We use to update this quite a bit, but it has been several months so going to start this over fresh with some news this morning.

AMR, parent of American and Ameircan Eagle, unleashed their major restructuring plan today. OKC will be impacted. The plan calls for the pull down of the ex-TWA hub at St. Louis. In turn, OKC will lose service on Eagle to STL. Doesn't seem like any additional service will backfill this at all. They will be adding first class cabins to their Bombardier CRJ-700 aircraft, which may have an impact on OKC should they be operating here then.

AMR Corporation Takes Significant Steps to Face Near-Term Challenges - Yahoo! Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/AMR-Corporation-Takes-prnews-2896750625.html?x=0&.v=1)

On these airline threads, can you break down the technical jargon for the average layperson please.

When we get to that point sure. : )

Also, Frontier's subsidiary Lynx will add another Dash 8 Q400 flight to Denver, bringing it up to a total of 5 daily flights to DEN now on Frontier. Looks like the additional flight will start in November, or the last part of October.

Venture;

This isnt totally related but I found it an interesting read as I was trying to wake up this morning. It appears the Govt is spending a lot of their funding on small "general-aviation" airports. Obviously this isnt my most knowledgable field so I was curious about your opinion V. I couldnt find the graph they had in the paper so I'm gonna do my best to improvise it.

Large Airports (30) 69% of passenger load recieved $13.1 billion
Medium Airports (37) 20% of passenger load recieved $8.1 billion
Small Airports (72) 8% of passengers recieved $8.1 billion
Non-Hub Airports (244) 3% of passnegers recieved $9.6 billion
Commercial Service Airports (139) 0.1% of passengers $1.6 billion
General Aviation Airports (2,834) 0% of passengers recieved $15.1 billion

I'm not sure which classification our airports fall under, and I'm not qualified to judge how the money is spent, but it seems like an awful lot of the money we are charged in airline, airport, and other fees as we fly around the country using passenger jets are being funneled to the general aviation airpots that cater to the wealthy and corporations that own private jets.
Being familiar with airports and flying I'm hoping you can shed some light on this apparent overfunding of small airports.

Heres a clip from the story:

WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. — One of the USA's newest airports has a 5,500-foot lighted runway, a Colonial-style terminal with white columns, and hundreds of acres for growth. But Kentucky's Williamsburg-Whitley County Airport lacks one feature: airline passengers.
Built using $11 million in federal money, the airport is used only by private airplanes. Many are piston-engine aircraft owned by residents such as Keith Brashear, the airport board chairman who keeps his two-seat Cessna in the airport hangar. On a typical day, the airport has just two or three flights, manager Jessica Roberts says. Some days, there are none.

The Williamsburg airport is the result of an obscure federal program that raises billions of dollars a year through taxes on every airplane ticket sold in the United States. The taxes can add up to 15% to the cost of a flight — or about $29 to a $200 round-trip ticket.

The rest of the article can be found here: Feds keep little-used airports in business - USATODAY.com (http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-09-17-little-used-airports_N.htm)

There is an on going battle with commercial aviation and general aviation. A couple points. 1) Commercial Aviation...passenger airlines in particular...is one of the highest taxed industries in the country. 2) Airlines don't think they should fund the ATC system and other features for general aviation. 3) General aviation airports don't only cater to the wealthy and businesses...this is really a smaller portion than you think.

General aviation airports are really key to a lot of cities. This is where most pilots get their start at a local flying school at age 15 or 16. These airports are points on the map to receive supplies and mail service (not all mail is carried on the bigger jets). Yes they do cater to the business community which is important if there isn't a major commercial airport nearby, the local business can charter an aircraft to where they need to go. Not to mention other uses such as military, law enforcement, medical transport, and other types of cargo.

Now are they a flut of small airports? Sure there are some that aren't needed anymore. In some cases it may be better to consolidate or allow those airports to convert to be privately owned - and a few are going that way.

I'll have to go through and look at the requirements for each ranking again, I believe KOKC (will rogers) is considered a Small Hub Airport for the number of passengers it puts through. Airports like KLAW (Lawton) would be Non-Hub Airports. Whereas Wiley Post, CE Page, etc are all General Aviation Airports.

It is a double edged sword...but general aviation has a huge impact on the economy and its not just the wealthy or big business. Especially out here in Fly Over Country...there are a lot of communities where their local small airport is the best thing they have going for them for transporting goods in and out.

