dlramp4life From United States of America, joined Jun 2011, 697 posts, RR: 1 Posted (10 months 2 weeks 4 days 13 hours ago) and read 1990 times:
Does anybody know what kind of operation AE had in PHX in the 80s? Came across this photo online of three AE metroliners in PHX in 1986. http://www.visitingphx.com/pp5g.html
Worked/Planned Loads on: CRJ-2,CRJ-7,CRJ-9,737-4,737-7,737-8,757-2,757-3,767-3,A319,A320,A330,MD83,MD90
EricR From United States of America, joined Jul 2010, 1447 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (10 months 2 weeks 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 1904 times:
If I am not mistaking, those flights were the remnants of AA's acquisition of Wings West Airlines. See the link below for route maps and timetables. The flights did not last for long (a year or two) after AA acquired them. I believe one of the routes they flew was PHX-YUM. For some reason PHX-San Luis Obispo also comes to mind (may have been a through flight).
Tan Flyr From United States of America, joined Aug 2000, 1847 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (10 months 2 weeks 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 1776 times:
Wings West also served FAT-BFL-VIS in the central valley of Calif..I seem to recall a thru flight of FAT-LAS-PHX for a time.
OTH, the intermediate stop could have been in So.Cal somewhere also..Seems it was a route that Airwest/ Republic had flown in the late 70's and of and on in the early to maybe mid 80's..it was a quarter century ago...
Wingtips56 From United States of America, joined Dec 2010, 216 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (10 months 2 weeks 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 1748 times:
I think Wings West, as American Eagle only had limited service to PHX, the tag to the YUM and maybe IPL flights. So I'm thinking that the picture of three Metroliners at PHX was more than likely a triple-delivery flight of new aircraft, but that's just a thought.
Wings West (RM) started with C402 aircraft and later added Beech 99 and SWM, painted in RM livery (green stripes on white) before changing into American Eagle livery. They even, briefly, had flight attendants on the SWM, can you believe. With a 4 foot 6 inch cabin height, the little green-uniformed women under 5 feet tall you saw at SFO were the F/A's for RM.
IIRC, RM's initial home office was in Culver City. The whole operation eventually moved to SBP, following the demise of SwiftAire.
Worked for WestAir, Apollo Airways, Desert Pacific, Western, AirCal and American Airlines
dlramp4life From United States of America, joined Jun 2011, 697 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (10 months 2 weeks 4 days 4 hours ago) and read 1440 times:
Very interesting. Thank you all for the great info and time table links. But I just have two more questions reguarding Wings West (AE) in PHX
Why could they not make it work? They just (re)started AE flights to LAX at PHX about two years ago or so...Also where was this ramp? that picture does not look like AA's ramp over on T3
Worked/Planned Loads on: CRJ-2,CRJ-7,CRJ-9,737-4,737-7,737-8,757-2,757-3,767-3,A319,A320,A330,MD83,MD90
EricR From United States of America, joined Jul 2010, 1447 posts, RR: 1 Reply 5, posted (10 months 2 weeks 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 1242 times:
Quoting dlramp4life (Reply 4): Also where was this ramp? that picture does not look like AA's ramp over on T3
About 50 feet to the right of AA's gate 2 at ramp level is a small waiting area that was built for commuter flights. In the picture below, you can see the waiting area. It is located next to the white storage container just to the right of gate 2. This waiting area is connected to the main departure/arrival level via elevator. In fact, next time you are in the south concourse check out the elevator located between gate 2 and the security check point. This is the elevator that takes you to the former commuter waiting area.
I think the ramp area in your photo is taken from the T3 parking garage and is the area between T3 and the fire station. This area used to be larger prior to the construction of the fire station. AA used to use this space to park its overnight aircraft.
Quoting dlramp4life (Reply 4): Why could they not make it work? They just (re)started AE flights to LAX at PHX about two years ago or so...
I can only speculate here. Keep in mind that AA did not have nearly the same focus nor amount of connection opportunities at LAX in the 80's as they do today. LAX was a smaller operation in the 80s.
