In a press release issued Thursday, US Airways announced that it would be accelerating its “business model transformation,” which is how people with degrees in communication say “we’re in a bad situation right now and need to make cuts.”
More fees are being introduced. Like the other airlines, those paying for more expensive tickets or who have elite status are exempt. The airline is also eliminating free drinks in coach (and will start charging $2) and increasing the fee for alcoholic beverages. A fee is also being introduced for booking tickets over the phone. I’m not sure if US Airways is planning to make money off this fee by the tickets over the phone themselves, or just hoping that this will be a way to eventually lay off some call center employees.
US Airways made some big changes its frequent flier program (Dividend Miles), which the other airlines haven’t really done along with their cuts. Elite members aren’t going to be earning bonus miles anymore. Most surprisingly, there will now be a fee for booking an award ticket. The amount will depend on the destination of the trip. I really don’t like this idea. It seems like it will be more likely to annoy loyal customers than increase revenue.
Like all the other airlines, there will be flight and fleet reductions. The Las Vegas night operation will be scaled back even further, though this isn’t too shocking as US Airways has been cutting there for awhile. The reduction in fleet capacity isn’t as drastic as the other airlines. Six 737-300s, four A320s, and US won’t be adding the two A330-200s that it had planned to in 2009. It should be noted though, that US Airways was already planning to phase out the 737-300s and 737-400s and replace them with A320 family aircraft.
A good amount of the US Airways changes seem to be the normal cutbacks announced by American, Continental, and United. The further devluation of Dividend Miles is quite surprsing though.
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