PSA and piedmont

[cheapgreek]

Stop comparing SAV to HHH. That's not the topic. The topic is a reduction in demand just to HHH when the price of the ticket increase.

And yes, economics 101 applies to the airline business, even HHH as much as you don't want to believe it.

You brought up the SAV-HHH issue. "Hopefully they will never extend the runway. It's a waste of money. SAV is 45 minutes away. If that 45 minute drive is too long, pay up for the convenience."
No one I know would quibble if the flight to HHH was a few dollars more than the flight to SAV in view of getting right to my final destination without adding another leg to my trip via land transfers. I know my handle is cheapgreek, but even I would rather pay a few dollars more to land at HHH. A few dollars more does not phase people but maybe it means a lot to you.

 

[ex j-41]

I am thinking that the deal is kinda like Eagles. Maybe merge the two airlines. Tell the senior people they have a choice. Stay at year 12 pay forever or take the leap to mainline. (Huge pay cut) All junior pilots at the new airline will get a "B" scale pay. In exchange they will be given a flow thru to mainline and get to fly airplanes with hair dryers under the wings.
PSA and Piedmont are in a bit of a different spot than Eagle. Eagle is huge in comparison, PSA and or Piedmont can be shut down like comair fast. The airplanes are owned by US Airways and WellsFargo. They can be put on GoJerks certificate or TSA or Republic or wherever in a hurry.

The only saving grace we have at the regional level is that there are very few pilots in the pipeline for regionals to hire. So if they give the airplanes to Mesa to staff, it may prove very difficult.
At this point a merger wouldn't make any sense. Keep them separate till closing time.

 

[kf4amu]

No one I know would quibble if the flight to HHH was a few dollars more than the flight to SAV

The price increase in question is JUST flying to HHH. We already know its quite a bit more expensive than flying to SAV. Yes people pay a premium for it, but they are price sensitive at a certain level as well, and that 1.50 increase WILL put people over the level they will pay for. Yield management teams at the airline probably know exactly how many, which is why they haven't raised the price 1.50 yet.

 

[FMEpilot]

kf4whatever, your obsession with this is disturbing.

 

[cheapgreek]

The price increase in question is JUST flying to HHH. We already know its quite a bit more expensive than flying to SAV. Yes people pay a premium for it, but they are price sensitive at a certain level as well, and that 1.50 increase WILL put people over the level they will pay for. Yield management teams at the airline probably know exactly how many, which is why they haven't raised the price 1.50 yet.

You do realize that the 3 dollars spoken here refers to the PFC,"passenger facility charge" added to each ticket and collected by the airport, not Usairways don't you? The airlines don't set the PFC rate, the airports do and some are up to $4.50 per ticket and the airlines do not receive any of this money but it is only to be used for airport projects.
And you feel people will forgo the convenience of landing at HHH because of a $1.50? No one I know or have meet over the years would balk at a $1.50 extra on an airline ticket. We are not talking about the Walmart crowd as they take the bus.
If you still don't get the concept, there is little point in continuing the conversation.

 

[kf4amu]

You do realize that the 3 dollars spoken here refers to the PFC,"passenger facility charge" added to each ticket and collected by the airport, not Usairways don't you? The airlines don't set the PFC rate, the airports do and some are up to $4.50 per ticket and the airlines do not receive any of this money but it is only to be used for airport projects.
And you feel people will forgo the convenience of landing at HHH because of a $1.50? No one I know or have meet over the years would balk at a $1.50 extra on an airline ticket. We are not talking about the Walmart crowd as they take the bus.
If you still don't get the concept, there is little point in continuing the conversation.

Yes I do realize that USAir does not get the money. I also realize (maybe you don't?) that people don't care who gets the money, they just care about the final cost.
Interesting, Doug Parker disagrees with you. Yes there ARE people who will pay X amount of dollars to fly to HHH, and if that becomes X + 1.50, they will not. If not, US would already be charging an extra 1.50, since everyone would pay it. But they won't.

 

[WSurf]

When Piedmont and Allegheny merger some years ago, it made sense since they both flew the same aircraft. With Piedmont flying Dash-8's and PSA flying RJ's, what savings will result? You can't service an RJ in ROA or SBY without doubling up the parts inventory at all the bases.
It might result in a few layoffs at the management level, but aside from that, what savings will make the merger pay off?

Well with that theory no airline should operate more than one type plane... Drrrrrr

 

[NCaviator]

Straight from the mouth of an express management type last week without hesitating: " Piedmont flying ops will slowly reduce, eventually becoming ground ops only". Scrobola making a lateral move to PSA is just one indicator that this may be coming to fruition. When you think about it a Piedmont/PSA merger really doesn't make sense.

 

[WSurf]

Straight from the mouth of an express management type last week without hesitating: " Piedmont flying ops will slowly reduce, eventually becoming ground ops only". Scrobola making a lateral move to PSA is just one indicator that this may be coming to fruition. When you think about it a Piedmont/PSA merger really doesn't make sense.

I think Both airlines will reduce. The need for Dash 8's will go away just like the need for all 50 seat RJ's. The new American Airways probably won't even want to have any WO's. Eventually Transferring much of the Express flying to Contract Carriers that seem willing to do the flying at a much lower rate. I'm sure Scrobola's next stop is with American.
I see Mesa Eventually getting more 900's and probably SkyWest or AWC. If there's a merger between PSA/PDT it's going to be mainly for the reason of the inability to find Pilots. Both Airlines right now are finding it hard to find anyone and Pilots at both airlines are leaving almost faster then they can be replaced. The only people left soon will be the top 20% of the pilot group and the bottom 30% of FO's waiting to move on.

 

[WSurf]

Straight from the mouth of an express management type last week without hesitating.

Really How many times have we heard this????