Us Airways Maps A New East Coast Strategy

funguy2 said:
Historically, US Airways has shied away from competing with AA and UA to ORD, so the answer was the RJ to ILM.
Before the CRJ and before the additional slots were added at DCA and LGA over the past decade, DCA was basically an airport where everybody with the exception of US flew to their hubs. Only a few markets had service by one or more airline from DCA in the early 90's.

BOS: US, DL (Business Express and some mainline)
LGA: The Shuttles
JFK: Business Express, TWA, AE
ORD: AA, UA
MIA: AA, UA at times
DFW: AA, DL at times
CMH: US, HP
RDU: US, Midway

There was no competing service to the non-US hubs of CLE, CVG, MKE, DTW, MSP, ATL, and STL.

That was the extend of competing service at DCA. US was the only carrier to operate to non-hub cities. Fares were representative of the monopoly service, and the convenience of the airport. That all changed when the RJ came along, and in a way 9/11 forced a return to that system when the airport re-opened.

I am not sure of the specifics of LGA, but I am sure that it operated in quite the same way.
 
phllax:

Well... That's a nice history... But its no longer relavent... and hasn't been for a few years... Afterall, the RJ issue is over 10 years old! (Comair got its first RJ in 1993).

In today's environment, is it better for US Airways to use its limited slots for airplanes with $0.16 CASM or $0.10 CASM?

Next put in a rational fare structure with service to major markets, and you make a smaller profit/ASM, but you make it up in volume, the kind of volume you cannot get going to ILM.

The Southwest model has been around for 30 years. The CRJ issue has been building for 10 years (arguably the last 5 years being more difficult than the first). And yet, US Airways is still giving away its valuable slot assets to small markets / Express flights when they could be used more productively. Even markets the size of LGA-BUF... there is a sizeable market there. But is that market best served with 9 RJ/Prop flights/day or with 4-5 Mainline trips per day? So, if you can carry roughly the same number of people to BUF on 5 departures, you are essentially wasting the other 4.
 

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