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US Airways closing JWA maintenance station

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US Airways will close its maintenance station at John Wayne Airport next year as part of an overall restructuring of the Phoenix-based airline, the company announced today.

us_airways_a320-medThe airline, which was created in September 2005 when US Airways Group merged with America West Airways, said it was not cutting back on its total maintenance crew but rather will be redistributing the mechanics across its system.  The closure won’t happen before the first quarter of 2010 and it was “too early to know” how many mechanics will be moved, the company said.

Today’s announcement was part of an overall restructuring under which US Airways will concentrate on its three hubs in Charlotte, Philadelphia and Phoenix and its service at Washington’s National Airport. It designed to stem the financial bleeding that saw the airline lose $800 million in 2008 with another large loss is expected this year.

Altogether the airline said the changes will mean the furlough of up to 1,000 employees including 600 airport passenger and ramp service employees, 200 pilots (165 from US Airways prior to the merger and 35 former America West pilots) and 150 flight attendants (120 US Airways and 20 from America West.)

“By concentrating on our strengths we will be better positioned to return US Airways to profitability, which will result in a more consistent experience for our customers, better returns for our shareholders and greater job stability and career opportunities for our employees,” said Chief Executive Doug Parker in announcing the changes.

Parker detailed these other changes in a letter to employees:

  • Reducing Las Vegas (LAS) flights from 64 to 36 daily departures by February 2010 as a result of high fuel prices and continued weak demand associated with Las Vegas.
  • Closing Colorado Springs (COS) and Wichita (ICT) and moving that flying to more profitable routes across our four focus cities.
  • Redeploying our 15 E-190 aircraft on routes between Boston and Philadelphia and on the Boston -LaGuardia (LGA) leg of the US Airways Shuttle.
  • Reducing non-stop flights from Boston (BOS) to the Caribbean at the end of the peak spring travel season in May.
  • Suspending five European destinations from Philadelphia: Birmingham, U.K.(BHX); London Gatwick, U.K. (LGW); Milan, Italy (MXP); Shannon, Ireland (SNN); and Stockholm, Sweden (ARN), which have not shown economic resiliency or profitability in the current environment. At the same time we announced. US Airways will transition seasonal service to Brussels, Belgium (BRU) and Zurich, Switzerland (ZRH) to year-round service effective in late 2010.
  • Returning our Philadelphia-Beijing (PEK) flight authority to the Department of Transportation (DOT) until economic conditions improve, while retaining the option to reapply for this authority in the future.
  • Rightsizing and repositioning our crew bases in Philadelphia, Charlotte, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. by closing our crew bases in Boston, LaGuardia and Las Vegas. The Las Vegas and LaGuardia bases will close Jan. 31, 2010, and Boston will close May 2, 2010.

Read the US Airways press release HERE.

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