UAL NewsrealToday's News: 1. United Announces Changes Effective with the Fall Schedule 2. Onboard Service Takes Steps to Cut Costs, Generate Revenue
NEWSREAL Good morning.......this is news for June 27-30, 2008 ---------------------------------------------------- Today's News: ---------------------------------------------------- United Announces Changes Effective with the Fall Schedule ---------------------------------------------------- As a result of our ongoing efforts to size the business appropriately to reflect current market conditions and put United on a path to profitability, we have announced changes to our fall domestic and international schedules. Domestic Changes We have decided to exit the Ft. Lauderdale (FLL) and West Palm Beach (PBI) markets effective September 2. Additionally, effective November 2, the Greensboro, North Carolina station (GSO) will be served by United Express only. * To assist our employees, Human Resources representatives will work closely with IAM and senior leadership to address individual employment options for the 49 IAM-represented CSRs and three salaried and management employees in FLL and the 17 represented and two salaried and management employees in PBI. * Our 36 IAM-represented and three salaried and management employees in GSO will continue to operate the station through the transition, and United will participate in the bidding process for ground handling operations there. We will issue the RFP for those services in the coming weeks, and expect to make a decision in late fall. International Changes We will be removing the following international flights from our fall schedule: Effective October 25: San Francisco (SFO)-Nagoya, Japan (NGO) Los Angeles (LAX)-Frankfurt (FRA) Denver (DEN)-London (LHR) Effective September 2: San Francisco (SFO)-Taipei (TPE) Chicago (ORD)-Mexico City (MEX) ORD-Narita (NRT)(second daily) When the SFO-NGO route is removed from service October 25, we will exit the NGO market and the station will close. United will continue to serve customers in Nagoya through codeshare flights to Narita with Alliance partner ANA. * When we remove the second daily flight between ORD and NRT, the aircraft for the remaining ORD-NRT route will be up-gauged from a B777 to a B747. * Also effective September 2 we will re-institute the NRT-TPE route, which will complement our current codeshare flight with ANA. * We will be offering our eight NGO employees alternative roles with United. New Flying In addition to re-instituting our NRT and TPE flight, we plan to launch service between IAD and Dubai and Moscow October 26, pending government approval. We also will increase flying in those markets where we see the potential for more profitable demand and less competitive pressure, which include several Canadian cities served by our DEN and ORD hubs. Along with the entire airline industry, we are responding to the impact of record-high oil prices that, at current rates, could potentially raise our 2008 fuel costs by more than 3.5 billion dollars over last year. ---------------------------------------------------- Onboard Service Takes Steps to Cut Costs, Generate Revenue ---------------------------------------------------- Across the company, we are taking action to redefine our work and our airline in very difficult economic circumstances. Onboard Service is identifying ways to conserve cash and generate revenue while maintaining a clear focus on both safety and customer service. In the next several weeks, the division will implement staffing and catering changes to help tackle the challenge. "We are taking an overall approach that will enable us to reduce costs while preserving a differentiated product for our premium cabin customers," says Alex Marren, senior vice president-Onboard Service. Effective July 1, we will implement a charge of 6 dollars for alcoholic beverages in United Economy. We will also begin charging for alcoholic beverages in the economy cabin on all Pacific and intra-Asia flights beginning August 1. Also beginning August 1, we will conduct tests offering a la carte snack items available for purchase in the economy cabin for 3 dollars. These items, including cookies, candy, chips and trail mix, are in 4- to 5-ounce portions and are in line with our strategy of offering customers more items that they value and can choose from accordingly. The U.S. domestic testing, to run through the summer, will include Denver-Seattle flights and Denver-San Francisco, as well as Chicago-Denver and Chicago- Boston trips. International flights participating in the test will include Los Angeles-London and Los Angeles-Frankfurt flights, as well as San Francisco- London and San Francisco-Frankfurt flights. Staffing changes to go into effect August 1 include reductions in flight attendant staffing on the Boeing 777XA and B747OB aircraft, as well as B757 and p.s. flights. We will implement these changes with an eye toward maintaining a clear differentiation between the three cabin products, as well as between United First and United Business on international flights. We continue to enlist the ideas of our flight attendants to streamline service procedures so that we continue to serve our customers in the best and most efficient way possible. Flight attendants have begun accepting the "Early Out" option for eligible flight attendants, which goes into effect August 1. In addition, we continue to offer unpaid schedule flexibility, including special leaves of absence and both 30-day and daily authorized no-pay offerings. The division is also undergoing salaried and management organizational reviews that will result in workforce reductions of approximately 20 percent, similar to other divisions.
---------------------------------------------------- BigJetCity.com |
Web site hosting by All Brevard Web Sites