US-UA Apply For Temp. Reallocation Of Brazil Freq.

[Crzipilot]

......There is a lot of potential in South America.

That's kinda funny, as someone mentioned at a crew news meeting the idea of S. America flying, (this was around '06 or so I think)

And the powers to be there simply stated, No, S. America wouldn't work for us, not looking at it, we have other places in mind. True, things change with time, but really..... I wonder if they went back to PHX and got a new map and darts....

 

[FutureUScapt]

That's kinda funny, as someone mentioned at a crew news meeting the idea of S. America flying, (this was around '06 or so I think)

And the powers to be there simply stated, No, S. America wouldn't work for us, not looking at it, we have other places in mind. True, things change with time, but really..... I wonder if they went back to PHX and got a new map and darts....

Atleast as it relates to Brazil, service would not have been possible back in 2006 as an expanded bilateral was only signed in late 2007/early 2008. Prior to that, all frequencies were held by airlines. The first frequencies that could be used for GIG service became available in 2009, which US and CO successfully procured.

Prior to the Brazil application, US sought BOG flights in 2008 when the US & Colombia signed an expanded bilateral, but the new frequencies went to B6, CO, DL, and NK. Like Brazil, there are currently no more available frequencies, though the two countries are rumored to be close to signing an open skies agreement.

Venezuela, another likely candidate, has not allowed additional US Airline service in years. There are several applications that have been outstanding for years, and Chavez has in fact, threatened to force US airlines to reduce service there in the past.

In short, the only countries of interest that US could've served five years ago even if they wanted to were Peru and Argentina. Argentina does not seem like a logical starting point to S.America if you ask me, but Peru (LIM) would've been, and still is, a place US should look to expand.

 

[SS255]

Yes loads were terrible until we began a code share with TAM.

Not sure how much longer the code share with TAM will last.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-13/brazil-s-tam-chile-s-lan-airlines-sign-agreement-on-merger-filing-shows.html

 

[bigbusboy]

Lan is OW and Tam is *A. My guess is OW will be the alliance for both, which will make things interesting for US.

 

[USFlyer]

And would leave *A without a South American carrier again.

I wouldn't necessarily assume OW, though. LAN will need to run the financial $s to see which alliance is more beneficial to them in light of their new organization.

 

[davo77]

With my limited knowledge about slot openings/ starting new service to foreign countries all Ill say is this. We need to do all we can to make these new routes successful. Now that we are the baby of the big 5 (or is it 4 now) we have to have our game on strong.
We all can agree that Charlotte has less O/D traffic then phl and atl. however NC and SC together have over 14 million people to draw from. Not to mention all the other cities we fly through Charlotte. I dont think getting passangers to fill the planes is an issue. I think its just a matter of getting the planes, the new routes, and starting the flights. We have professional agents and F/As that want to work and be proud of all these possibilities. Management is rightfully being cautious. But if you take a look at Delta, they are expanding like crazy. Having said that I think we need to see some growth INTL next year.

Phl INTL will come back because of the economy growing again. The E concourse in clt is already expanding. and soon the area right of Concourse A where the rental car area is will become a new concourse for International. This is what we have to do to remain a player going forward. Delta and the new United are just to big. American is a mess right now but they will likely fix things and be a strong 3.

I have faith that US can be a strong player. just flew a lga turn today and was shocked at how many passangers said things like "great job" "love flying you guys", "you guys were great". It was kinda creepy coming from LGA passangers... but it felt good to hear. If lga has noticed we MUST be doing something right..

 

[AstroLounge]

And would leave *A without a South American carrier again.

I wouldn't necessarily assume OW, though. LAN will need to run the financial $s to see which alliance is more beneficial to them in light of their new organization.

AGREE. STAR Alliance offers more possible connections WORLDWIDE than ONEWORLD could ever hope for. If the new carrier were to align both LAN and TAM in ONEWORLD then the ENTIRE South American continent would be controlled by ONEWORLD........and American has proven they are the Dominant player down there and will never retreat. This so called merger will be interesting to watch if they move forward. (And you can only assume the folks at Luft Wasse, I mean Lufthansa will bemonitoring every communique between Chile and Brazil).