Good Essay On US Airways

Report

Executive Summary
In conclusion, US Airways has a strong position in the market, in comparison with other carriers. US Airways has the third biggest number of airplanes, with JetBlue and United Airlines having the biggest number of airplanes. On the other hand, the airline is the leader in the use of different airports, in which JetBlue and United Airlines are its competitors in the use of airport facilities.
CLT, PHX and PHL are the three airports that United Airways uses the most, and at the same time the traffic by other carriers is much lower compared to United Airways. However, JetBlue and United Airlines have other airports that they use the most. Delta airline is the main competitor of United Airways in terms of operational time in terms of flight. The time that the planes of these companies spend in the air is approximately the same. However, United Airways has an advantage of a popular 130-miles route. A single area that United Airways is weaker is in the rate of cancellation of flights. Compared to other airlines such as Delta in terms of flights cancellation in a week, United Airways always suffers hitches that lead to the cancellation of atleast one flight. Despite this factors that affect United Airways, it remains a strong company with great advantages with high potential in the market.

This report is based on the Fleet Tracking data from Oct-5-2014 to Oct-11-2014.
All data is based on Airbus 320 aircraft only.
US Airways operations:
A comparison of aircrafts:
There were 65 Airbus 320 airplanes in flight operations during the week.
The maximum number of planes in operation during the day was observed on Sunday and Thursday, when 64 planes were in the sky. The minimum number of 61planes was observed on Tuesday. Our major competitors that also have A320 in operation are JetBlue and United Airlines.
JetBlue operates 125 A320 planes in a week. The maximum number of planes that was in operations was 115 on Friday and the minimum was 108 on Tuesday.

There were 96 A320 planes operated by United Airlines in this week.

On the other hand, Delta Airlines had 67 airplanes in operation from Oct-5-2014 to Oct-11-2014. Other minor competitors are Frontier Airlines and Virgin America, which used only 23 and 43 A320 planes respectively.

Comparison of airports and routes

US Airways Top Airports
The list of TOP-airports used by US Airways includes CLT, PHX, PHL, EWR, TPA, FLL, IAH, PIT, BWI, and ATL. The three main hub airports are CLT, PHX and PHL, which handled flight departures 386, 306, 168 times this week respectively.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) is the biggest hub airport used by US Airways, and it was used for 16 flights by other companies (8 by Delta, 5 by Frontier, 3 by United Airlines). At the same time, CLT served 386 planes of US Airways carrier.
(However, these 3 other companies have routes that are different from the routes of US Airways:

CLT-MSP, CLT-SLC, CLT-IAD, CLT-ORD)

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) is another major airport that is often used by many carriers. US Airways used it for 306 times this week, while JetBlue used it for 14 times, United Airlines for 30 times, Delta for 41times and Frontier Airlines for 7 times this week.
It is noted that the problem with PHX is the same as with CLT. There are also other companies which use more routes that are not used by US Airways, including PHX-BOS, PHX-JFK, PHX-DTW, PHX-MSP, PHX-SLC, PHX-DEN, PHX-EWR, PHX-IAH, PHX-ORD, and PHX-SFO.
Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) is the third major hub used by US Airways. US Airways operations outweigh all other competitors in the use of this hub. Delta used it 34 times, Frontier 2 times while United used it 21 times. Thus, US Airways had a greater advantage over other carriers considering the fact that US Airways does not use the following routes: PHL-DTW, PHL-MSP, PHL-SLC, PHL-BWI, PHL-DEN, PHL-IAH, and PHL-ORD.
Given the fact that US Airways does not have as many routes as other competitors have, it may be a weak point in terms of operations in the market. (We don't considered if US airways have different type of aircraft to fly those routes in this report)

US Airways airport weaknesses

JetBlue Top 5 Airports are: JFK, BOS, MCO, FLL and LGB.
Delta Top 5 airports are: MSP, SLC, DTW, ATL and BWI
United Airlines top 5 airports are: ORD, IAH, SFO, DEN and EWR
Frontier Airlines Top 5 airports are: Den, IAD, CLE, ATL and MCO.
Virgin America Top 5 airports are: SFO, LAX, JFK, LAS and EWR
It can be seen that the top 3 airports used by US Airways are leaders in the A320 market, and there are no other competitors using CLT, PHX and PHL.
However, the other 7 airports in the TOP-10 are less frequently used than the other airports that belong to the Top-list of the main competitors (JetBlue and United Airlines). Thus, JetBlue and United Airlines can be considered the biggest competitors of United Airways. JetBlue and United Airlines have more airplanes and airports that are in operation than US Airways, taking into consideration of the A320 aircrafts. This comparison shows that Delta is a real competitor for US Airways as these two companies have the same number of flights and aircraft in operation.

