"USAir Details Plan to Be Low-Cost Carrier"

Monday, October 18, 2004

USAir Details Plan to Be Low-Cost Carrier
By John Crawley 


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bankrupt US Airways detailed plans on Monday for
becoming a low-cost carrier, saying it will overhaul its flight schedule and
sharply boost aircraft turnaround times beginning in February. 

With steep court-imposed labor cost cuts assured and a fixed amount of cash
from loans accessible through mid-January, the seventh-largest domestic
airline will try to weather the slowest period of the year before proceeding
with an unprecedented transformation ahead of spring travel. 

"By changing our core business model, US Airways will be better positioned
to successfully compete in an aggressive competitive environment where
declines in yields, growth of other low cost carriers, and record high fuel
prices are expected," said Ben Baldanza, the company's senior vice president
of marketing and planning. 

The changes take effect on Feb. 6, 2005, and also affect service offered by
US Airways' regional partners. 

US Airways plans to boost capacity and add 230 daily flights without new
aircraft. It also wants to reduce aircraft turnaround times by 15 percent to
more efficiently use its fleet of 281 mainline planes and 169 regional jets.


The company will, in some cases, fly bigger planes in place of regional jets
and regional jets in place of smaller turboprops, which are being phased
out. 

"We'll be on the ground less and in the air more," said Jack Stephan, a
spokesman for the airline's pilots' union. "We'll see more planes coming in
and leaving quickly." 

Stephan said the changes, as announced, should not impact pilot schedules
other than shorter layovers. 

On Friday, a bankruptcy judge in Virginia approved the company's plan for
sweeping wage and other cuts on all union workers to help the carrier save
more than $30 million per month. The austerity measures also permit the
company to make flight attendants and pilots work more hours. 

The airline's overarching survival strategy centers around expanded
point-to-point flying - like low-cost rivals - more business destinations,
expanded service to Latin America and the Caribbean, and heavier use of hubs
in Philadelphia and Charlotte, North Carolina. 

Flights at US Airways' Pittsburgh hub will drop by roughly a third, as
previously announced. 

Departures from Philadelphia will increase to 495 each business day, or 7
percent more than the November 2004 schedule. Charlotte, US Airways' largest
hub, will grow to 564 daily weekday departures from 495 currently. 

Nonstop service from Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport will
include six new business destinations, including Atlanta, Cleveland,
Detroit, and Chicago O'Hare.


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