TyGuy
Mouseketeer
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- Oct 16, 2002
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I don't think this will help our trip in November but there appears to be hope.
Airline takes aim at baggage problems
By Tom Belden
Inquirer Staff Writer
US Airways wanted to trumpet a $100 million quarterly operating profit.
But the airline's senior executives spent more time yesterday explaining what they are doing to fix chronic baggage-service problems at Philadelphia International Airport.
Philadelphia's largest airline plans to hire 200 baggage handlers and triple the number of managers overseeing airport service from 30 to 90, the executives said during a conference call with analysts and reporters about the company's third-quarter financial results.
The airline budgeted $2 million for equipment and facilities at the airport, on top of more than $20 million already set aside, they said.
"It is the No. 1 focus of this organization," president Scott Kirby said. "I think we're going to ultimately get it fixed."
As The Inquirer detailed in a story earlier this month, US Airways' baggage performance in Philadelphia has been the worst in its system, with a lost-luggage rate almost four times the airline's as a whole. The poor service has often overshadowed the airline's good financial performance since it merged with America West Airlines and came out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year.
Chief executive officer Doug Parker said yesterday that it had taken more money and manpower to improve the Philadelphia service than the company had anticipated.
"There was a bigger hole there than we thought," Parker said. "There's nothing more expensive than running a bad operation."
US Airways has 1,350 baggage and other ramp workers in Philadelphia, a hub that generates more than one-quarter of the airline's $11 billion in annual revenue. But turnover is high and morale is low among the ramp workers who handle 30,000 bags a day.
The company has often resorted to incentives, such as drawings to win iPods and $100 Acme gift certificates, to cut down on absenteeism on weekends. Yesterday, spokesman Morgan Durrant said the airline had not decided whether to offer incentives to applicants for the new positions.
Kirby said that the airline had changed its procedures and staffing at the airport in the last week to make sure it had an adequate number of baggage handlers to meet each incoming flight. That has cut the average time customers have to wait for checked bags to arrive on a carousel to about 20 minutes, compared with almost an hour for many flights recently.
One US Airways customer was quick to point out how far it has to go to convince him that things are getting better.
Dominic Cermele, president of Girard College in Philadelphia, said his flight to Dallas-Fort Worth last week was canceled, making the trip an all-day affair. Two of the bags his group had checked took 24 hours to get there.
On the way back, "within 20 minutes of arriving, the overhead sign said our bags were on the carousel, but they weren't," Cermele said. "It took over an hour before they came."
During the conference call, US Airways also identified three European cities - Athens, Greece; Brussels, Belgium; and Zurich, Switzerland - where it plans to start flying nonstop from Philadelphia next year if it can get additional airport gates. Kirby said US Airways was "very hopeful" that it would settle, within the next two weeks, a dispute with airport officials over use of gates in Terminal A-East that could keep the new flights from starting.
Parker said US Airways' ability to add European flights would be hampered by an airport plan to move Delta Air Lines to A-East from Terminal E so Southwest Airlines could expand its service.
US Airways contends that the gates in A-East should be reserved for international flights. Because it operates a connecting hub here, US Airways occupied 81 of the airport's 120 gates last summer and had daily flights to 16 European cities.
US Airways plans to start new service from Philadelphia to three more European cities in 2008 and another three in 2009 if it has enough gates, Parker said.
But officials at Southwest say that they will not be able to grow much beyond the 65 daily flights the airline has now unless it gets more than the eight gates it occupies in Terminals D and E. A plan to construct additional gates for Southwest at the end of Terminal E is almost a year behind schedule and will not be completed into late 2008, the Southwest officials said.
Airport spokesman Mark Pesce said the airport staff also expected to resolve the dispute with US Airways within two weeks. The airport says it believes it can accommodate US Airways' needs with one of several plans it has proposed for using gates, he said.
US Airways reported a net loss of $78 million, or 8 cents a share, on revenue of $2.97 billion for the third quarter. Excluding special items, the company had a net profit of $101 million, or $1.09 a share. Comparable financial results for last year's quarter were not available because the airline had emerged from bankruptcy Sept. 27, 2005.
Parker said US Airways also expected to report a profit in the fourth quarter.