Thanks for the info Venture. I wasn't meaning to knock general aviation airports, although it may have come across that way in my post. Especially ones like Wiley Post (I know it stays busy). But it does seem odd that there are so many rural airports on federal BLM lands. Wouldnt it be cheaper to land a plane 30-40 miles away and truck whatever cargo was headed to that location, than maintain an airstrip that might see 1-10 planes per week.

Any chance of OKC getting some of the increased flights from JFK, O'Hare, and/or Miami?

Any chance of OKC getting some of the increased flights from JFK, O'Hare, and/or Miami?

Right now I would say no. For data available through June of this year, OKC is down around 200K passengers from July 08-June 09 when comparing it to the same period a year earlier. Chicago market dropped from 126 passengers a day to 101 passengers a day. I would imagine New York and Miami are pretty weak as well as they aren't even over 50 passengers per day. So those routes you could argue barely would support a 50-seat jet. Though you could argue connections in New York support the current 1 flight a day on Continental. I'm not sure how much Central/South American markets are in demand from OKC, and they would directly impact the demand for MIA. Right now, I think AA is happy to route people through DFW for that.

I would also point out that over the last year, fares in OKC are up 4% and up 10% over the next 9 years. Which is in the opposite trend of the nation (down around 5% on average). Except for a couple airlines moving to gain market share (Frontier), I would expect capacity will continue to be drawn down in OKC and fares raised. Airlines are going to try to raise yields out of here and start making some money.

Thanks for the info Venture. I wasn't meaning to knock general aviation airports, although it may have come across that way in my post. Especially ones like Wiley Post (I know it stays busy). But it does seem odd that there are so many rural airports on federal BLM lands. Wouldnt it be cheaper to land a plane 30-40 miles away and truck whatever cargo was headed to that location, than maintain an airstrip that might see 1-10 planes per week.

Yeah, I think it depends on the infrastructure in place. You look at a lot of airports in Alaska or other extremely rural cities...you have the airport in town and the town right there...and that's it. Very little if any adequate road network connecting towns. Or no company there to truck the shipments around.

Yeah the airport price tag is pretty high, but these are typically investments that last for decades with proper care. I agree there are some airports that don't need to be around or get the millions they do. Then there are some that really need more.

I know this is a little off topic, but I don't know where else to ask it. Has anyone else flown out of Will Rogers about 9:00 am recently? I am planning on getting there about 8:00 and was wondering if the garage would be open. I don't want to have to park in a shuttle lot. I'll sure be glad when the new garage is open.

For those who are interested, I had to park in a shuttle lot AGAIN. I got back last night and my shuttle driver said that they have been told the new garage will be open on Thursday when I mentioned that the garage looked nearly completed.

Referencing this post on A.net: OAG Changes 10/16/09: AA/CO/DL/FL/NW/UA/WN/ZK — Civil Aviation Forum | Airliners.net (http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/4580536/)

Changes are effective from April forward compared to currently available flights.

American to Chicago will go from 3 to 5 daily.
Southwest to Denver will go from 2 daily to 1.8 daily.
Southwest to Houston will go from 3.7 to 3.5 daily.
Southwest to Kansas City will go from 1.8 to 2 daily flights.
Southwest to St. Louis will go from 1.5 to 1.8 daily.

Overall American is giving us the capacity back that is being lost from the St Louis cuts. Southwest is seems like it might be a wash, or and overall net loss of a few seats. Frontier seems to be holding on pretty well in defending the Denver route.

Something to note, DL/NW had a daily DC 9-50 this summer between OKC and MEM. For winter however it will be two CRJ 200s and a daily CRJ 900 to/from MEM.

It appears DL Connection will have 5-6 CRJ 700s between OKC and ATL this winter (but an all CRJ 700 operation as it is moving away from using the now-inefficient CRJ 100s/200s), Frontier has transitioned back to an all-Lynx operation with Q400 turboprops but 5 daily, UA will have all-Airbus mainline service to/from DEN as the last of its 737s gets retired, Southwest is still around 19 daily with its current airports served to/from OKC, and DL Connection/NW Airlink will maintain a daily CRJ 900 to/from DTW.

From what I know TUL still gets a 757-200 daily on DFW-TUL-DFW and will get a mainline MD 82/83 ORD-TUL-ORD in Summer '10.

