of a "safe harbor" for the inept managers of HP.

 

[Pacemaker]

SWA didn't kill the Hp network.

A big dose of usair flu did. Unit costs went from equal to SW to 2X. No airline can survive that.

 

[ableoneable]

No. They have not "switched places". International revenue has trended lower, but has not equaled the hole domestic expectations has dug.

Try reading the numbers, before pontificating. SWA will, eventually, kill HP, HP being so horribly bad. No question there. Rational management would have killed PHX a while ago, in fact, the merger might have been the assertion of a "safe harbor" for the inept managers of HP.

Wrong on all counts. Situation normal.

BTW: Doug Parker was able to refinance USAir debt in Dec 08. He does seem to be able to get financing when no-one else can get access. But I am sure you are right, he is inept and the guys who drove USAir into chapter 11 twice were revenue generating geniuses. I do hope they write an airline management how-to book soon. It seems they have at least one person eager to learn their secrets.

 

[Ralph]

:cop: Warning! Topic Drift! :cop:

The topic is US Airways possible capacity cuts. Turn it into a US vs. HP argument, and the thread will be closed.

 

[BoeingBoy]

USAir is not alone in drawing down international capacity faster and steeper than domestic capacity.

It'll be interesting to see how much US actually reduces international capacity. It seems like they're adding long-haul international - TLV and possibly GIG coming on line. I suspect that most of the reduction will be in Canadian, Mexican, and Caribbean markets since they're among the markets that saw year over year reductions in traffic starting in the latter part of last year. Western Europe as a whole dropped to about zero growth, although specific markets had growth or shrinkage. The Middle East was a bright spot (which explains TLV service), as was S. America (hence GIG).

Jim

 

[UPNAWAY]

BA said their Biz fares are off 85%!
Int'l cargo is zip. Biz travel in the US is going to be off 50-80% this year, guess the Kettles turned out to be more inelastic then the Biz travelers, with leisure travel expected to only be off 10%.

Also there was an article about a month ago that said Boeing and Airbus may be close to reaching a point where they will have no deliveries of Aircraft as GE and AIG have no money to finance them with and the potential to find others is not good.
In an Economic crisis like this one there is not a better Airline CEO out there right now!

 

[ableoneable]

BA said their Biz fares are off 85%!
Int'l cargo is zip. Biz travel in the US is going to be off 50-80% this year, guess the Kettles turned out to be more inelastic then the Biz travelers, with leisure travel expected to only be off 10%.

Also there was an article about a month ago that said Boeing and Airbus may be close to reaching a point where they will have no deliveries of Aircraft as GE and AIG have no money to finance them with and the potential to find others is not good.
In an Economic crisis like this one there is not a better Airline CEO out there right now!

Along these lines, Continental has thus far not been able to line up financing for seven of the 737s they have scheduled for delivery in 2008.

The ability to find financing may be the determining factor in who stays and who goes.

South America has been touted as the growth area for the last five years. I have no idea if the demand is there or not. The closest we go (west division) is Costa Rica and the demand is far less than it was when we started service there several years ago.

Piney - I can't disagree with you here but it should be noted what each of these companies looked like when their respective CEOs came on board. I don't think Parker started out with a great hand. Not that this is an excuse for deficiencies that you ( a customer ) have found in LCC's product offering.

 

[ClueByFour]

Int'l cargo is zip. Biz travel in the US is going to be off 50-80% this year, guess the Kettles turned out to be more inelastic then the Biz travelers, with leisure travel expected to only be off 10%.

Leisure travel will tail off as the impacts of people becoming unemployed become more evident. It's always been a trailing indicator.GE and AIG have no money to finance them with

In an Economic crisis like this one there is not a better Airline CEO out there right now!

Really? So, where is HP without the best CEO there is, the American taxpayer?

Dead as a doornail in 2002. Bankruptcy and the ATSB are the only tricks Parker knows.

Really--what was Dougweiser gonna do without the ATSB?

 

[ableoneable]

Leisure travel will tail off as the impacts of people becoming unemployed become more evident. It's always been a trailing indicator.GE and AIG have no money to finance them with




Really? So, where is HP without the best CEO there is, the American taxpayer?

Dead as a doornail in 2002. Bankruptcy and the ATSB are the only tricks Parker knows.

Really--what was Dougweiser gonna do without the ATSB?

Though I was one of the very few employees to be against the ATSB loan I must take issue with you on a minor point.

Parker had lined up financing in early September of 2001 which fell apart as a result of the attacks on the eleventh.

So had the attacks not occurred HP was one of the airlines that would not have needed ATSB loans. I am not sure the same can be said for AAA.

As far as chapter 11 goes, I believe that Parker was still at AMR when HP was in bankruptcy.