Shares of US Airways closed up 92 cents yesterday at $49.43 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Airline takes aim at baggage problems
By Tom Belden
Inquirer Staff Writer
US Airways wanted to trumpet a $100 million quarterly operating profit.
But the airline's senior executives spent more time yesterday explaining what they are doing to fix chronic baggage-service problems at Philadelphia International Airport.
Philadelphia's largest airline plans to hire 200 baggage handlers and triple the number of managers overseeing airport service from 30 to 90, the executives said during a conference call with analysts and reporters about the company's third-quarter financial results.
The airline budgeted $2 million for equipment and facilities at the airport, on top of more than $20 million already set aside, they said.
"It is the No. 1 focus of this organization," president Scott Kirby said. "I think we're going to ultimately get it fixed."
As The Inquirer detailed in a story earlier this month, US Airways' baggage performance in Philadelphia has been the worst in its system, with a lost-luggage rate almost four times the airline's as a whole. The poor service has often overshadowed the airline's good financial performance since it merged with America West Airlines and came out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year.
Chief executive officer Doug Parker said yesterday that it had taken more money and manpower to improve the Philadelphia service than the company had anticipated.
"There was a bigger hole there than we thought," Parker said. "There's nothing more expensive than running a bad operation."
US Airways has 1,350 baggage and other ramp workers in Philadelphia, a hub that generates more than one-quarter of the airline's $11 billion in annual revenue. But turnover is high and morale is low among the ramp workers who handle 30,000 bags a day.
The company has often resorted to incentives, such as drawings to win iPods and $100 Acme gift certificates, to cut down on absenteeism on weekends. Yesterday, spokesman Morgan Durrant said the airline had not decided whether to offer incentives to applicants for the new positions.
Kirby said that the airline had changed its procedures and staffing at the airport in the last week to make sure it had an adequate number of baggage handlers to meet each incoming flight. That has cut the average time customers have to wait for checked bags to arrive on a carousel to about 20 minutes, compared with almost an hour for many flights recently.
One US Airways customer was quick to point out how far it has to go to convince him that things are getting better.
Dominic Cermele, president of Girard College in Philadelphia, said his flight to Dallas-Fort Worth last week was canceled, making the trip an all-day affair. Two of the bags his group had checked took 24 hours to get there.
On the way back, "within 20 minutes of arriving, the overhead sign said our bags were on the carousel, but they weren't," Cermele said. "It took over an hour before they came."
During the conference call, US Airways also identified three European cities - Athens, Greece; Brussels, Belgium; and Zurich, Switzerland - where it plans to start flying nonstop from Philadelphia next year if it can get additional airport gates. Kirby said US Airways was "very hopeful" that it would settle, within the next two weeks, a dispute with airport officials over use of gates in Terminal A-East that could keep the new flights from starting.
Parker said US Airways' ability to add European flights would be hampered by an airport plan to move Delta Air Lines to A-East from Terminal E so Southwest Airlines could expand its service.
US Airways contends that the gates in A-East should be reserved for international flights. Because it operates a connecting hub here, US Airways occupied 81 of the airport's 120 gates last summer and had daily flights to 16 European cities.
US Airways plans to start new service from Philadelphia to three more European cities in 2008 and another three in 2009 if it has enough gates, Parker said.
But officials at Southwest say that they will not be able to grow much beyond the 65 daily flights the airline has now unless it gets more than the eight gates it occupies in Terminals D and E. A plan to construct additional gates for Southwest at the end of Terminal E is almost a year behind schedule and will not be completed into late 2008, the Southwest officials said.
Airport spokesman Mark Pesce said the airport staff also expected to resolve the dispute with US Airways within two weeks. The airport says it believes it can accommodate US Airways' needs with one of several plans it has proposed for using gates, he said.
US Airways reported a net loss of $78 million, or 8 cents a share, on revenue of $2.97 billion for the third quarter. Excluding special items, the company had a net profit of $101 million, or $1.09 a share. Comparable financial results for last year's quarter were not available because the airline had emerged from bankruptcy Sept. 27, 2005.
Parker said US Airways also expected to report a profit in the fourth quarter.
Shares of US Airways closed up 92 cents yesterday at $49.43 on the New York Stock Exchange.
