In the past few years, US airlines have started using 757s, their biggest and longest range narrowbody jet, to serve smaller markets in Europe from their hubs in the Northeast. Continental was the innovator here from Newark, and US Airways an aggressive follower from Philadelphia. One of the markets US Airways has served on 757s the past few summers was Oslo, the Norwegian capital. The route had been doing well, and there apparently was even talk of offering service year-round.
Then things changed in a hurry. Flying to Oslo more months of the year would have been based upon it remaining a niche market. No luck on that — Continental will be doing double daily 757s next summer (up from 10 a week this past summer) and SAS is adding a big A330-300 on Oslo-Newark as well. So faced with increased competition, US Airways won’t be operating Philadelphia – Oslo at all this coming summer.
So not a good sign at all about building up US Airways’ transatlantic route structure.
