US Airways to cut 260 jobs at LGA

[emshighway]

http://wcbstv.com/video/[email protected]

[hiss srq]

This has been expected for a little while now. I saw this coming.

[LGA777]

A few details to this story. The job cuts are the already announced cuts for my colleauges at Express. The video says Feburary. To the best of my knowledge the DOT/DOJ have not approved the deal yet. The last update I got for phase 1 was April 1st. At that point approx half the Express flights will go to DL, but "more" than half the current Express staff will be needed for the remaining 75 or so weekday Express departures. For example I do not believe any of the current Express Tower staff will be laid off for phase 1. Allthough I have heard different versions I don't believe phase 2 will happen till September 2010 at the earliest, and would not be surprised if it's longer.

Regards

LGA777

[emshighway]

Both Airlines are pushing March and June. They will start 90 days after DOT/DOJ approval which is being said to be very soon.

[LGA777]

Both Airlines are pushing March and June. They will start 90 days after DOT/DOJ approval which is being said to be very soon.

I think a lot of the phase 2 date will be determined by DL being willing to complete Phase 2

A) without the connector between D & C being completed.

B) with a temporary connector completed.

C) waiting for the official, enclosed, permament connector to be in place and operational.

I say this based on my almost 25 years working at LGA and seeing almost every project delayed because of Port Auth procedures. While I do reconize the PA wants this to happen and it benefits them for it to happen ASAP I just cant ignore what I have seen in the past.

My Respectful 2 cents

LGA777

[mirrodie]

Amazing how these losses always come announced before the holiday!

HEard it on CBSnews radio this morning.

[moose135]

Amazing how these losses always come announced before the holiday!
It happened so often at Newsday that we began calling it the "Home for the Holidays" program. Just last week they announced 50 layoffs. :(

[Midnight Mike]

Amazing how these losses always come announced before the holiday!

HEard it on CBSnews radio this morning.

Happens with many companies & in just about every industry, and yes, it is sad.... :(

[DHG750R]

While I understand some of the rationale for the deal, It pains me to know it will happen. I helped open that terminal and ramp tower in 92 with Ron and others... just makes me sad to see so many affected in a negative way

[emshighway]

New York Times
US Airways to Pull Shuttle Crews From La Guardia and Boston
By PATRICK McGEEHAN
Published: December 6, 2009

Over the strenuous objections of its pilots, US Airways is proceeding with its plan to eliminate more than 250 jobs at La Guardia Airport, which has long been the nexus of the airline’s shuttle service in the Northeast.
The pilots’ union, the US Airline Pilots Association, is considering taking its plea to passengers as early as this week by warning the airline’s customers at La Guardia of potential risks to the shuttle’s once-vaunted reliability, Capt. James Ray, a spokesman for the union in Charlotte, N.C., said in an interview. Under US Airways’ plan, none of the crews and planes used for the shuttle routes between La Guardia and Boston and Washington will be based at La Guardia or Boston Logan Airport by the middle of next year.
“There’s no way they can continue the reliability of that product, basing the equipment and personnel in another city,” Captain Ray said. Bad weather in Philadelphia or Washington could hamper the airline’s ability to deliver planes and crews to La Guardia or Logan, Captain Ray added.

Morgan Durrant, a spokesman for the airline, disputed Captain Ray’s assertions and said that the decision to close the bases was final.
“The decisions to do all these things are borne out of the need to get the company profitable again,” Mr. Durrant said. “We’re confident we can continue to be reliable. The nice thing about our operation is that if we’re in a pinch and we need a crew, we can fairly quickly get a crew in place.”

But doing so will be more of a challenge after the crew bases close. The changes at La Guardia will eliminate 261 jobs there, according to a notice US Airways filed with the state’s Labor Department. Some of those jobs will be transferred to other cities, but Mr. Durrant said it was too soon to say how many.
The airline plans to close its crew base in New York at the end of January and its base in Boston in early May, leaving the employees to find jobs at other US Airways hubs, like Philadelphia or Charlotte. The plan to close the bases is a result of US Airways’ agreement to swap many of its takeoff and landing rights at La Guardia with Delta Airlines for some of Delta’s slots at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington. The pilots’ union has asked the federal Department of Justice to review that deal, contending that it would be anti-competitive.
US Airways also plans to switch the planes that fly between La Guardia and Logan from Airbus jets, which have 124 seats, to smaller regional jets known as Embraer 190s, which have 99 seats, arrayed in rows of two on each side of the aisle.

