Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 14, 1991                   TAG: 9102140094
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DANIEL HOWES BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

USAIR CITES LACK OF BUSINESS FOLK ON RED-EYE FLIGHT

Aircraft designed to carry 110 passengers were leaving Roanoke Regional Airport with an average of 10 travelers each day and picked up only 38 or so more on a brief stop in Richmond, the carrier said Wednesday.

That translates to a 43 percent "load factor" - airline talk for the percentage of available seats filled by paying passengers. The figures for the 10:20 a.m. daily run to Charlottesville, the other casualty of USAir's flight trims in Roanoke, were worse. Only one or two passengers boarded here each day, the airline said.

The airline, which earlier this week reported a $221 million loss for 1990's fourth quarter, said it will cancel two of its Roanoke flights beginning May 2. Included is a direct flight to New York that local leaders had argued was important to business travelers.

And numbers like those, especially when USAir needed to fill 66.5 percent of its seats to break even in the fourth quarter of last year, add up to one thing: unprofitability.

Roanoke Valley business leaders had said the service was vital if they hoped to reach New York, attend meetings and return in the same day. While the dozen or so users of the 6:40 a.m. departure may be inconvenienced by the cancellation, it seems doubtful the cutbacks will hurt travelers headed for New York.

"That [New York] flight was kind of on lend to this community," Robert Herbert, airport commission chairman, said Wednesday. "Apparently the business community is not supporting that flight."

Indeed, Herbert, also Roanoke's city manager, and other officials had lobbied USAir and others for service to New York and other major cities in part because of demand from business travelers. The local demand, a key indicator for airlines considering new routes, fell far short of the promises.

"You certainly can't blame an airline for dropping a flight they're taking a tremendous loss on," said Ted Moomaw, president of World Travel Service in Roanoke.

The cancellation, however, may prove a boon to USAir's imperiled jet service to Pittsburgh, local travel agents said. Each day, a Boeing 737-200 leaves Roanoke at 7:15 a.m. and arrives in Pittsburgh 55 minutes later. From there, travelers can take an 8:45 a.m. flight to LaGuardia, arriving at 10:04 a.m. - an hour and 15 minutes later than the cancelled flight.

For now, the days of non-stop service from Roanoke to the Big Apple will remain fond memories of when former Piedmont Airlines operated the service. Six years ago, for example, Western Virginia travelers could choose from two non-stop flights to New York, plus four one-stop trips each way.

USAir's cutbacks will leave Roanoke with 10 daily jet flights to hubs in Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Charlotte, N.C. From there, travelers can make connections to New York and other major U.S. cities. USAir officials say the airline's Roanoke service outshines that for other communities of similar size.

"In looking over their entire cutback, I don't think we did as bad as some of their California routes," said Bob Johnson, a Roanoke County supervisor who is on the airport commission. "Everybody had to take it on the chin."

Three weeks ago, in its first round of cutbacks, USAir said it would eliminate 97 of its 289 flights in California. The carrier will no longer fly from Burbank, Oakland, Ontario, Orange County, Palm Springs or San Jose - metropolitan areas much larger than Roanoke.

Johnson voiced some concern that more "restructuring" - a euphemism for reduced service in such markets as Roanoke - may be in the offing. Another blow may come if USAir's recently announced layoffs affect the carrier's 200 employees in the Roanoke Valley. The airline has not yet said where those layoffs will be made.