Us Airways Schizophrenia

[Aryeh]

Before the company cites operational costs of the discount carriers, it should first decide what kind of airline they want US Airways to be! It seems to me that, rather than salaries and benefits, airlines such as Jet Blue and Southwest offer a limited but high-quality product; whereas US Airways can't define what it wants to be and thus tries to be all things, to all people. This is why US costs are higher!
By all things to all people, I mean...

* Does the company want to be domestic and international?
* Why operate a high percentage of short-haul flights feeding to/from fewer and fewer cross-country flights.
* But offering pseudo-First-class and coach
* Schedules that are poorly integrated with a host of express networks
* add to the mix, Star Alliance airline-to be
* code-sharing with UA/LH/JK that's hardly "seemless"
* let's try MetroJet, h-m-m-m..scrap that idea
* past problem of too many aircraft types fixed by doing the same thing!

I could go on and on but my point is that trying to deliver a product with so many personalities, often not even done well, is what makes costs so high! In contrast the discount carriers offer their product in a simplified, well-done manner. They have a niche while US seems to experiment with too many! Every few months it seems something new is rolled out and emphasized, while efforts in the recent and distant past wither or are forgotten. The result is layer upon layer of disparate and competing parts, and none done all that well.

 

[Aryeh]

one more thing...
With all the costs of being all things to all people, they want company costs to approach Southwest's. Question: How to do this? Answer: Subsidize the cost difference by way of reduced employee salaries!

 

[mweiss]

Interestingly, only two things seem to differentiate your list from AS's list:

* International (while AS flies to Canada and Russia, they're all short-haul)
* Fleet complexity

The MetroJet business was an experiment that failed, true, but there are times when one does need to experiment.

 

[Light Years]

* International (while AS flies to Canada and Russia, they're all short-haul)

I didnt think Alaska flew to Russia anymore?

 

[ITRADE]

* International (while AS flies to Canada and Russia, they're all short-haul)

I didnt think Alaska flew to Russia anymore?

Light years is right.

 

[ITRADE]

Interestingly, only two things seem to differentiate your list from AS's list:

* International (while AS flies to Canada and Russia, they're all short-haul)
* Fleet complexity

As noted by Lightyears, AS does not due Russia anymore. But, they do fly some medium haul routes to Mexico (PVR, SJD, and the like).

 

[mweiss]

Oops. I didn't realize they stopped that service. But the core holds true; AS has proven that in today's market one doesn't have to be a single-type, single-class, point-to-point domestic airline to be able to compete successfully with the LCCs.

 

[seeking the truth]

Aryeh,

your exactly right, this airline has never been able to define itself within the industry. This current management has even done more damage to whatever image the public had of US. Cut flights, smaller aircraft, higher pricing on routes, under utilization of aircraft. Siegel talks about doing battle in PHL with Southwest, it's gonna be a blood bath for US.




Will management heed or continue to bleed ????? BLEED

 

[Light Years]

Alaska/Horizon is indeed a great example of a "hybrid" carrier (America West is arguably the only other example). However, they have a niche of serving parts of the country that dont have very much coverage from other carriers. They also get alot of subsidies for thier service from what I understand.

US Airways does need to define itself. Once they were a mash-up of regional airlines with aspirations of being a national carrier, then an international one. Now they seem to aspire to be a mega-regional, but have others perform the work. At the same time, they still want to be thought of (with zero marketing mind you) as a major airline with all the bells and whistles while they cut back to commuter/low cost carrier levels. We all know its not working.

The real gig is the ever present "inevitable consolidation." If US is around for that party, it sure wont be an LCC asking it to dance, it will be another network carrier. Before, US was sought after- this time they may be the ugly girl at 2AM when the lights come up. What they need to do is be an airline that has valuable assets and market share that are attractive to an acquirer, or preferably, do well enough to be the acquirer themselves.

Right now they are just giving away markets and turning everything over to affiliates- why would anybody bother buying US? They can sign Express agreements with those carriers themselves when US s**ts the bed.

You can't fly from Nowhereville to your already poor excuse for a hub in Nowhere if you're not flying to Somewhere. They need to re-establish themselves in the transcon market and beef up international. LCCs and other airlines RJs have discovered the East Coast markets US used to gouge.

They need to be smarter and lower cost, but provide a quality product. There are things that differentiate them from LCCs that add cost but make for a more attractive product- Dividend Miles, Star Alliance, primary airports rather than secondary ones, and of course a network of international and regional flights. These things demand a premium, but not as much as US seems to think.

They need to define themselves as the airline for the frequent traveler that demands convinience, network, miles programs, and some frills, and is willing to pay a SLIGHT premium for it. They need to market themselves as the professional, businesslike, classy airline, an alternative to the cattle cars and trendy LCCs. They need to get back in touch with the customer and the employees and find the product they need to be offering- I think they'd find it to be along the lines of JetBlue with a premium cabin for domestic and similar to what they have for international. And then they need to market it so the public knows its a living breathing entity and not a dieing dinosaur. Of course they would have to get the employees on thier side, and to do that they would have to intend to HAVE employees rather than scheme ways to get rid of them.

 

[funguy2]

The real gig is the ever present "inevitable consolidation." If US is around for that party, it sure wont be an LCC asking it to dance, it will be another network carrier.

Consolidation can come in the form of just closing the doors and exiting the market... In the case of US Airways, it would be Chapter 7 Liquidation.

 

[Light Years]

And thats my point. No one wants to buy the current US Airways, its barely an actual airline anymore, and whats left of it is the very most senior employees.

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

one more thing...
Question: How to do this? Answer: Subsidize the cost difference by way of reduced employee salaries!

...which are already lower than WN's for most employee groups.
But as was pointed out in the webcast, UAIR is different from WN and far more operationally complex. In other words, the employees need to subsidize the carrier's ineffeciencies.

 

[usfliboi]

isnt this what Dave is preaching?

 

[Light Years]

isnt this what Dave is preaching?

No, actually its not at all what he's preaching. He just wants pay cuts and doesnt really want to do anything else or even come up with an idea until he gets them.

Do you need a Q-Tip?

 

[ktflyhome]

Light years: You are just too cool.Ya outa run this nightmare.