Northwest to start Low Cost Airline

[T-Bird76]

My god the news coming from Northwest today is making me laugh. First the FAs threaten a strike then the pilots threaten a strike (I didn't bother to post that) and now to top it off Northwest is planning on starting its own Low Cost Discount Carrier!

Phil I think we need a new forum titled, "Northwest is ****ed up"

So the details are Northwest is planning to launch its own low cost airline using 70-100 seat aircraft. I'm guessing these would be A319s or DC-9s because I don't see NW acquiring E190s or E170s which are true 70-100 seat planes. The new airline is being called "NEWCO" as of now. The new airline will be manned by pilots and FAs who will work at a reduced wage bypassing any contracts NW has now with its unions. The new airline will fly between smaller cities that have greater demand then an RJ but don't warrant a large aircraft.

First we had Song which was a combination of jetBlue and Southwest, result, it failed. Then we had Indy a combination of Southwest, Song, jetBlue, and Airtran, result, it failed. Now we have "NEWCO" which based on its fleet planes sounds sort of like Indy only with slightly bigger planes. Anyone want to take a guess what will happen with this venture?

http://biz.yahoo.com/bizj/060105/1211393.html?.v=1

[LGA777]

I have a feeling if this happens it would be large RJ's, CRJ-700/900 EMB 170-195 or maybe AVRO's. Could be wrong just my two cents!

LGA777

[PhilDernerJr]

Dear Northwest,

WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE ALREADY?!?!?!?

Yours truly,

-An Ailing Airline Industry

[T-Bird76]

Well Northwest's CEO went public with the plans to start their new low cost airline. Its interesting however he said the airline has immediate needs for 70-100 seat planes to start the new airline, so I guess the A319s and DC-9s are ruled out. ALPA quickly responded by saying they may strike if NW takes these routes away from NW's current pilots. So now the pilots have two reasons to strike. This should be interesting how it plays out.

[FlyingColors]

Phil, don't say that, it would be a very sad day to loose yet another great American pioneering major.

Granted there strategy is not working, and 2 wrongs don't make a right.

The majors will never be able to compete with the econo lines domestically.

The formula of "one type of plane, any pilot , any mechanic, any spare part strategy" just saves alot of money.

Yet-Jetblue just crossed that line, time will tell.

Ones operating cost are sky high when you offer world wide service.

[LGA777]

http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=3617

This should clear up my prediction.

LGA777

[T-Bird76]

http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=3617

This should clear up my prediction.

LGA777

Good link Ron, I love ATW. The million dollar question however is where is NW going to get the money to buy or lease these planes? Chap 11 kills your credit rating. That was one of TWA's problems with its new planes, their Chap 11 filing caused them to have higher then average lease and finance rates

[IslipWN]

Maybe they will start service to ISP with this new LCC.

[jakbar]

Maybe they will start service to ISP with this new LCC.

Why? So they can fight WN and get their ass kicked?

[T-Bird76]

Maybe they will start service to ISP with this new LCC.

Sorry Joe not going to happen. In the article I linked it states NW will use these on existing routes to feed its hubs. On a side note WN is dropping BNA from ISP next month, however they added three more MDW flights.

[T-Bird76]

Here's a great article on NW's plans for NEWCO.

http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_aviationdaily_story.jsp?id=news/NWA01066.xml

[UrbanExplorer222]

NEWCO....... Its a bad name!!! Ive got one for them. BankruptO

[PhilDernerJr]

NEWCO is supposedly just a new name that will be used until they finish building the new airline. the real name will probably be unveiled a lot closer to the new airline's start.

JetBlue's original name was "New Air".

[Tom_Turner]

The million dollar question however is where is NW going to get the money to buy or lease these planes? Chap 11 kills your credit rating. That was one of TWA's problems with its new planes, their Chap 11 filing caused them to have higher then average lease and finance rates


Good question Tommy.. I wonder.

At least they don't have Carl Ichon selling their seats at a discount for them and keeping a portion. TWA never had a chance...

[cancidas]

call me the sceptic, but i don't really see this one happenning.

[T-Bird76]

If you guys are familiar with what happened to PanAm last year, they tried moving the flying over to Boston Maine so the pilots would have to take a salary cut. However the pilots took PanAm to court and won, well if you call PanAm shutting down for two months to get around the ruling and then starting back up under the Boston-Maine charter then I guess PanAm won. Sounds like union busting to me, and nobody is going to win.

Oh and Tom your right about Ichan, jackass had only one intention in mind with TWA, to fill his pockets. TWA would have been better or with Lorenzo and that's pushing it, at least Lorenzo pushed CO back into the black. If Ichan never took over TWA there's a good chance they still would be around. Nothing like taking half a billion out of the company's bank roll to kill them.