A bankrupt U.S. airline, which brings over 2,000 travelers to the Bahamas daily, confirmed to the Bahama Journal on Tuesday that its filing for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection will in no way affect its services here. Surprisingly, business is expected to grow locally and regionally.
Tammy Lee, spokesman for the Virginia based U.S. Airways disclosed that services to The Bahamas will not be adversely affected.
“In fact, itﾒs business as usual for most of the operations, but in the Bahamas and the Caribbean in general, we are going to experience some growth that will not be impacted by the Chapter 11, filing,” she said in an exclusive interview with the Journal.
“Moving forward we plan to grow our number of seats in the Caribbean by about 20 percent,” Ms Lee added. “We found that the Caribbean is one of our market strengths and we are going to continue to grow our presence there.”
U.S. Airways is Americaﾒs seventh largest carrier and the first major airline to declare bankruptcy following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The airline that flies daily non-stop flights into
New Providence, Eleuthera, Abaco and Grand Bahama from Florida, Charlotte, Philadelphia and New York, lost $2.1 billion last year.
In order to remain in operation, the carrier sought and received $500 million in private financing.
U.S. Airways is the 14th largest airline in the world, with its $7.83 billion liabilities overshadowing its $7.81 billion in assets.
The airlineﾒs chief executive officer, David Siegel, has predicted a return to profitability. Heﾒs hoping the company can emerge from bankruptcy by the first quarter of next year.
Meantime, American Eagle officials stationed here, yesterday confirmed that local operations will remain unaffected, even though American Airlines intends to undertake a sweeping overhaul – in a bid to cap its huge losses.
The overhaul is inclusive of large lay-offs, jet grounding and fundamentally changing the way it connects passengers at its hub airports.
Reports indicate job loss for that airline in the thousands. However, the cutbacks are expected to save more than $1.1 billion a year.
