chepos wrote:janders wrote:LAXintl wrote:Airline Weekly has an interview with Vasu Raja. Largely talked a bunch about NYC and here are some highlights.
o AA had a challenging position in NYC, was long time money loser
o In many ways AA was trying to do too many things but was not big enough or good at most.
o Example - it was flying low-yield leisure routes like SJU, SDQ, EDI, and DUB.
o It also tried to generate connecting traffic through JFK Airport which further eroded financial picture
o "geriatric" B757s and B767 not competitive product
o “Can never compete on size in NYC, but can be the best airline for corporate and the high-end customer going to places like LA and London"
o Also offering routes like SFO, GRU, MAD, CDG along with hub cities like MIA and CLT plus strong AA markets as BNA and RDU all of a sudden NYC works.
o PHL works much better as a broader Atlantic gateway. Much lower airport cost, high volume feed, and strong hometown market position
o "Great affection" for B787. "perfectly sized" for taking risk with new international route development
o B772 replacement is long term consideration that needs answer -- options either refurb and keep longer(low capital cost), vs. replace with 787
o A220s or E-Jet E2s "might be good fit", but no rush. Large A319 fleet, nothing needed until at least 2025.
o What is Asia-Pacific strategy? -- built around 3 partners - China Southern, JAL and Qantas.
Thanks for posting the summary. Gotta give Vasu credit for his straight forward honest comments.
While NYC is certainly the largest market in the U.S. to me people make too big a deal that AA does not run a hub in the city. Between EWR, LGA and JFK, AA offers lots of capacity still. AA is #2 at LGA by far margin and in total flew nearly 17mil to/from NYC in 2018 between the 3 airports and serves key markets where is can win.
On the 787, yet another airline validates Boeing having created something that hits the sweet spot for airline route planners.
Regarding A220/E2 AA can sit back and watch the marketplace to see how things play out before they decide.
On the Pacific comment, it seems AA will for the foreseeable future will operate a smaller organic network and instead look to JV/ownership stake partners and their hubs to do a good portion of the lifting.
The only additional flying I can see at this time in the Pacific network are LAX-MEL to complement QF at peak times. BNE as a more distant possibility as QF will be adding capacity in that market.
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Yeah I can see BNE in 2 situations. Most likely is that QF wants AA to take over a flight to free up their aircraft for another use. The other option would be AA doing DFW-BNE as an additional flight, but wouldn't expect that any time soon.