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Aviation History
1989
1989 - 0034.PDF
The old and the new: 146s in Presidential livery make way for the United Express aircraft It was only this year that Presidential intro duced several new business markets to its network, including the routes from Birming ham and Mobile (Alabama); Columbia (South Carolina); Wilkens-Barre/Scranton (Pennsylvania); arid Shenandoah Valley and Lynchburg (Virginia). "With the new Dash 8-300s we have a 50-seat aircraft which we can use efficiently on our growing established routes," Pareti says. He adds that there are destinations in Ohio, New York State, Kentucky, and the Carolinas which are not served by United and Presidential where he believes there is route development potential. He plans to utilise the Jetstream 31s on most of the new routes, building up the capacity in order to 32 bring in the -300s. The first cities to receive the Dash 8-300 service are likely to be Roanoke and Newport News/Williamsburg/Hampton (via Patrick Henry International Airport, Virginia); Allentown / Bethlehem / Easton (Pennsyl vania) and Binghampton (New York). Presidential expects to put the first Dash 8s into United Express scheduled service about July next year. Aircraft deliveries are to continue through the rest of the year and into 1990 and 1991. While Presidential appears to be on the road to recovery, the regional is still sorting through the financial problems of the last three years. According to vice-president/ comptroller John Utter, the airline is "not out of the woods yet". Presidential was one of the first airlines to believe that Washington's Dulles airport was a potential second hub for the US capital. In heralding the merits of Dulles, Presidential almost created its own downfall, however. United and New York Air (later Continental) both began operations from the airport, competing directly with Presidential. The decision to join up with Continental in an agreement to fly as its feeder airline, Continental Jet Express, and the collapse of this partnership, left Presidential with financial problems and few major niche routes. Presidential's figures revealed that it was losing between $1-5 to $2 million per month. The airline then faced its second major financial problem. After relinquishing its bigger and stronger routes to Continental, Presidential experienced a rapid decrease in traffic and load factors dropped to below 30 per cent. Fight to survive Seeking to stave off financial ruin, Presiden tial sold its charter operation, Key Airlines, to World Airways. It also converted its fleet of Beech 99s and 1900s (acquired through Presidential's earlier purchase of Colgan Airways) to seven of BAe's Jetstream 31s, and converted its mix of 737s and BAe 146s to a jet fleet of eight 90-seat 146s. Utter said that the decision to utilise both the 146s and low-cost, efficient 31s and to concentrate on the smaller, lower-traffic/ higher-yield routes helped to curtail the airline's losses. The agreement with United Airlines was signed in January 1988, and by the following month Presidential had re-established all its former major routes. Presidential's United Express service began in February. Pareti claims that the regional airline's load factors have grown significantly and the company has seen its first profits. Its load factor rose from a crippling 35-9 in its last two full months as Continental Jet Express to 53-1 per cent in March. Presidential's latest figures show that the airline's net earnings in the 1988 July quarter were $287,000, with operating revenues of $18-3 million and expenses of $17-8 million. Operating earnings for the quarter were $539,000. The July quarter became the airline's second consecutive profitable quarter. Passenger load factors for the first nine months of this year averaged more than 45 per cent and increased by almost 6 per cent from 32 • 6 for October 1987, to 38 • 5 per cent for October 1988. Pareti remains quiet about the possibility of establishing another hub for Presidential. He says that in five or ten years time he may look at another hub network, but claims that he has not thought seriously about where this might be. "Dulles has become one of the fastest-growing airports in the US, and, for Above The yet-to-be produced Dash 8-300s will fill the 50-seat market for Presidential Airways. Below The BAe Jetstream 31 serves Presidental Airways on its short-haul flights across the US Eastern regions FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 7 January 1989
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