Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC
AMERICAWEST Airlines has responded to a rising chorus of complaints from customers and has cut back operations in a bid to reduce cancellations and improve on-time performance.
Four aircraft have been temporarily taken out of scheduled service to act as additional spares. This has reduced the number of daily flights by 3.5%, from 880 to 863. In addition, the airline will increase maintenance resources to return aircraft to service more quickly.
America West - based in Phoenix, Arizona - has one of the worst records among major US airlines for flight cancellations and delays. According to US Department of Transportation (DoT) figures for the 12-month period to the end of May, America West ranked 10th, with only 66.6% of flights arriving on time. The airline also has more complaints per passenger than any other major, according to the DoT.
The carrier blames the problems on the failure of its maintenance infrastructure to keep pace with route growth. Available seat kilometres have been growing at a rate of 8-10% annually as the airline has added flights, but the flight completion rate has dropped to 96%.
Doubling the number of spare aircraft is a short-term fix to raise America West's completion rate to the industry-standard 98.5% and give time for longer-term actions to take effect. These include restructuring line maintenance, with a team tasked with returning aircraft to service promptly.
To increase capacity for scheduled maintenance, two additional lines will be added temporarily: one at America West's Columbus, Ohio, facility for the Airbus A320; and another for the Boeing 737 at a location to be decided.
"Our focus is on cancellations" America West says, although the airline is taking action to reduce overbooking and improve baggage handling, which are two other areas of complaint.
Source: Flight International
