Sir Richards Airline?

[flylears]

http://www.projectroam.net

 

[320AV8R]

This is the guy who started Western Pacific, hired all his relatives for most of the positions, gave everybody huge bonuses, & "mysteriously" went CH 7.


NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The former head of America West Holdings Corp. (AWA), Edward Beauvais, is starting a new low-cost airline out of Pittsburgh that's likely to give US Airways Group Inc. (USALA) a run for its money.

Beauvais said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday that his new project, which he refers to as Project Roam for lack of a proper name, will begin service out of Pittsburgh in June.

"It's going to be a low-fare, low-cost airline," he said.

That would mean a lot more competition for US Airways, which operates a hub in Pittsburgh. And the announcement is a stroke of luck for airport officials as they negotiate new financial terms with US Air, which has threatened to drop Pittsburgh from hub status if the airport doesn't cut the airline's debt.

Currently, low-cost airlines AirTran Holdings Inc. (AAI) and ATA Holdings Corp. (ATAH) operate flights to a few destinations out of Pittsburgh. But Beauvais wants Project Roam to fly to nine destinations next year, including Chicago, Washington, New York and Philadelphia. And he wants to expand to 39 destinations in the next few years.

The new airline will be modeled after Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) and JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU), and will offer some coast-to-coast flights, Beauvais said. At first, Beauvais will operate three new Boeing 737-700s. He expects the fleet to grow to 40 in coming years.

Beauvais said he is finishing a private placement to fund the airline, but he wouldn't give details of the amount of money he needs, nor the timing of the placement. He said an initial public offering is "always feasible," but not in the works right now.

Beauvais considered starting a new airline in Syracuse, N.Y., but instead chose Pittsburgh as his hub. Beauvais is a veteran to airline startups, as the founder of America West, Western Pacific Airlines and Mountain Air Express. All three went bankrupt, though America West survived under new management.

Bob Mann, an airline consultant who runs R.W. Mann & Co. and worked for America West in 1992, shortly after the bankruptcy filing, said Beauvais' fund raising will benefit from the current environment of cheap planes and airline labor. And the soaring growth seen recently by such startups as JetBlue likely will overcome Beauvais' checkered track record for airline startups. >

Beauvais said he expects the new airline to grow for the next 10 years, doubling in size each year for the first couple of years. He said he expects the growth to be much like that of his former airline, America West, in Phoenix.

Project Roam may give industry giant US Air a run for its money. The network carrier operates a hub in Pittsburgh, but has been considering reducing service from hub status since the carrier emerged from Chapter 11 protection. The network carrier had cautioned Pittsburgh airline officials that they might not find another airline to take US Air's place.

David Castelveter, spokesman for US Air, said the airline seeks $500 million in debt reduction, or it will have to end Pittsburgh's hub status, which would result in a dramatic reduction in daily flights for the city. He said the addition of a new airline doesn't change the issue of debt reduction.

"We compete with low-cost carriers every day," he said. "There is plenty of room in Pittsburgh for competition."

Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey said he expects the addition of another discount airline to stimulate demand among people who currently don't fly very often, or who drive to Cleveland to get better fares.

"We are losing between 600,000 and 700,000 passengers a year from people who drive to Cleveland to fly on Southwest," he said.

Around 15 million people fly to Pittsburgh each year, with 65% of those passengers connecting to other destinations, Roddey said. Roddey said the new airline's business plan assumes that US Air will continue operations in Pittsburgh.

Roddey said he is in talks with other discount airlines as well, including Southwest Airlines, about opening service in Pittsburgh.

And it's not just discount airlines that are expanding in Pittsburgh. Earlier this week, AMR Corp.'s (AMR) American Airlines added nonstop flights from Pittsburgh to Dallas and Miami.

-By Elizabeth Souder, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4148; [email protected]

 

[AA717driver]

Did Beauvais leave AWA before or because of the 747 debacle?

Even though they almost tanked AWA, those were beautiful airplanes...TC