Aircraft usage:

The highest average aircraft use was shown by US Airways on Friday (154.5249 min) and the lowest was shown on Wednesday (149.4024 min). On average, US Airways used an aircraft for 50-100 min more per day than Delta. It is also mentioned that US Airways uses more aircrafts on Wednesday (the highest use) than Delta which intensively uses its aircrafts during the day, which is the same for daily and weekly use. US Airways had one cancelled flight N119US from SLC to PHL, and it influenced all the data of that week. According to the given data, US Airways lowest aircraft use is reported on Saturday at 31 planes in one flight, while Delta recording the highest average aircraft usage on Friday (147.9662 min). Overally, US airways records the highest aircraft usage that Delta.

Weekly aircraft time in flight:

US Airways has the lower average aircraft time than Delta, which mostly occurs on Fridays, with about 124.7613 min of time in the air, while Delta's time of operating planes is 126 min more than that of Delta.
The highest weekly aircraft usage of US Airways is on Saturday, which is 370 min, and the lowest weekly aircraft use in the sky is on Monday (26min). Delta's highest flight time is on Wednesday, which is 300min, and lowest flight time is on Thursday at 22 min. The results show that US airways has better weekly results than Delta.

Stage lengths flown

An average mileage of US Airways aircraft stands at 909.0517 miles during the week, with the highest mileage being recorded on Thursday at 930.5742 miles, while the shortest being recorded on Saturday at 852.4164 miles. The longest distance that A320 has covered was 2,552 miles on route ANC-PHX. US Airways planes use this route on a daily basis. The shortest distance was 130 miles on route CLT-RDU. This is also one of the most used routes and planes fly this route every day. Delta's average mileage was 904 miles this week. The longest average distance flown was on Saturday (955 miles) and the shortest was on Tuesday (860 miles). On Wednesday, the longest distance flown was 2,239 miles (route RDU-LAX), and this route is used only once a week, while on the other hand, the shortest distance flown was 120 miles on route DTW-GRR.

Completion percentage

A completion rate of US Airways is higher than Delta's, and this is the only area that US Airways loses to Delta. This week US Airways had one cancelled flight, the flight N119US from SLC to PHL on Monday. Thus, US Airways had only 99.94% of its flights completed this week while Delta had 100%.

D0 performance (departure on time or early) / D15 performance (departure in 15 min)

US Airways highest D0 performance is on Tuesday at 80.89%, with 199 flights departing on time or early. The lowest is on Saturday at 61.54%, with 136 flights departing on time or early. The average D0 performance in this week stands at 70.01%, with 1194 flights departing on time or early. In terms of D15 performance, the day to day and weekly data has increased especially on Monday, Thursday and Sunday. D15 has increased by 20% in those days compared to D0.
An average D15 performance in this week stood at 88.55%, 18.44% more than D0, with Delta performing better in D0 performance than US Airways, for everyday and weekly data, especially on Friday. The highest D0 performance is recorded on Tuesday at 81%, with 210 out of 260 flights departing on time or early, while the lowest D0 performance being recorded on Friday at 68%, with 180 out of 266 flights departing on time or early, with US Airways scoring 72.43% with 176 flights departing on time or early. On the other hand, in D15 performance, there is an increase in day to day and weekly data, with Delta scoring 91% for D15. It is noted that US Airways performance is worse than that of Delta, comprehensively in D0 and D15. Delta has more flights and better scores D0 and D15 performance than US Airways.
There is much attention due to the sudden delay in terms of departure flights in "Apparent anomalies for this week part"

A0 performance (Arrival on time or early) / A15 performance (Arrival in 14 min)

US Airways has an average A0 performance of (58.78%) for this week, with the highest being recorded on Sunday at 66.67% on 160 flights. The lowest A0 performance is on Thursday at (48.44%) on 124 flights.
The weekly A14 performance increased to 81.97%. The data shows a positive trend in the airline market, based on the A14 and D15 figures. In Delta, the A0 and A14 performance is better than US airways. Its average for A0 in the week stands at 68%, with the highest A0 performance being on Saturday at (73%), which has 131 flights and the lowest A0 performance being on Monday at (63%) recording 174 flights. This concludes that Delta's A0 performance is better than US Airways A0 comprehensively.
Delta's average A14 performance for this week increased to 88% compared to A0 performance, and at the same time won all the data compared to US Airways. Delta has better A0 and A14 performance and more flights than US Airways, with a major problem in D0 and D15 performance.

US Airways:

The average first flight of the day for D0 performance in this week is 81.58%. The highest D0 performance for the first flight of the day was on Tuesday at 91.80%, with 56 out of 61 flights departing on time or early. The lowest D0 performance for the first flight of the day was on Saturday at 71.43%, with 45 out of 63 flights departing on time or early.

