US Airways has announced the first phase of its revised network plans at Washington’s Reagan National Airport following the closing of its slot transaction agreement with Delta Air Lines last year. The airline’s expanded network includes eleven new destinations, eight of which will serve communities not currently connected to Washington’s downtown airport as well as increased flights on three new routes. This is all part of the carrier’s strategy to focus on its core service areas of Washington DC, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Charlotte.
"We are excited to expand our service to customers traveling to and from our nation's capital as well as increase jobs at Washington National Airport," said Doug Parker, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, US Airways. "When our expansion is completed, US Airways will offer more than 230 daily flights and directly support more than 1,500 aviation jobs at Washington National."
The first phase of growth will commence from the start of the Northern Summer 2012 schedules at the end of March with new daily flights being introduced to Birmingham, Ala.; Fayetteville, N.C.; Islip, N.Y.; Little Rock, Ark.; Jacksonville, N.C.; Pensacola, Fla.; Tallahassee, Fla. and Ft. Walton Beach, Fla, from March 25, all destinations not currently served from Reagan National. At the same time flights will also be introduced to Memphis, Tenn.; Omaha, Neb. and Ottawa, Ontario, which are already served from the airport, while daily flights will be introduced to Bangor, Maine and Savannah, Ga., destinations which US Airways currently serves on weekends. The airline will also introduce a daily non-stop link to Hartford, Conn.
This is just the first stage of the Washington expansion and US Airways confirms the final phase will start from July 11, 2012 with more new routes that will be announced in February. To support the expanded service, US Airways will add more gates at Reagan National, will build a second US Airways Club lounge and expand its workforce.
As part of the slot swap deal with Delta Air Lines, US Airways is reducing its presence at New York's LaGuardia, operating a reduced schedule over current levels but maintaining its position as the third largest carrier at the airport. The airline will continue to operate its hourly dual-class Shuttle service to Washington and Boston; high-frequency service to its Charlotte and Philadelphia hubs and flights to Pittsburgh and its Phoenix hub.
According to US Airways, once both phases of the transition are complete, 99 per cent of the airline's available seat miles (ASMs) will operate to or from its core service areas and US Airways Shuttle. This represents a 16 percentage point change from 2006, when, following the merger of US Airways and America West Airlines, only 83 per cent of the airline's ASMs touched its core focus areas and US Airways Shuttle.
Last month Delta Air Lines announced its plans to expand its domestic at New York LaGuardia after securing some of US Airways’ slots at the facility. It is expanding its flight schedules there by around 60 per cent and adding services to major destinations such as Miami, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver and Houston as it seeks to make the gateway a new domestic hub. By summer 2012, Delta will operate 264 daily flights between LaGuardia and some 60 cities and more than 400 daily domestic departures from the wider New York market (LaGuardia, JFK and Newark) to destinations nationwide.
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