ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 10, 1997 TAG: 9701100082
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
USAir Group Inc. and its pilots union are hammering out details of a low-cost airline service that would compete against Southwest Airlines and other budget carriers.
USAir wants the union's approval to create an airline within an airline that will make up 40 percent of its flying time, said sources who have seen a union briefing document on the subject. They spoke on condition of anonymity.
USAir, the nation's sixth-largest airline, must convince the union to accept flexible work rules, lower wages and longer hours.
Both union and company spokesmen declined to comment on the negotiations.
According to the briefing document, USAir management hopes to operate the low-cost service on all routes of up to 1,000 miles and on some routes as long as 1,600 miles, sources told The Associated Press.
The pilots union reportedly envisions a much smaller version of the service it has dubbed US2. It wants to limit US2's fleet to airplanes the size of 737s, flying routes of less than 1,000 miles and offering pilots identical benefits to those of their USAir colleagues.
USAir, based in Arlington, Va., must get its costs down to compete with Delta, Southwest and other airlines in its traditional territory in the Northeast, said airline analyst Raymond Neidl.
``For USAir, this is a realistic plan,'' he said. ``It's going to be a hard thing to swallow for the pilots, there's no doubt about it. But they must realize that this is probably needed if the company is to survive.''
USAir has about 42,000 employees, most of them on the East Coast.
LENGTH: Short : 38 linesby CNB