People Express as a brand is attempting a comeback, with leadership that includes a handful of the personnel employed during its previous iteration as a ground-breaking but overly ambitious low-cost carrier in the 1980s.
The new venture aims to begin service as soon as this summer and its founders are talking to airlines and lessors about obtaining seven to 10 Boeing 737-400 aircraft by year-end.
The goal this time around is to enter markets—primarily in the Eastern U.S.—where major carriers have scaled back or eliminated service because of mergers, consolidation, fuel price increases, high unit costs or financial troubles.
People Express, which brands itself as PEOPLExpress, believes it can keep costs low enough to succeed in the markets, which may currently have very low frequency service, regional carrier-only service or no nonstop service at all, and do so without charging for items such as checked bags and assigned seats even with fares 40% lower than current rates.
The new airline will be based at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport in Newport News, Va., an airport served by the original Newark-based People Express and about to lose its service from AirTran Airways. It plans to focus on service to Florida, New England, the Great Lakes and the Mid-Atlantic.
Initial destinations likely will include Pittsburgh, Pa., Providence, R.I., West Palm Beach, Fla., and Newark, N.J., and the carrier says it also has plans to serve Orlando and Boston. Pittsburgh is a potential “focus city.”
The company expects to launch with 12 daily departures out of Newport News, growing to about 25 over the first few years, and has an agreement with the airport to use up to five gates.
The new venture aims to begin service as soon as this summer and its founders are talking to airlines and lessors about obtaining seven to 10 Boeing 737-400 aircraft by year-end.
The goal this time around is to enter markets—primarily in the Eastern U.S.—where major carriers have scaled back or eliminated service because of mergers, consolidation, fuel price increases, high unit costs or financial troubles.
People Express, which brands itself as PEOPLExpress, believes it can keep costs low enough to succeed in the markets, which may currently have very low frequency service, regional carrier-only service or no nonstop service at all, and do so without charging for items such as checked bags and assigned seats even with fares 40% lower than current rates.
The new airline will be based at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport in Newport News, Va., an airport served by the original Newark-based People Express and about to lose its service from AirTran Airways. It plans to focus on service to Florida, New England, the Great Lakes and the Mid-Atlantic.
Initial destinations likely will include Pittsburgh, Pa., Providence, R.I., West Palm Beach, Fla., and Newark, N.J., and the carrier says it also has plans to serve Orlando and Boston. Pittsburgh is a potential “focus city.”
The company expects to launch with 12 daily departures out of Newport News, growing to about 25 over the first few years, and has an agreement with the airport to use up to five gates.
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