Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 18, 1994 TAG: 9409170009
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Greg Edwards
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The airline calls the new services - which include roomier seating for business travelers on short flights and more first-class seats on longer flights - an "important building block" in its program to return to profitability.
USAir has been posting quarterly losses on nearly a regular basis for several months. The airline had a $200 million loss in the first quarter of this year but surprised industry analysts with a $13.8 million profit in the second quarter.
The new short-haul service called "Business Select" features a cabin with convertible seats and moveable partitions so the plane can be adjusted quickly to meet demand for a level of service. Seat width will be increased from 17 inches to 19 inches for the business traveler and up to 3 inches more of leg room will be provided.
Customers also will get reserved overhead storage for carry-on bags, separate check-in lines and priority baggage pick-up, among other amenities.
USAir announced the new services with a big news conference in Arlington on Sept. 8. The airline's announcement was overtaken by news: the crash of Flight 427 near Pittsburgh, which killed 132 people, including three Western Virginians.
It reminded me of earlier in the summer when a USAir jet crashed while landing at the Charlotte, N.C., airport on July 2, killing 37 people. The next day's Roanoke Times & World-News carried a story about a USAir-sponsored class to help people overcome their fear of flying.
This is not the kind of publicity that any airline can afford and particularly USAir in its already debilitated state.
But experts say that crashes don't hurt an airline's image over the long run, and USAir's new passenger services may outlast the public's collective memory of deadly skies of 1994. In any case, the airline is hoping the investment in the new services attracts new business.
USAir Chairman Seth E. Schofield said the new services are grounded in extensive marketing research. The airline now has "an encyclopedia of information about [its customers] and we know what they expect, need and view as value," he said.
Research is good and bigger seats would be nice but at the top of most people's lists is getting where they're going in one piece. That's the most important service USAir can offer.
Also in the mailbox this week: a package from John Randolph, director of Virginia Tech's Center for Coal and Energy Research. Randolph probably knows as much about the Virginia coal industry as a whole as anyone in the state.
The package contained a report Randolph had given to a recent mine safety meeting at Virginia Tech. He painted for the conferees a picture of a Virginia coal industry in transition, both in terms of employment and markets.
Six percent fewer tons of coal were mined in Virginia last year than the year before, with all of the decline taking place at underground mines. While less coal was mined from under ground, more was stripped from the sides of Virginia mountains. The 10 million tons stripped last year was the most since the federal strip mine reclamation law was passed in 1977.
The number of coal miners in the state - 9,146 - was more than the year before but they worked less, total hours dropping 9 percent and wages 7 percent. The total wages earned by Virginia coal miners was only half of what they earned in 1984. Still the productivity of miners was the highest on record, 23/4 tons per miner, Randolph said.
Coal exports at Hampton Roads have been dropping, something that's been a major concern of the Norfolk Southern Corp. over the past several months. Exports dropped 9 percent in 1992, 29 percent last year and 18 percent for the first half of this year. Increased purchases of coal by U.S. utilities made up for some of the loss in coal exports.
Finally, the mail brought a report from the state Department of Economic Development on Virginia's showing in the global economy, in which coal exports play a large part.
Virginia's exports were $9.3 billion last year, a decline of 7 percent from a year before and attributable in large part to recession in Western Europe and Japan. Western Europe gets more Virginia exports than any other region, accounting for $3.8 billion, or 40 percent, last year. Japan received $1.2 billion in Virginia exports, the most of any single country.
Since John Rolfe began cultivating Virginia tobacco with Pocahontas at his side, tobacco has been a major Virginia export. It continued its role as the top export last year, accounting for $2.3 billion in trade. Industrial machinery at $1.24 billion and coal at $1.2 billion followed in the second and third positions.
The state says the best prospects for export growth this year are in Canada and Mexico as the North American Free Trade Agreement reduces tariffs and other trading barriers. Canada already follows closely behind Japan as the second-largest single purchaser of Virginia exports.
by CNB