US Airways to Apply for China Service

[US1YFARE]

US Airways will announce some interesting new international service and new equipment

I hear it is a clydesdale beer wagon and they are going to Tijuana

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[Dog Wonder]

I hear it is a clydesdale beer wagon and they are going to Tijuana

View attachment 5595

Non revs will be lining up for that one.

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

All innuendo? aside it would seem that none of the pieces? are anywhere near in place or close to being in place to make a credible go of this.
The timing is a bit suspect. Perhaps a cynical view but stranger things have happened.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

I hear it is a clydesdale beer wagon and they are going to Tijuana

View attachment 5595

I say "hop to it" then!

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[Barbell]

Is this "intention to apply for China service" another one of those government hoops necessary to market United's China flights as our own?

Or are we really thinking about flying it with our own employees?

I imagine we will serve it as a HNL thru flight so we don't have to actually buy an airplane that will make it that far from CONUS.

It will be on US Airways aircraft with US crews.

It will be on aircraft not currently in the US fleet.

It will be from PHL, nonstop.

The West Coast feed won't be enough due to already strong service out of LAX, SFO, and SEA. Those passengers won't backtrack to PHX for the connection, and the route is not intended to connect ma and pa kettle through the PHX hub from the Midwest.

It, and other much-expanded int'l service, has been on Spreadsheets throughout the Sandcastle long before today's overblown story broke.

 

[BoeingBoy]

I guess that means A340's or 777's (unless you count the 332 as a new fleet type, which technically it wouldn't be, and the range is very marginal).

777's would have to come from a leasing company, it appears. A340's could presumably come from the used market, leasing companies, or Airbus.

OR - could US (HP) be thinking of trying the 747's again??? That's a good rumor to start.....

Jim

 

[Twicebaked]

How come? Do they have good beer there?

Grow up already!!

 

[gaucho99]

US Airways, Inc.
Howard Kass
1401 H Street, N.W., Suite 1075
Washington DC 20005
Application of US Airways, Inc. requesting renewal of its exemption to engage in scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property and mail between a point or points in the United States and a point or points in Taiwan. - Answers are due by Jan 5, 2007

http://dms.dot.gov/reports/other_rpt_run.cfm

Does anybody know the status of this application?

The above link might not work. If not, try this one and type in a date range to include Dec. 21, 2006.

http://dms.dot.gov/reports/other_rpt.cfm

 

[USA320Pilot]

Barbell's comments are accurate. Furthermore, the ALPA MEC has received an in-depth briefing on the news regarding new long-haul international routes and additional long-haul airraft.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

 

[Freighterguynow]

It is my understanding from an ALPA source that US Airways will announce some interesting new international service and new equipment to fly those routes in the not-so-distant future.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

Yea, a new destination in Canada for Mesa!

 

[eckoa6]

It will be from PHL, nonstop.

Not to doubt you, but as a previous poster pointed out I see two reasons why this wouldnt happen out of PHL.
1. There is already heavy saturation on the east IAD.EWR.JFK and the flight distance from phl to jfk, iad, ewr all less than 140 miles.
2.Even though there is already china service out of LAX and SFO the distance from those two citys to either las or phx is greater than 300 miles making phx or las service fill in much larger gaps. Plus it wouldnt make much sense for US to make all phx and las traffic back track around 2000 miles east and then head west as opposed to have east coast traffic head west and continue west as they could make the flights out of phl direct flights to china via phx or las.

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

It is my understanding from an ALPA source that US Airways will announce some interesting new international service and new equipment to fly those routes in the not-so-distant future.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

...........................................................

"It is MY understanding, from an ALPA source" ........................"Hey USA320Pilot.......ALPA source............."THIS" !!!!!!

Jesus USA320,
When your "HOT".............."Your HOT" !!!!

First,.....
DL tells DP/USAir to..."Take your $10B, and stick it up your A$$.

Second,

Parker gets "pinched" for "bobbin' and WEAVIN' "

And Finally,

US gets to fly PHL/PEK...Using a A320, ...from PHL/SEA/Dutch Harbor AK./ to 3-4 (gas stops) in RUSSIA/to Seoul/to PEK

NH/BB's

 

[US1YFARE]

Grow up already!!

shut up before I break you in half

 

[nycbusdriver]

2. If US is serious about this, it needs to acquire an appropriate aircraft (actually, at least 2 or 3 of them) NOW, and by "appropriate aircraft" I mean A340, B777 or B747. On the other hand, if the plan is to say to DOT the equivalent of "Give us the route and we'll find an aircraft that can fly it," then don't bother to waste everyone's time because there is ZERO likelihood IMHO that the DOT would make an award to US under such circumstances.

