BoeingBoy:
Much of US Airways lower than expected February RASM and load factor was due to liquidation concerns due to union resistance to participate in the new business plan, the operational meltdown, and uncertainty surrounding the federal loan guarantee.
The AFA and CWA job action press releases and the IAM S.1113 process drove traffic away from the company as passengers “booked away†to other carriers. In addition, harsh weather caused passengers to not travel and there was obviously a operational meltdown hangover.
These same issues effected load factor as well.
US Airways has fallen short utilization, but part of that was that the new flight schedules did not start until February 6 thus 18% of the month operated on the old schedule. Moreover, harsh weather reduced flying and dramatically increased delays.
The company is addressing scheduling and much of the work has been turned over to the pilots to manage. Chip Mayer and Steve Smyser from the ALPA scheduling committee are now working with a highly regarded Maintenance Department computer analyst to not only increase aircraft utilization, but to dramatically improve crew productivity and improved flight pairings (schedules).
Changing the operation is not easy and will take time, but the company is seeing improvements with more anticipated.
Regards,
USA320Pilot
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