Also, around the time of the Wings West acquisition, AW acquired Dash 8's to serve some of the smaller communities (YUM being one of them). Competition from AW probably hurt AE's performance to the smaller communities out of PHX. Also, traffic destined for larger cities such as LAX or LAS were more likely to use mainline flights on WN, AW, PS, WA. I believe it was during this time when AW & WN had 10+ flights each to LAX & LAS on mainline aircraft with very competitive fares.
dlramp4life From United States of America, joined Jun 2011, 697 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (10 months 2 weeks 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 1107 times:
Quoting EricR (Reply 5): About 50 feet to the right of AA's gate 2 at ramp level is a small waiting area that was built for commuter flights. In the picture below, you can see the waiting area. It is located next to the white storage container just to the right of gate 2. This waiting area is connected to the main departure/arrival level via elevator. In fact, next time you are in the south concourse check out the elevator located between gate 2 and the security check point. This is the elevator that takes you to the former commuter waiting area.
Never realized it was a commuter gate/waiting lobby over there, just thought it was stairs or a staff elevator. I will try to get in there next time I am over ramp side on the south side. Possible new gate area for ZK if T2 ever shuts its doors
Quoting EricR (Reply 5): I think the ramp area in your photo is taken from the T3 parking garage and is the area between T3 and the fire station. This area used to be larger prior to the construction of the fire station. AA used to use this space to park its overnight aircraft.
That is right, I do recall AA used to park aircraft all along that row where the fire station is now. Now it is a tight fit over there, only room for two airplanes. Now I think they got another wrench thrown in their ops. because of the sky train construction.
Quoting EricR (Reply 5): AW acquired Dash 8's to serve some of the smaller communities (YUM being one of them). Competition from AW probably hurt AE's performance to the smaller communities out of PHX. Also, traffic destined for larger cities such as LAX or LAS were more likely to use mainline flights on WN, AW, PS, WA. I believe it was during this time when AW & WN had 10+ flights each to LAX & LAS on mainline aircraft with very competitive fares.
Did not even think of the AW start up in the 1980s and WN. Now it makes sense why AE stopped serving PHX until recently.
Worked/Planned Loads on: CRJ-2,CRJ-7,CRJ-9,737-4,737-7,737-8,757-2,757-3,767-3,A319,A320,A330,MD83,MD90
skycub From United States of America, joined Apr 2012, 276 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (10 months 2 weeks 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 1075 times:
From American's November 1, 1986 timetable:
From Phoenix to Flagstaff:
6:15am-6:55am AA 5057 ExSun
8:30am-9:10am AA 5223 Daily
10:55am-11:35am AA 5017 Daily
1:15pm-1:55pm AA 5229 Daily
3:50pm-4:30pm AA 5231 Daily
6:25pm-7:05pm AA 5233 Daily
10:15pm-10:55pm AA 5235 ExSat
From Phoenix to Palm Springs:
9:30am-9:35am AA 5095 Daily
12:35pm-12:40pm AA 5041 Daily
6:05pm-6:10pm AA 5045 Daily
9:55pm-10:00pm AA 5013 ExSat
From Phoenix to Yuma:
8:20am-9:10am AA 5124 Daily
10:45am-11:35am AA 5202 Daily
1:05pm-1:55pm AA 5096 Daily
3:40pm-4:30pm AA 5088 Daily
6:15pm-7:05pm AA 5086 Daily
10:05pm-10:55am AA 5084 ExSat
My opinions are my own. They are not representative of my employer, my union or my co-workers. They are all mine.
timz From United States of America, joined Sep 1999, 6465 posts, RR: 8 Reply 8, posted (10 months 2 weeks 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 991 times:
The 31 Aug timetable shows AA nonstops to ORD, DFW, JFK, SNA and SFO; the Eagle nonstops to PSP-Yuma-Flagstaff were all to start on 15 Sept. Can't tell if they're all SWM or not.
Sponsor Message: 
From United States of America, joined Jun 2011, 697 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
