USA3000 Airlines

USA3000 Airlines

IATA U5 ICAO GWY Callsign GETAWAY
Founded	2001[1]
Fleet size	8
Destinations	21[1]
Headquarters	Newtown Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Key people	Steven E. Harfst, President/CEO John J. Mullen, Chairman[2]
Website	www.USA3000.com

Brendan Airways, LLC, trading as USA3000 Airlines, is a U.S. airline, headquartered in Newtown Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.^[3] It operates a fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft.

History

In 2000, preliminary discussions began at Apple Vacations to outline the organization and launch of an airline.^{[citation needed]} The airline, a sister company to Apple Vacations, would eventually become USA3000 Airlines. Over the course of the following months, preparations escalated and on 21 December 2001, the airline was officially certified as an FAA part 121 operator. At the time, USA3000 Airlines exclusively operated charter flights, from Philadelphia, Newark (in April 2008 the Newark branch shutdown)^{[citation needed]}, Hartford and Columbus, with just two aircraft. A third aircraft was added to the fleet in May 2002 and based in Chicago O’Hare Airport.^{[citation needed]}

USA3000 Airlines’ first destinations were Cancun and Punta Cana. The inaugural flight on December 28, 2001, flew from PHL to CUN.^{[citation needed]} Though flights started to both of these destinations solely as charter service, the airline began offering scheduled air service in 2002. Also in 2002, USA3000 began service to Florida, expanding service to Fort Myers. St. Petersburg, and Fort Lauderdale stations opened in 2003. The origin of the company name is unknown and has never been publicly discussed, although it was likely derived from the now-defunct Canada 3000 Airlines.^{[citation needed]}

Announced in May 2008, USA3000 Airlines began a major drawback of its Florida service, closing all stations except Fort Myers by August 18, 2008. The airline ceased operations in Melbourne, Florida on July 30, and Fort Lauderdale and St. Petersburg/Clearwater on August 18, 2008. In addition, the airline has no plans to resume seasonal service to Sarasota/Bradenton, Florida. USA3000 has cited record-high fuel prices as reason for the service cuts. According to former USA3000 COO Angus Kinnear, "Florida has some of the lowest domestic air fares in the country and only Fort Myers fetches ticket prices high enough to make money with oil at $125 a barrel." In the same announcement, the airline confirmed the continuation of its remaining scheduled service, with a strong focus on maintaining the more profitable international routes.^[4]

St. Petersburg/Clearwater Airport announced on 23 October 2008, that the airline would resume scheduled service to Chicago O'Hare, beginning in December 2008, due to a decrease in oil prices and customer support.^[5]

On January 5, 2009 USA3000 submitted a Statement of Intent to the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) based at Scott Air Force Base to be certified into the country’s Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF). The certification process takes six (6) to nine (9) months and once USA3000 becomes a certified CRAF air carrier, will be able to bid on the military’s domestic charter requirements. USA3000 will also be actively seeking “Ad Hoc” charter opportunities to improve aircraft utilization and are working on enhancements to the website to improve sales, customer service and ancillary revenue opportunities.

In early February 2009, USA3000 announced it would end all of its services from Detroit and Milwaukee on April 20, 2009 citing poor demand and the current economic downturn, USA3000 also stated it would end all of its services from Baltimore starting in the Summer for the same reasons, USA3000 stated that these services are only suspended and are not permanently discontinued, USA3000 will reavaluate these cities later this year and services may resume in Winter 2009.^[6]

Destinations

USA3000 Airbus A320 at Pittsburgh International Airport

Bermuda

• Bermuda (Bermuda International Airport) [Seasonal]

Dominican Republic

• La Romana (La Romana International Airport)
• Punta Cana (Punta Cana International Airport)

Jamaica

• Montego Bay (Sangster International Airport)

Mexico

• Baja California
  • San José del Cabo (Los Cabos International Airport)
• Guerrero
  • Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo (Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International Airport)
• Jalisco
  • Puerto Vallarta (Lic. Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport)
• Quintana Roo
  • Cancún (Cancún International Airport)
  • Cozumel (Cozumel International Airport)

United States

• Florida
  • Fort Myers (Southwest Florida International Airport)
  • St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport)
• Illinois
  • Chicago (O'Hare International Airport)
• Michigan
  • Detroit (Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport)
  • Lansing (Capital Region International Airport) [begins December 27] ^[7]
• Missouri
  • St. Louis (Lambert-St. Louis International Airport)
• Ohio
  • Cincinnati (Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport)
  • Cleveland (Cleveland Hopkins International Airport)
  • Columbus (Port Columbus International Airport)
• Pennsylvania
  • Philadelphia (Philadelphia International Airport)
  • Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh International Airport) [Seasonal] ^[8]

Fleet

As of August 2009, USA3000 Airlines has 8 aircraft in its fleet consisting of:^[9]

• As of September 2009, USA3000's average fleet age was 6 years old.^{[10][dated info]}

USA3000 Airlines flies a fleet composed of solely Airbus A320 jet aircraft that are configured with 168 seats in a single-class configuration.

Most planes are new, delivered from Airbus.

See also

Aviation portal

Companies portal

• List of airlines of the United States

References

External links

• USA3000 Airlines
• USA3000 Airlines Fleet