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USAir's PSA Hubris: A West Coast Disaster

25/2/2017

The USAir purchase of Pacific Southwest Airlines was yet another result of the turbulence and merger panic flooding the US airline industry in the 1980s. It would become a textbook example of what not to do and USAir not content with one bad merger then attempted a second (with Piedmont) soon afterwards. USAir survived but PSA and its route network did not.

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American Out West: AirCal and the San Jose Hub

23/2/2017

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Given the 1980s merger frenzy and increasing power of the richer trunk airlines it is questionable whether AirCal could have survived on its own, but was American Airlines a good fit? History would show that it clearly was not and AA's plans for California would not succeed. Nonetheless the owners of AirCal exited the scene with a decent pay off and American's plans certainly made more sense than USAir's contemparaneous plans for PSA. Here's the story of American's Californian punt.

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AirCal's Search for Silence: MD-80s to 737s to 146s

21/2/2017

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By 1984 AirCal had consolidated its position despite intrusion from new airlines in its core markets. The fleet consisted of 2 737-100s, 14 737-200s and 7 MD-80s and was connecting 13 cities with over 200 flights a day. It was time for fleet renewal, however this would still be incomplete when the airline was consumed in the later rounds of the 1980s merger mania that plagued the US deregulated era.

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A Hell of A Gamble: PSA's 146 Smiliners

19/2/2017

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Deregulation changed the state of play in the Californian market, where unregulated intra-state airlines like PSA and Air California had been battling with the regulated airlines since the 1960s. Competition was stronger than ever with new start up airlines and the trunk airlines looking to create West Coast networks where they had previously had none. This would lead to a tempestuous period for Pacific Southwest. Amongst all this it took a punt on a small four engined British airliner.

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Hai Manchester: 5 Star to China

15/2/2017

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Hainan Airlines prides itself on delivering a quality service, in contrast to the traditional Chinese big three. This focus has led it to be named as one of only 7 SKYTRAX five star airlines for the past 5 years running. Nonetheless it has been constrained in its ambitions by China's one route, one airline policy. Despite this it is gradually building up an impressive international network with its 8th European destination enabling it to say 'Hai Manchester'.

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TAESA Pt3: DC-9 Disaster

11/2/2017

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TAESA had come through the crisis of the mid-90s albeit with a large debt burden, modified ownership and a much older fleet of aircraft. Moving into 1998 TAESA had a bright new livery and began to take delivery of new aircraft too. If it could just capitalise on this then it still could be the standard bearer for competition in the Mexican market.

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TAESA Pt2: Old is New

9/2/2017

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After 5 years of operations Transportes Aéreos Ejecutivos (TAESA) had appeared to carve itself a strong and profitable position in both the Mexican domestic scheduled and international charter markets. It was a well run airline with a large modern fleet that was going places. Unfortunately events outside of its control would lead to drastic retrenchment and a fight for survival, but not before it attempted a crazy transpacific gamble.

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TAESA Pt1: The Little Airline That Could

7/2/2017

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TAESA (Transportes Aéreos Ejecutivos) Lineas Aéreas was begun in April 1988 operating executive jets and began scheduled passenger operations in 1989. It was the brainchild of the then 36 year old pilot Alberto Abed and the powerful Mexican industrialist Carlos Hank Rhon as a vehicle to create a competitor to the duopoly of Mexicana and Aeromexico in the newly deregulated Mexican market. It grew quickly but the 90s would prove a rocky time for airlines in Mexico.

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A330 Freighter: The Right Aircraft Right Now?

1/2/2017

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The Airbus A330-200F must have seemed like a slamdunk for Airbus. They had already sold hundreds of A300 freighters and there was a large fleet of converted older A300s, 767s, DC-10s and MD-11s ready to be replaced. It hasn't quite worked out like that in the end, for a variety of reasons often outside of Airbuses control. Still the A330F is a solid aircraft that has no doubt paved the way for the A330P2F programme and you can only expect to see more A330 freighters in the future.

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USAir's PSA Hubris: A West Coast Disaster

American Out West: AirCal and the San Jose Hub

AirCal's Search for Silence: MD-80s to 737s to 146s

A Hell of A Gamble: PSA's 146 Smiliners

Hai Manchester: 5 Star to China

TAESA Pt3: DC-9 Disaster

TAESA Pt2: Old is New

TAESA Pt1: The Little Airline That Could

A330 Freighter: The Right Aircraft Right Now?

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