Kinglobjaw's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘GIG’

Charlotte to Rio de Janeiro. It was supposed to start on 12/2. I know it by heart; I was going to fly that inaugural flight all the way down to Rio de Janeiro. Initial information I received mentions Brazil denying US Airways acess to serve Brazil for the first two weeks of December 2009.

That would make sense since I scanned availability and everything is zeroed out in both direction and both classes of servcie until 12/15.

The 15th of December shows an unsually early 8:30PM departure from Charlotte. The 16th (interestingly enough, two weeks after the Rio service should have commenced) shows a scheduled departure time. The first northbound flight would operate from Rio back to Charlotte on the 16th of December.

Since I still have plans to fly the inaugural southbound flight, I am eagerly waiting to confirm with Scott Kirby, the new inaugural flight date and the reason behind the change.

I will update as soon as I have more information.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Can you believe that the very first Charlotte to Rio de Janeiro service appears to offer only 6 more Envoy seats for sale. This would indicate that within just two days of starting to sell tickets for the flight, twelve seats have been already “grabbed”. One is definitely there as a pilot crew rest, so who are the other eleven? Ocean’s Eleven?

Who could it be? Kinglobjaw’s minions? Maybe! No, haha! Parker’s entourage? Could be! Samba Dancers? I don’t know. Fishy!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Folks an update.

The flights are now loaded in the system for booking purposes. You can book via www2.usairways.com (The new USAirways.com Beta)

Beginning May 27, 2009, the flights will also display “J” and “X”/”I” inventory for upgrades and award bookings respectively.

For mileage/Chairman’s coupons type upgrades minimum fare requirement is $1400 round trip including all taxes and fees for the entire trip. If you choose to use miles, upgrade will cost 30,000 DM miles in each direction. The upgrade clears you on all US Airways operated flights with a First Class cabin from points of origin to the final destination.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

US Airways just posted on their website the date of the new Charlotte to Rio de Janeiro flights. Southbound services beings on December 2, 2009 while the northbound services beings the day after, December 3, 2009.

The information is now available on USAirways.com, however the flights haven’t been loaded into the reservation system.

I’ll be on the inaugural flight. It’s just a matter of securing Envoy seats which I’m focused on.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

For those who haven’t heard yet, US Airways was one of two airlines chosen for the new 2009 Q2 Brazil air services. That means, US’ service from PHL via CLT to GIG will commence in October 2009! Nice!

US is planning to use a 767 for this service, however there is a possibility of an upgrade to the A332 if all goes well and profitable.

Of all the carriers flying to GIG, I think Delta and United should fear the most. US Airways’ proximity of the CLT hub will most likely affect Delta’s ATL-GIG. United’s route from IAD will probably loose some passengers who will prefer to fly from DCA and connect through CLT instead of going out all the way to IAD. Fact of the matter is, DCA is so much more convenient than IAD and everyone knows it!

Again congrats and best of luck to US Airways on the route. May it do well an open up the possibility of new South American routes!

If you’d like to know what I think about US Airways opening an Envoy lounge in CLT, look here: http://www.usaviation.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=45319&view=findpost&p=675396

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

As an ongoing effort to secure rights to fly to Rio De Janeiro (GIG) from Charlotte (CLT), US Airways has just filed a response with the DOT as to why it should be one of the carriers awarded these flying privileges.

You can  read their press release here, while the actual response is available as a PDF file located here.

Most of you already know this will a be a 767 service originating in PHL, however the return portion from CLT-PHL will be on an A320, which is still subject to change.

When I first heard about GIG possibly being US Airways’ newest destination, I thought the new A332 aircraft US is getting would be a great candidate to fly the route. However, it seems US is going the safe way and starting out with the 767 and depending on how the route performs it could get upgraded. I do remember reading about Air Canada using the 777 to one South American city (sorry, I forgot which one) starting in December 2009, so let’s hope for the best- good luck US Airways.

In my opinion US Airways will be getting the privileges on the basis of being a new entrant and bringing in competition to the Southeastern area of the United States. Delta, you have met your match!

Here is the proposed schedule for the flights:

Northern Hemisphere Summer

US800 PHL (6:45PM)  - CLT (8:30PM)    B767
US800 CLT (10:30PM) - GIG (9:00AM+1)  B767
US801 GIG (9:05PM)  - CLT (6:00AM+1)  B767
US801 CLT (7:30AM)  - PHL (9:04AM)    A320

Norther Hemisphere Winter

US800 PHL (6:45PM)  - CLT (8:30PM)    B767
US800 CLT (10:30PM) - GIG (11:00AM+1) B767
US801 GIG (11:05PM) - CLT (6:00AM+1)  B767
US801 CLT (7:30AM)  - PHL (9:04AM)    A320

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark