USAirways isn't too happy with Delta and SWA...

[Doug Taylor]

US Airways plays its China card
In a space dispute with Phila. airport, it said it might not proceed with Beijing flight plans.
By Tom Belden
Inquirer Staff Writer

US Airways threatened yesterday to scuttle its plans to provide nonstop flights between Philadelphia and Beijing if airport officials allow Delta Air Lines to move into a disputed terminal. The threat drew jeers from city and airport officials, who had supported the airline's application for federal approval of the route because it would provide the region with direct flights to the capital of the world's fastest-growing major economy.

"We're just trying to be fair to all our carriers, with great deference to US Airways," City Aviation Director Charles J. Isdell said. "But they can't have their way all the time."

Andrew Nocella, US Airways' senior vice president for planning, said in an interview that the airline might also trim its European flights next summer if Delta is allowed to move as scheduled next week to Terminal A-East. US Airways has said the terminal, used for domestic and international flights since it opened in 1991, should be for international flights only. The airline has also argued that Delta operations could interfere with US Airways operations.

Officials from the airport and the airline - Philadelphia's largest, with more than 60 percent of the traffic - have argued for 18 months over how to accommodate Delta's request to cut its costs by moving to less-expensive gates and other space in the terminal.

"We thought from Day One this would be resolved," Nocella said. "We are just shocked" that Delta's move is proceeding, he said.

Delta's move would give more gates to Southwest Airlines, which now shares space in Terminal E with Delta. Southwest has indicated that it wants to start flights to cities it does not now serve from Philadelphia if it can get additional gates.

Isdell said that if US Airways carried through on its threat, it would be "a tremendous disappointment to everyone who supported the application for the China route, and an unnecessary disappointment at that."

US Airways leases 68 of the airport's 120 gates for domestic flights, and had access last summer to 17 additional airport gates for international service.

At the peak of last summer's vacation season, it operated 20 round-trip flights to Europe. Only a dozen of the European flights operate year-round.
US Airways received approval in September from the Department of Transportation to start the Philadelphia-Beijing service in spring 2009. The application received enthusiastic suport from city and state business and political leaders, including Gov. Rendell and Pennsylvania's U.S. senators.

City Commerce Director Stephanie Naidoff, Isdell's boss, said she shared the airport director's disappointment and believes the airline will be able to operate its international service efficiently with the gates it will have available.

The airline has rejected several proposals by airport officials to accommodate US Airways' overseas flights, including adding a wing to the main international concourse, Terminal A-West, within a couple of years, Isdell said.

Another rejected proposal would have provided US Airways with a fleet of high-level buses, called passenger transport vehicles, which allow flights to load and unload away from an airport gate when one isn't available. Airline officials said congestion in the ramp areas near its gates makes the plan unworkable.

In a statement issued by spokesman Charles Ardo, Rendell said he hoped the dispute could be reconciled, "but ultimately it's up to the parties, the city and the airport, to work things out."

Nocella said US Airways needed to begin working now to acquire new long-range Airbus jets capable of flying the almost-7,000-mile China route. That and other planning for the flights requires the airline to know this year that it will have a gate available for the service in about 17 months, he said.

"This is not about Southwest" and its effort to get more gates in competition with US Airways, he said.

Nocella said US Airways has recently started looking more closely at using its hubs in Charlotte, N.C., and Phoenix for more of its international service because of what it considers a shortage of gates at Philadelphia International.

Airline analysts, however, say US Airways has focused its overseas growth at Philadelphia because the region's large population provides more business than the other hubs.

Isdell said US Airways has proposed several ways to keep Delta and other airlines that have only domestic service in the airport's D and E terminals. "But none of those alternatives really work," he said, for numerous legal and practical reasons.

Mayor-elect Michael Nutter asked US Airways executives in a statement "to refrain from taking such drastic action until the next mayor has time to get a full briefing on the situation.

"This is not a time for threats," he said. "It is a time for cooperation."

[Cptnchia]

Aren't you glad we avoided hooking up with this train wreck?

[Doug Taylor]

Would it be too subtle if I said HELL YES?

[flywithUS]

"We're just trying to be fair to all our carriers, with great deference to US Airways,"

I know that is the "right" thing to do, but seriously, who would do that? Of course, this is all about giving WN more gates...which is not a bad plan.

the airline might also trim its European flights next summer if Delta is allowed to move as scheduled next week to Terminal A-East.

Someone throw the BS flag.

The airline has also argued that Delta operations could interfere with US Airways operations.

I don't think they need DL to help with that...

Although...it would be another good way to place blame on someone else...

it would be "a tremendous disappointment to everyone who supported the application for the China route, and an unnecessary disappointment at that."

It would be stupid too.

and believes the airline will be able to operate its international service efficiently with the gates it will have available.

Efficient? I haven't heard that word since before the merger. Although US is right in that it would make it less efficient.

including adding a wing to the main international concourse, Terminal A-West, within a couple of years

It would never take just a couple of years. What they need to do in a couple of years is trash the whole airport and start over.

"This is not about Southwest" and its effort to get more gates in competition with US Airways, he said.

Half correct...half lie.

Final thoughts: US is totally correct when they say this is unfair. US needs more gates and PHL should do everything to get them that, and if they can't give more gates, they need to do something. I understand PHL also has "commitments" with other airlines...mainly WN...but wouldn't an airport want more international flights instead of domestic flights? Ask DFW what they say about that.

[flywithUS]

Originally Posted by Cptnchia

Aren't you glad we avoided hooking up with this train wreck?

Still say the merger was a good idea.....horribly wrong management to do it....bud good idea none-the-less.

[Doug Taylor]

Well, I WOULD have had a PHX base, but how crazy would it be if it was now east versus west versus south?

That'd be nasty!

[BobDDuck]

Yeah, I heard we once fought a war like that.

It's absurd that a city is doing something that might decrease international service. Any other city in the country would bend over backwards to accommodate Airway's request. That said, even with the extra gates, there is no guarantee that Airways wouldn't screw it all up anyways.

I really do think that if Philly doesn't give them the gates they will pull down international service over next summer. There is no way they can sustain the operation they did last year and not destroy the airline. I would guess a lot of the flights would move down to Charlotte, although their O&D traffic would certainly take a hit. Philly is a great city to run a hub out of as the traffic potential is phenomenal, but the infrastructure and bureaucracy is a joke.

[flywithUS]

Originally Posted by Doug Taylor

Well, I WOULD have had a PHX base, but how crazy would it be if it was now east versus west versus south?

That'd be nasty!

Duuude, reality show maaaan.

What would they call it?

[Cptnchia]

Originally Posted by flywithUS

Still say the merger was a good idea.....horribly wrong management to do it....bud good idea none-the-less.

Mergers/aquisitions are coming, no doubt about that. Ths one wouldn't have worked though. Too much overlap. I think Parker was just trying to remove some serious competition before Delta come out of BK.

[Doug Taylor]

Gates are kind of over-rated for international ops. Over in Europe, there's a colon-full of remote gates in use without terminals. I wish JFK would do that more often instead of having to wait for... wait... I'm on the clock then. Nevermind!

[Doug Taylor]

Originally Posted by flywithUS

Duuude, reality show maaaan.

What would they call it?

I don't know. "Tales from the Crypt: Airline"?

[flywithUS]

Originally Posted by Cptnchia

Mergers/aquisitions are coming, no doubt about that. Ths one wouldn't have worked though. Too much overlap. I think Parker was just trying to remove some serious competition before Delta come out of BK.

Exactly! And I mean that in the nicest way possible. Cut the competition, and jack up those prices. Lazy way of making money, but hey...

Yes, I still think there is too much competition out there.

[fo4ever]

Originally Posted by Doug Taylor

Gates are kind of over-rated for international ops. Over in Europe, there's a colon-full of remote gates in use without terminals. I wish JFK would do that more often instead of having to wait for... wait... I'm on the clock then. Nevermind!

Yeah,

Get off my gate big fella! I'm tryin' to get to 22!!!!!

I remember when the crew bus came direct to the A/C...

[Doug Taylor]

He lives!

[fo4ever]

Originally Posted by Doug Taylor

He lives!

It's ALIVE!!!!!!

My museum piece is bigger than yours....

[Doug Taylor]

Dang. Had to go nooka-lur on me!

[fo4ever]

Originally Posted by Doug Taylor

Dang. Had to go nooka-lur on me!

And now for my next trick....


Post 100! Whoo Hoo!


BTW, I actually used the pictured machine to check my sked and pick up open time @ TWA!




I just don't get USAirways, unless they realized they won't be able to fly the route as planned.

[B767Driver]

Originally Posted by fo4ever

BTW, I actually used the pictured machine to check my sked and pick up open time @ TWA!


.

Did you use the yellow cheat sheet card to try to figure out the progamming codes? I think you had to know basic Fortran just to check that kind of stuff.

[fo4ever]

Originally Posted by B767Driver

Did you use the yellow cheat sheet card to try to figure out the progamming codes? I think you had to know basic Fortran just to check that kind of stuff.

Ya mean this?

IMG_0325.JPG

[Doug Taylor]

I forgot you two were former T-dubble-ya's!

[BobDDuck]

That's funny. A lot of those codes are much simpler then the DECS codes we use with SABRE now.

[FlyChicaga]

Wow... This is certainly a trip down memory lane. I worked for TWA Express as a ticket/gate agent for a while, and we had similar computers. I still have the little black book of codes we used. Now our systems are all "point and click."

Nothing like selling a ticket to someone and having to type, TSIA#$2001:583=Smith,John=102#AAIF or some garbage like that.