World Airport News

CO starts new routes

2009-10-30T14:48:54Z

Continental Airlines will launch daily nonstop flights Sunday, Nov. 1, to two new destination from Washington Dulles on Sunday, November 1st. The new flights will go to two of its hubs: Houston and Cleveland. Its Houston hub at George Bush Intercontinental Airport will also have new flights to Frankfurt and Edmonton beginning Sunday.

PHX, CLT, & PHL 99% of US Airways

2009-10-28T09:57:50Z

US Airways today announced (in this press release) it is realigning its operations to focus on the airline’s core network strengths, which include hubs in Charlotte (CLT), Philadelphia (PHL) and Phoenix (PHX), and a focus city at Washington’s National Airport (DCA). These four cities, as well as the airline’s popular hourly Shuttle service between New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA), Boston (BOS) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), will serve as the cornerstone of the airline’s network. By the end of 2010 they will represent 99 percent of the airline’s available seat miles (ASMs) versus roughly 93 percent today.
In a letter to employees US Airways Chairman and CEO Doug Parker outlined the changes, “Today we are announcing a realignment intended to focus on our key network strengths at our hubs in Charlotte, Philadelphia and Phoenix, our focus city at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and our Shuttle service. By concentrating on our strengths we will be better positioned to return US Airways to profitability, which will result in a more consistent experience for our customers, better returns for our shareholders and greater job stability and career opportunities for our employees.”
US Airways is making the following changes to facilitate the realignment strategy, which dictates matching the airline’s schedule and operation to customer demand:
Reducing Las Vegas (LAS) flights from 64 to 36 daily departures by February 2010 as a result of high fuel prices and continued weak demand associated with the Las Vegas market.
Closing stations in Colorado Springs (COS) and Wichita (ICT) and moving that flying to more profitable routes across its three hubs.

JetBlue to go bigger in Boston, Mass.

2009-10-29T19:43:06Z

Again, great to hear good news, any news, about expansion in the airline industry. JetBlue Airways, a profitable airline, announced a major expansion of service from its focus city at Boston Logan International Airport. The airline, which already offers service to the most nonstop destinations of any carrier from Boston, plans to boost daily departures by 30% by summer 2010. With its expanded schedule, JetBlue and its growing base of 1,300 Boston crewmembers will offer travelers up to 78 daily flights to 33 top destinations.

Key schedule highlights:

* Two additional daily flights to Chicago/O’Hare (for a total of three)

* Two additional daily flights to Raleigh/Durham (for a total of three)

* One additional daily flight to Baltimore/Washington (for a total of five)

* One additional daily flight to Charlotte (for a total of three)

* One additional daily flight to Denver (for a total of two)

* One additional daily flight to Fort Lauderdale (for a total of four)

* One additional daily flight to San Diego (for a total of two)

* One additional daily flight to San Francisco (for a total of two)

* One additional daily flight to Washington/Dulles (for a total of seven)

* Four additional weekly flights to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (for a total of one daily)

* One weekly flight to Montego Bay, Jamaica (for a total of one weekly)

New Service Between Phoenix and Wichita

2009-09-30T15:44:31Z

Allegiant Air announced Wednesday it will begin offering service between Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita, Kan., beginning Nov. 20. All flights to the new destination will be on Mondays and Fridays. The new Allegiant Air flights will compete for passengers with US Airways. US Airways flys between Wichita and Phoenix Sky Harbor on a daily basis. Fares should be falling between these two cities.

Republic Airlines expands in Milwaukee

2009-11-11T09:36:30Z

Republic Airlines announced that it will add hundreds of jobs in Milwaukee in the next year. The airline is planning to make Milwaukee a hub. After consideration of Milwaukee, Denver, CO, and Indianapolis, IN as a possible hub, Milwaukee won out.

The Indianapolis-based airline bought out both Midwest and Denver-based Frontier Airlines this year.

Republic will create 800 jobs in Milwaukee. Four hundred workers will likely be brought in from other cites and the other 400 will be hired locally.

The hires are all expected to happen by the end of 2010. Three hundred will be technical maintenance jobs, 100 will be call center positions, another 100 will be airport customer service and the remainder will be the flight crew.

Republic is looking to add 8 new destinations to its new hub. New routes to San Francisco and Raleigh-Durham will be among those.

Philadelphia to Alaska

2009-12-11T10:28:00Z

Next summer, US Airways customers will have a new nonstop offering to Anchorage, Alaska from the airline s hub and international gateway at Philadelphia International Airport. This new seasonal flying will complement existing year-round service from US Airways Phoenix hub and will be the only nonstop airline service to Alaska from the northeastern United States.

Omaha to Florida

2009-10-29T11:02:15Z

Midwest Airlines just announced that it will begin service between Omaha and cities in Florida. The seasonal service starts in January between Omaha and both Tampa and Orlando. It’s nice to see growth anywhere.

Changes at WN schedule have a net gain of 41 RTs

2009-12-16T10:47:53Z

Southwest Airlines today announced that the carrier is opening its schedule for travel beginning May 9, 2010, through Aug. 13, 2010. Through the continuation of the airline’s flight optimization exercise, Southwest is adding 65 roundtrip flights and eliminating 24 roundtrip flights for a net gain of 41 roundtrip flights, or 82 one-way flights systemwide. The May schedule reflects seasonal travel patterns when demand increases and flying time decreases during the summer. Among the ‘highlights’ are the start of service to Panama City Beach, Florida, starting May 23, 2010, via the brand new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP), and a lot of new non stop flights in and out of Denver and St. Louis.

Here’s a link to the new schedule: http://www.southwest.com/swamedia/May2010FlightChanges.pdf

US Airways names new VP

2009-11-13T08:21:53Z

US Airways today in a press release, announced the appointment of Madeleine Gray as vice president, business technology delivery. Gray will focus on airport and customer-facing technology and the systems that support it. She will lead a team of 110 technology workers within the 500-person US Airways information technology (IT) organization. She reports to Brad Jensen, senior vice president and chief information officer.

Gray joins US Airways from Southlake, Texas-based Sabre Holdings Corporation, where she served as senior director, air merchandising and core services, where she led a team of developers, analysts, product managers and systems architects. Gray joined Sabre in 1991. She previously was director of airline marketing at Sabre and also held the roles of director for airline distribution sales as well as manager of Sabre customer service. Gray gained her first airline experience in 1989 as American Airlines’ supervisor of international and Spanish reservation sales.

Gray holds a bachelor of arts in Spanish and Sociology from the University of Texas at Arlington and completed the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business Executive Education. She plans to relocate to Phoenix with her family.