Delta:

The average first flight of the day for D0 performance in this week stands at 81.58%. The highest
D0 performance for the first flight of the day was on Thursday at 92.40%, with 61 out of 66 departing on time or early. The lowest D0 performance for the first flight of the day was on Saturday at (85%), with 51 out of 60 departures on time or early. It is noted that Delta has better performance for first flight of the day for D0 overall. The only part that US Airways won Delta is on Tuesday, (US Airways 91.80%, Delta 86.2%), but still has a problem and needs improvement to successfully compete with the competitors.

Apparent anomalies for this week

US Airways:
There is a canceled flight, flight N119US from SLC to PHL, which influenced the data of this week.
For Oct-5-2014(Sunday), there are 4 flights with some problems
N622AW aircraft, from CLT-EWR, delayed 122 min for first flight of the day. This influenced the other flights of the day. On the other hand, the other problem is that both CLT and EWR are US airways top airports hub.

N633AW aircraft had 6 flights on Sunday, with 5 out of 6 delaying more than 15 min.

N644AW aircraft from CLT to BWI has only one flight on Sunday, but delayed for 72 min. CLT is biggest hub airport for US Airways.
N664AW aircraft from CLT to PIT delayed for 124 min for first flight of the day. CLT is the biggest hub airport for US Airways and PIT is among the top 10 airports with departures.

For Oct-6-2014(Monday), there are 4flights which have some problems.

N119US aircraft from SLC to PHL is canceled. This flight is the only flight that US Airways never operated completely and this route only flies once on Monday.

Flight N123UW had 4 flights on Monday, with all delaying for more than 30 min.

N664AW aircraft has 4 flights on Monday and all are D15, which can improve the aircraft performance.
N665AW aircraft only has 2 flights on Monday and all are D15.
For Oct-7-2014 (Tuesday), a flight is reported having some problems.
N656AW on route PHX-DEN having two flights on Tuesday both experience delayed departures for more than 30 min.
For Oct-8-2014(Wednesday) 2 flights have some problems as recorded on the spreadsheet.
N633AW aircraft having flights on Wednesday, routes PHX to MOA are delayed for more than 50min.
N669AW aircraft having flights on Wednesday, routes PHX to RNO, and 2 out of 3 is D15 and experiences one delay in departure for 21 min.

For Oct-9-2014(Thursday) there are 5 flights having some problems.

N103US aircraft has 4 flights on Thursday with all experiencing delayed departures. Two flights are D15, on Routes DFW-PHL, PHL-ORD and PHL-SAN.
N104UW aircraft has 3 flights on Thursday with all experiencing delays in departure for more than 80 min, on routes PHL-MSP and PHL-ATL.

N604AW aircraft has 3 flights on Thursday and all of them are D15

N625AW aircraft has 6 flights on Thursday with all experiencing delays in departure, of which 2 out of 6 are D15, and rest of the 4 flights delay for more than 30 min. Routes are PIT-CLT, CLT-JFK, FLT-FLL and CLT-MCI, in which all of the departure airports are US Airways top hub airports.

N673AW aircraft has 2 flights on Thursday and all of them are D15.

For Oct-10-2014(Friday), 6 flights have some problem, according to the spreadsheet.
N103US aircraft only has one flight on Friday and is D15, on route SAN to PHL.
N602AW aircraft has 3 flights on Friday and all of them are D15, on routes PHL-SFO, PHX-CLE, with PHX and PHL being US Airways top 3 hub airports.

N626AW aircraft has 2 flights on Friday and one of them from EWR to CLT delaying for 441 min.

N642AW aircraft has 2 flights on Friday, with all experiencing delays in departure, with PHX to MSP delaying for 15min, and MSP to PHX delaying for 74 min.
N669AW aircraft only has one flight on Friday and experiences delays in departure for 43min, on route PHX to DCA.
N676AW aircraft has 3 flights on Friday with one flight being D15 and the other 2 flights being delayed for more than 20 min, on routes PHX-RNO and PHX-BOS.

For Oct-11-2014(Saturday) 5 flights have some problems according to the spreadsheet.

N103US aircraft has 2 flights on Saturday, which experience a delay in departure for 4min and 140min respectively, on route PHL-FLL

N125US aircraft has 2 flights on Saturday with all being D15, on routes DTW-CLT and CLT-FLL.

N657AW aircraft has 3 flights on Saturday, with 2 delaying for departure for 80min, on route CLT to EWR's. This delay influenced the next flight from EWR to PHX.
N658AW aircraft has 3 flights on Saturday, with 2 flights delaying for more than 20 min, with only one D15 for first flight of the day, on routes LAS-PHL, PHL-MIA and MIA-PHL. The second flight delay influenced the third flights D0 performance.
N663AW aircraft has 3 flights on Saturday and 2 flights were delayed for more than 20min, only one D15 for first flight of the day. Routes are BOS-PHL, PHL-DFW and DFW-PHL, with aircraft N658AW having the same problem. The second flight's delayed departure influenced the third flight's D0 performance.