North American cutting service

[PFTEXPJET]

?????????

 

[jehtplane]

In the face of high fuel costs and increasing competition, all North American scheduled service is being suspended effective May 19, 2008. The changes are being made to allow the company to place the aircraft in other profitable military and charter service.

"This decision was made only after careful consideration," said COO Jeff Wehrenberg. "We will still operate all of our routes for the next 90 days, and it is imperative that we continue to focus on quality service up to the last day. We certainly regret that these economic conditions have forced us to discontinue our scheduled service."

Fuel costs have increased 60 percent since the start of Africa service in 2005, which made the routes untenable based on costs even though revenue performance was within what the company anticipated. The same cost issues are true for Georgetown, which North America has been serving since 1999.

In addition to the high fuel costs, Delta Air Lines has entered North American's West Africa markets and has indicated it intends to expand its Africa service in the coming years. Delta also has announced preliminary plans to begin serving Georgetown, Guyana as part of its global expansion.

"We had to watch Delta when they entered the Accra and Lagos markets until we knew what their plans were," said Wehrenberg. "It is obvious now that they intend to remain in these markets and expand their presence in Africa, as well as other destinations like Georgetown. We were proud to serve Georgetown for nine years and to have been the only U.S. carrier providing non-stop service to Africa for a time, but now we must redirect our aircraft and our resources into more profitable service."

Anyone whose job is directly affected by this change has been notified.
Information also is being provided to customers who had reservations beyond May 19th, so they can make appropriate changes.

"I'd like to underscore that this decision was not the result of a failure on the part of the professional men and women of North American Airlines. We provided quality service to these markets with noteworthy customer appreciation and solid ridership. The high cost of fuel, which is not anticipated to improve, the introduction of long-term competition from an established legacy carrier, and our ability to quickly redeploy the associated assets into more profitable flying were the fundamental considerations," Wherenberg added.

 

[PFTEXPJET]

I think the web board is acting up

 

[Cloudroller]

Do you really think this is a big deal? 3 destinations

 

[say again]

Do they plan on furloughing?? What percentage of their flying does the scheduled runs consist of??

 

[bigboeings]

Time will tell, but probably not a big deal. Currently the scheduled service is 20-30% of the flying. Charter is much more lucrative, as long as the business is there. No furloughs, in fact last thing I heard they are still hiring.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

Anyone know J.K. Panford over at NAA?

 

[tathepilot]

Do they plan on furloughing?? What percentage of their flying does the scheduled runs consist of??

No.
Around 7%

 

[CCDiscoB]

GAL needs jets with First Class because they are trying to increase sub-service contracts. World no longer has any jets with a First Class, that can be used for sub-service. NAA's acft will be have no problem staying busy. The only loss will be those 80/90 hr bid-lines.

 

[JJET44]

GAL needs jets with First Class because they are trying to increase sub-service contracts. World no longer has any jets with a First Class, that can be used for sub-service. NAA's acft will be have no problem staying busy. The only loss will be those 80/90 hr bid-lines.

That doesn't explain why they cut service to GEO.
GEO is done with the 757 which is economy seating.

The reasons, I believe, are exactly as stated.