AA interview calls
- Thread starter Nark
- Start date
meyers9163
Well-Known Member
I don't see PHL changing. The ability to expand there and not have the restrictions JFK gives you places it in an ideal position for the combined carrier. I forget the exact crew news sessions but of the hubs DCA/PHL had remarks by all three executives that said they're here to stay. Unlike the remarks on PHX, CLT or even ORD..... Look no further then the summer routes being reduced from daily to 4/5 a week due to weak bookings out of CLT.... CLT scares me the most.... Perhaps that changes but its unique compared to the others....
skyw82
Well-Known Member
I agree, so much can and probably will be cut from clt. They already cut Rio and the European cities they added for the summer did so poorly in the presale phase they reduced the flying per week and decided to end them a month earlier than planned. Clt will not be shut down but I expect it to be a focus city in the end with half the flights it has now. Why keep the island flying when you have Miami you can funnel everyone down to?
Clt worked as a hub for LCC model airways had going. They also had a city manager that "got it". Now both this situations have changed and what you are left with is a inadequate airport in a small city with very little o and d traffic. Aa can use those planes in more profitable markets than clt.
If you commute Philly is an illusion. You may move up sooner there but if you commute there are less flights and less chances to get you there for a show the same day and get you home the same day. So much can go wrong and if you get stuck there it's expensive and a pain. In clt you can almost always get a flight home after your trip ends and there is almost always a flight that will get you in before your show. Even if you can safely hold a primary in phl it's still better to be long call or secondary in clt. There is more open time to work with and the operation is more stable.
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CamYZ125
Well-Known Member
If you're talking about the little bus, 1yr4mos for me.
CamYZ125
Well-Known Member
The Southeastern US is a huge population, and CLT is the only airline hub other than ATL that efficiently taps the market. It may not have the O/D traffic of other cities, but it works great for connections. Without CLT you're going to have to send your SE passengers south the MIA or north the NYC/PHL to connect them to the west coast or Midwest or wherever? Doesn't make sense. I see CLT losing some of the widebody Intl stuff, unfortunately, but I don't think it'll shrink drastically. It is the second largest hub in the combined network.
Or maybe I'm just making excuses to myself since I live/own a house here... Haha.
Seggy
Well-Known Member
Folks have said the same thing about MEM, CVG, and CLE.......
wheelsup
Well-Known Member
Charlotte is a growing and vibrant city. Not that it will always remain that way, but if you look at CLE, MEM, and CVG you see a declining, decaying city. Charlotte is becoming a fairly large financial hub and Raleigh right up the street is heavy in the tech and medical fields. Greensboro is growing its manufacturing base.
CLT population change since 2000 +43%
CLE population change since 2000 -18.3%
MEM population change since 2000 +0.8%
CVG population change since 2000 -10.5%
PHL population change since 2000 +2% (better than I would've thought) Fun fact Philly is the closest city to Charlotte with a population over 1 million.
Source: www.city-data.com
Look at the new freight handling area they built into the airport. Rail and road integrates on the airport property. Good for the air freight side of their business.
I sound like I'm cheer-leading for Charlotte a little but there area lot of positives to the area and airport. The population of Charlotte is twice what it is in Atlanta. I just wish it wasn't so senior down there.
Seggy
Well-Known Member
Sounds nice, but if they are reducing service on some routes for this summer already, which is the busiest travel season, I wouldn't buy a house there yet.
wheelsup
Well-Known Member
Oh I won't. The int'l side certainly doesn't look very promising. In fact if you look at the big picture, IMO Airways hubs are second rate. UAL has the primo hubs by far, DAL second and the "combined" AA a distant 3rd. AA brought with it a much better hub system than Airways has.
Domestic in Charlotte does fairly well IIRC it was the second most profitable hub behind DCA.
wheelsup
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info that sounds logical. I'm surprised about ORD though. I feel domestically Charlotte can hold its own.
Seggy
Well-Known Member
Nick
Well-Known Member
Although CLT is geographically convenient for a hub, I can't see it growing because it's too geographically convenient relative to other hubs as well.
If CLT has as much O&D as some claim, which it barely might, those people have easy connections if the yields on a nonstop flight were to poor to support one.
CLT-Europe is easy via PHL/JFK
CLT-South America is easy via MIA
CLT-Caribbean is easy via MIA
CLT-Asia is easy via ORD; DFW is kind of out of the way but also an option
So it's no surprise to me that cities such as Barcelona got the axe or were reduced by a lot. To get a nonstop flight it'd have to be a huge cash cow to make sense.
If CLT has as much O&D as some claim, which it barely might, those people have easy connections if the yields on a nonstop flight were to poor to support one.
CLT-Europe is easy via PHL/JFK
CLT-South America is easy via MIA
CLT-Caribbean is easy via MIA
CLT-Asia is easy via ORD; DFW is kind of out of the way but also an option
So it's no surprise to me that cities such as Barcelona got the axe or were reduced by a lot. To get a nonstop flight it'd have to be a huge cash cow to make sense.
CamYZ125
Well-Known Member
Being nit-picky, but while the actual city limits population of Charlotte is greater than Atlanta, the entire metro/surrounding area of ATL has more than double the population than that of the CLT metro/surrounding area.
wheelsup
Well-Known Member
I've been doing some searching and it appears as though ATL has a lower O&D traffic percentage than CLT. However due to the population surrounding ATL, it's still a sizable amount. DFW is also down the list. Gee, two of AA's hubs are at the bottom...not so good moving forward...
I wouldn't be surprised to see consolidation happen either. A lot of the advancement we are factoring in assumes 14,000 pilots. Is this going to be a 14,000 pilot airline in 5-10 years? Or maybe they'll start feathering away the regional routes and replace them with larger mainline equipment like DAL is doing (we can hope, right?).
Yes I did just see that. You are right.
I wouldn't be surprised to see consolidation happen either. A lot of the advancement we are factoring in assumes 14,000 pilots. Is this going to be a 14,000 pilot airline in 5-10 years? Or maybe they'll start feathering away the regional routes and replace them with larger mainline equipment like DAL is doing (we can hope, right?).
Yes I did just see that. You are right.
CamYZ125
Well-Known Member
I'm trying to find the article, but I read one of the blogger-nerds talking about what they thought the future of the new AA hubs were, and I want to say they defended CLT and pointed out that even though the O&D numbers are lower, the yields were decent because of higher priced business travelers (related to the financial aspect of Charlotte's banking center).
meyers9163
Well-Known Member
I am hoping it to not be true but if you currently look at ORD it's an American Eagle dominated airport. Looking at routes from there the E175/CRJ700 are doing a lot of the domestic lift it seems....
ORD-Albuquerque NM
ORD-SAT
ORD-SLC
ORD-DEN
ORD-ATL
ORD-BDL
Just a few routes but it appears the domestic flying in ORD for AA is heavily Express more than any other hub at the new American..... Actually in one of the crewnews it seemed they still were uncertain about ORD as a whole.
I'm ignorant on ORD..... I hope it stays around as its an easy drive for me.... But it seems to be an unknown for the combined AA.....
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