From usairways at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Oct 4 11:35:16 2007 From: usairways at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily US Airways News) Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 07:35:16 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [US Airways] US Airways transfers flight crews to Philadelphia Message-ID: <20071004073506.X1802-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 4 October 2007 ; Pittsburgh Tribune-Review US Airways transfers flight crews to Philadelphia http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/leadertimes/sports/s_530824.html --- By Mark Houser The closing of a US Airways flight crew base in Pittsburgh will create commuting challenges more daunting for local pilots and flight attendants than traveling Route 28 is for motorists. Along with cuts to an already dwindling flight schedule, the airline announced Wednesday its remaining 182 pilots and 312 flight attendants based at Pittsburgh International Airport will have to work out of Philadelphia, Charlotte or other airports beginning in January. Those employees will join 500 US Airways pilots and flight attendants living here who already commute to work elsewhere. Luke Dees of Robinson, a flight attendant for 20 years and vice president of the Association of Flight Attendants Local 40, said he was stunned by yesterday's announcement. "I did not see this coming, though there were rumors that something like this would happen. We thought there'd be more flight reductions, but not a base closing," Dees said. At its peak in 2001, when Pittsburgh was a major connecting hub for US Airways, the airline operated 560 daily flights out of the airport. The latest cuts leave just 68 daily US Airways flights here. Some local pilots and flight attendants might still staff the remaining Pittsburgh flights. They will bid on jobs at their new bases and will be assigned according to seniority, a company spokeswoman said. "Right now you have a difficult situation for the employees commuting to Philadelphia and Charlotte, and you're going to make what's already a difficult situation now an almost impalpable situation," said pilot Fred Freshwater, also of Robinson. Freshwater, former president of the local office of the Air Line Pilots Association, has been taking a weekly commuter flight to Philadelphia since 2005. From there he flies US Airways jets to Europe. Employees like Freshwater who commute to other cities can get free or steeply discounted seats on their company's airplanes, but space is limited. US Airways has agreements with other carriers to offer unsold seats for free or at nominal cost to pilots or flight attendants. Doubling the number of commuters will strain the system and make it "very difficult, if not impossible" for everyone to get to work, Freshwater said. The airline said yesterday it expects "most, if not all" Pittsburgh-based pilots and flight attendants to stay in the area and commute. "Is it going to be difficult to do? You bet. But that's the reality of the business today, that we have to make some of these tough calls," said company spokeswoman Andrea Rader. With 29 years of service, Freshwater said he will keep commuting a little while longer. "I have a year left to go (until retirement), so I'm one of the fortunate ones. Then I can get away from this pandemonium," he said. From usairways at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Oct 5 19:15:17 2007 From: usairways at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily US Airways News) Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2007 15:15:17 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [US Airways] US Airways issues outlook Message-ID: <20071005151511.G1802-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 5 October 2007 ; Pittsburgh Business Times US Airways issues outlook http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/10/01/daily25.html --- US Airways Group Inc. said Friday in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it foresees about 19.7 billion mainline available seat miles in the third quarter and about 18.2 billion for the fourth quarter. For all of 2007, the airline anticipates about 76 billion available seat miles. The metric measures capacity and equals one seat flying one mile. The airline (NYSE:LCC), which this week said it planned to cut daily flights from Pittsburgh International Airport to 68 from 108 by January, said it had about $3.5 billion in total cash at the end of the second quarter. From usairways at vision.moundalexis.com Sun Oct 7 13:40:59 2007 From: usairways at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily US Airways News) Date: Sun, 7 Oct 2007 09:40:59 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [US Airways] East-West conflicts hurt US Airways Message-ID: <20071007094051.B1802-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 7 October 2007 ; Arizona Republic East-West conflicts hurt US Airways http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/1007sunlets073.html --- Regarding "US Airways to trim unit in Pa." (Business, Thursday): It is very important to note that the merger has yet to begin to realize the difficulty in combining Eastern union workers with Western independent workers. The attitude of the two cultures is immediately apparent when one has face-to-face dealing with them. As for the "vote" for a revised baggage handlers' contract last month, the outcome should have been no surprise to aware union observers. The Eastern faction has the numbers to dominate any election. And despite the fact that the impact of that election was mainly to the former America West baggage handlers (it would have raised them to the same hourly rates as the Eastern workers), the turndown was inevitable. The Eastern group would not allow the Western workers to have the adjustment, as the Eastern union folks plan on turning down the overall agreement and recognize the probability that they would not get the support of the Western workers, if they had already had the wage adjustment bringing them to parity with the current Eastern hourly rates. It is issues like this that indicate the lack of experience of present management in dealing with Eastern union workers. The general attitude is one of self-interest even at the sacrifice of the entire company. They are willing to ride it into the ground to have their way. I will be surprised to see this merger succeed. I would be happy to be wrong. - E. P. Kaiser,Phoenix From usairways at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Oct 8 16:11:18 2007 From: usairways at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily US Airways News) Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2007 12:11:18 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [US Airways] U.S. Airways signs contract for 92 planes, confirming deal from June Message-ID: <20071008121056.I1802-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 8 October 2007 ; San Diego Union Tribune U.S. Airways signs contract for 92 planes, confirming deal from June http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20071005-0432-france-airbus-usairways.html --- PARIS -- US Airways Group Inc. has signed a contract to buy 92 Airbus aircraft, confirming a deal announced in June, Airbus said Friday. The contract is for 18 A350-800s, four A350-900s, 10 A330-200s, and 60 A320 family aircraft, Airbus said in a statement. Financial details were not disclosed. US Airways Group, headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., serves 240 cities, mainly in Canada and the United States. From usairways at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Oct 31 11:26:10 2007 From: usairways at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily US Airways News) Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 06:26:10 -0500 (EST) Subject: [US Airways] US Airways plans buyout Message-ID: <20071031062603.M1802-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 31 October 2007 ; Arizona Republic US Airways plans buyout http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/1031biz-blogspot1031.html --- BY Dawn Gilbertson US Airways has agreed to offer a buyout to up to 314 flight attendants on the East Coast. The number relates to the flight-attendant positions being eliminated from the Pittsburgh crew base that is going away, but flight attendants don't have to be based there to apply for the buyout, which will be based on seniority. Flight attendants from the old US Airways with at least 15 years of seniority as of Oct. 3 are eligible. They will get a $20,000 one-time payout before taxes and other withholdings and travel benefits based on their seniority. The Association of Flight Attendants told members in a memo today that it tried as recently as Friday night to get a higher payout and better travel benefits but said the company wouldn't budge on those fronts. Union President Mike Flores said the union's master executive council decided "the good outweighed the bad"' and voted unanimously to accept the company's offer.