“Business travelers hate regional jets,” said Joe Brancatelli, editor of JoeSentMe, a Web site dedicated to air travel. “The more you downsize the equipment, the more people feel it’s not worth it to fly.”
Mr. Brancatelli added that he did not see the US Airways shuttle or its competitor, the Delta shuttle, as a true shuttle service anymore. They no longer can be counted on to have a plane ready to depart every hour, and the walk-up price for a one-way ticket has soared to as much as $400, he said.
Dependability has always been the main selling point of the US Airways shuttle, which until 1989 was operated by the now-defunct Eastern Airlines, then briefly flew as Donald Trump’s Trump Shuttle before that venture failed. For years, the shuttle appealed to business travelers by offering hourly flights with reasonable walk-up fares and promising to roll out an additional plane if the first filled up.
A lack of seats has not been a problem lately, as many of the shuttle flights are less than half-full. But one shuttle regular, Arthur Hogan, said on Friday that he had noticed fewer seats were going empty now than a year ago.

“It’s a great barometer for economic activity,” said Mr. Hogan, an executive with Jefferies & Company, a financial firm, who commutes from a Boston suburb to Manhattan every week. “A year ago, the load factors were significantly lower and you could feel it.”
Mr. Hogan, who usually flies on the Delta shuttle but occasionally chooses US Airways, said he would be concerned about the effect winter weather might have on the service if the crews and planes were based in another city.

“This time of year the one thing that cuts into their reliability is when you start getting weather,” Mr. Hogan said. Any falloff in the shuttle’s dependability, and more travelers like him will switch to the Amtrak Acela train service, which has been cutting into the shuttle ridership, he said.
Still, Rick Seaney, the chief executive of FareCompare.com, a travel Web site, said some good could come from the US Airways changes. “Maybe the silver lining is that nobody will have a middle seat anymore,” Mr. Seaney said.

[hiss srq]

I am behind Captain Ray on this issue fully but honestly, I wouldnt call the Embraer 190 a regional jet. It is a mainline airplane. It is in the scope contract as one and it is operated by mainline pilots. My issue is that these pilots will be Philly base which begs the question WTF?

[LGA777]

After the Jan 3rd schedule change both BOS-PHL and BOS-LGA will have most (PHL) and all (LGA) flights flown by the very popular with biz travellers E-190. Even though these crews will be PHL based I believe their will be 5 or 6 of these aircraft overnighting in BOS plus a spare E-190 will be assigned their. From Jan 3 till May when the BOS crew base closes the BOS-DCA Shuttle flying will be BOS based crews, DCA after the May change. Starting Jan 3rd the LGA-DCA Shuttle crews will all be DCA based, currently it's about 50-50 mix of DCA/LGA crews.

The current LGA crew base, both pilots and flt att's is an approx 50-50 mix of commuters, (many from PIT) that live elsewhere but are based at LGA. But the other few dozen who live locally, many on Long Island and SW Conn, will continue to live here but commute to DCA and PHL once the base closes. So their will still be many crew members close by if crews need to be called in to cover Shuttle flights during irregular ops.

While I am against and saddened by the base closeure, I also don't believe reliabulity on the Shuttle at LGA will be as bad as mentioned in the article emshighway posted.

Regards

LGA777

[hiss srq]

Heres my question to you than Ron, lets say now that these crews are now DCA PHL based which they will be once they close the base. Even though they live locally, if they are going to call a local crew member in to sub out for some reason are they going to get deadhead pay equivilant to a deadhead from DCA or PHL to LGA? Also, had Ed Schmidt said where he is going because of the closure. All the other crew bases are full out of positions for management pilots from what I hear. Maybe back to the line on the 767 for him????

[JetBlueAirwaysFan]

Will there still be any Express flying after the slot deal? I know that USX operates all flights between LGA and PHL. I also know that they will keep LGA-ILM, which is also on Express. So is US going to change them to Mainline or will they be able to keep modest Express ops at LGA (minus an Express crew base of course)?

[LGA777]

To try and answer questions from the last 2 posts. If a local crew member gets called out here is what I think will happen. Lets say they have a 2 day trip out of their DCA base Wed and Thur. They get "asked" to fly a new trip on Tue & Wed instead starting in LGA. While I have no idea what their union contract dictate's I'm sure their will be some that would be very happy to start and end their trip in LGA instead of non-reving or jumpseating to say DCA before and after their trip. Ed Scmidt is the Chief Pilot for both LGA & BOS so I would assume he will keep BOS until May when it closes. After that no idea, but their is the chance for attrition between now and May

When Phase 2 of the DL/US Slot deal is completed their will still be some Express flying to ILM, PIT, and PHL. I would presume much of PIT might be Republic, as it is now, the demand is certainly their. Would not be surprised to see PHL be a mix of Mainline, Republic, Piedmont, and Air Wisconsin. When US starts using the current NW gates in Terminal D, at least 1, possibly all 3 will have the option of parking 2 either Dash 8 or CRJ-200 on 1 gate simultaneously, or 1 Airbus or E-170/190 family.

I hope this helps, their is a lot none of us really know yet?

LGA777