Monday, January 10, 2005

Pittsblog is Back in Pittsburgh

Last week's announcement that Southwest Airlines will be coming to Pittsburgh in May took the edge off of wondering whether a USAirways airplane would arrive at the gate yesterday to fly me back to Pittsburgh.

Southwest's announcement means, I think, that USAirways has one last chance to get its act together as a company (that means management *and* labor) and survive, at least in some form. It also means that like a lot of outsiders, Southwest sees opportunity in Pittsburgh. (The ever-thoughtful Steve Massey notes the same thing.) But I may be more optimistic than most; just about everyone I was flying with last week seemed to think that it's all over for the carrier but the fire sale. And though a slimmer, competitive USAirways may be better than no USAirways, there is no getting around the fact that some folks, and maybe a lot of folks, are going to lose their jobs.

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