I agree. This has been the traditional USAirways play, and it hasn't worked yet. The infrastructure needs to be in place before even applying. Without the airplanes to do the job, USAirways' flights to China are just a pipe dream, and the DOT will see it that way, too.

3. Does anyone seriously believe that the DOT will award US authority on the PHL-PEK route, a THIRD route from the New York-Washington corridor to PEK, with CO already flying EWR-PEK and UA about to start flying IAD-PEK, an award that was just finalized yesterday?

Yes. Stranger things have happened. Although this contradicts my answer above, I am approaching this as a totally separate aspect. The DOT does indeed try to balance these awards among competing carriers, and since USAirways has no Far East service, they are ripe for an award such as this (assuming they already have their other ducks in a row...which they clearly do not.)

4. Similarly, does anyone seriously believe that the DOT will award US authority on the PHL-PVG route against DL's request for ATL-PVG or CO's request for EWR-PVG, where ATL offers many more connections and EWR has a much larger local market?

Yes. In fact, I question whether the feed in ATL would have as much of a need for China service as even yet another flight to China from a U.S. northeast gateway.

5. Can US operate from either PHX or LAS nonstop to China in the summer heat without a significant payload penalty or intermediate stop requirement? Of course, we don't know the answer to that question because we don't know what aircraft type US would use. But if year-round nonstop service with at least a full passenger payload cannot be attained, US is unlikely IMHO to win the route award from the DOT. Just ask NW about the DOT's feelings about using scarce U.S.-China frequencies for one-stop service.

I doubt that USAirways would try to operate this service from PHX, and even less likely from LAS. My post was merely a cynical dig at how the USAirways HQ, both Crystal City and now Tempe, seem to think: small-time operators with delusions of grandeur. We have the biggest fleet of the littlest airplanes, but we think we have crediblity for China service.

Sorry to sound so negative about US' prospects in the next U.S.-China route case, but I think a massive dose of realism is in order if US wants to seriously pursue such a route award. These route cases at the DOT are the big leagues, folks, where the game is truly corporate high-stakes poker. UA just spent millions of dollars (for lawyers, lobbyists, PR firms and full-page color ads in The Washington Post, among other things) to win the IAD-PEK route award, and it already had the required long-range B747-400 aircraft in its fleet. US has to be prepared to play by these rules, or it shouldn't play at all, unless it simply wants to gain some very costly and painful experience for future route cases.

I agree. I wish the Tempe crowd would get their act together and begin a credible plan to make international expansion a reality. We love to announce all these great, new European cities, and then send some little old 757's into rehab(oops!) refit to provide the service. What a joke.

Athens would be better served by an airplane that could realistically do the job, but we're going to try it with the 767. We tried Rome (which is closer) using the same airplane, and seat/cargo were blocked on a daily basis. If USAirways wanted to add credibility to their China application, an Airbus 340 (or 777, or 747...very unlikely) would be arriving at the paint shop right now be painted in USAirways livery to serve Athens in the spring. Then we could show the DOT that we HAVE the airplane for China, just give us the route.

 

[Itestwell]

Not to doubt you, but as a previous poster pointed out I see two reasons why this wouldnt happen out of PHL.
1. There is already heavy saturation on the east IAD.EWR.JFK and the flight distance from phl to jfk, iad, ewr all less than 140 miles.
2.Even though there is already china service out of LAX and SFO the distance from those two citys to either las or phx is greater than 300 miles making phx or las service fill in much larger gaps. Plus it wouldnt make much sense for US to make all phx and las traffic back track around 2000 miles east and then head west as opposed to have east coast traffic head west and continue west as they could make the flights out of phl direct flights to china via phx or las.

According to Kirby in the last crew news session, it will *only* happen outta PHL.

Seems to me they are going after the high yielding business traffic in the PHL area/ Northeast, not low yielding tourist traffic in the PHX/ LAS area. They are well served already thru LAX/SFO....