I'm shocked more Tulsa flights aren't mainline and larger aircraft simply for repositioning for maintenance there.

I'm shocked more Tulsa flights aren't mainline and larger aircraft simply for repositioning for maintenance there.

TUL's traffic levels are smaller than OKC's, so having more mainliners on short hops wouldn't be profitable anyway.

I'm shocked more Tulsa flights aren't mainline and larger aircraft simply for repositioning for maintenance there.

That pretty much only applies to American Airlines, and I think they do have a few more mainline aircraft serving TUL for that reason.

I'm glad American is increasing service to Chicago. They have more Europe flights from there than DFW and it's more convenient flying through there with 5 flights a day rather than 3. I wish a couple of them were mainline jets. 10 regional jets a day (between American and United) to O'Hare seems ridiculous. And the government wonders why airports are crowded? It's because they allow too many regional jets to the same city. RJs to LAX and EWR make sense; RJs to ATL, ORD, and IAH don't. Period.

That pretty much only applies to American Airlines, and I think they do have a few more mainline aircraft serving TUL for that reason.

That was my point. With the AA base there, I am shocked the service isn't done with more mainline and other larger aircraft to cycle through more. I understand the pax levels are lower than here. Planes have to go there anyway, why not make some money along the way. Just like what RenoAir did with having the mx in OKC, they decided to sell tickets on the flights.

with that same logic, i will continue the point - and wonder why AS does not sell seats on their SEA-OKC mtc runs? ?? This could be done "AT LEAST" one flight per week. ....

You would think at least a few people would make the flight (myself being one possible).

The AS planes are coming to WRWA anyways, why not make one or two flights a week (at least) revenue generating?

with that same logic, i will continue the point - and wonder why AS does not sell seats on their SEA-OKC mtc runs? ?? This could be done "AT LEAST" one flight per week. ....

You would think at least a few people would make the flight (myself being one possible).

The AS planes are coming to WRWA anyways, why not make one or two flights a week (at least) revenue generating?

AS doesn't have to fly a crew to a dead end location this way... If they operated a flight, then they'd have 2, maybe three flight attendants plus two pilots. Also, I wonder if they actually have someone else, on contract, fly the planes here instead of their regular pilots.

Is AS still getting some maintainence work done at ARINC at OKC? I wonder because I never see its flights on FlightAware or Flight Stats any longer.

anyone seen this? makes me feel good inside

"FAA inspectors are pursuing allegations by pilots that one of those MD-80s was believed to be in such poor condition that it was ferried without passengers from Dallas to the carrier's Tulsa, Oklahoma maintenance base at unusually low altitudes to avoid the stress of pressurizing the fuselage during the trip, the newspaper said."

FAA probe of American Airlines may widen: report | Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE59G1GR20091017)

AviationNews.net (http://www.aviationnews.net/?do=headline&news_ID=172776)

I didn't notice this in posts above:
Frontier also announced it will begin nonstop service from Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City to two popular Florida destinations. Beginning Jan. 15, 2010, Frontier will fly nonstop flights four to five times a week between Oklahoma City and Orlando International. And on Jan. 17, 2010, Frontier will fly nonstop flights two days per week between Oklahoma City and Tampa International. These routes will operate seasonally using Embraer E190 aircraft.

Beat me. :-P

Hopefully Florida will finally be able to work from here.

Oct 21, 2009
Frontier Expands Service to Louisville and New Orleans


Seasonal Service from Oklahoma City to Orlando and Tampa Also Added


DENVER, October 21, 2009 - Frontier Airlines today announced it will begin daily nonstop service from its hub at Denver International Airport (DEN) to both Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) and Louisville International Airport (SDF). The SDF service will start on April 19, 2010, while the MSY service will begin June 15, 2010. Each city will have one daily nonstop flight operated by Airbus A319 aircraft.

Also today, Frontier announced it will begin the only nonstop service from Will Rogers World Airport (OKC) in Oklahoma City to two popular Florida destinations. Beginning Jan. 15, 2010, Frontier will fly nonstop flights four to five times a week between OKC and Orlando International Airport (MCO). And on Jan. 17, 2010, Frontier will fly nonstop flights two days per week between OKC and Tampa International Airport (TPA). These routes will operate seasonally using Embraer E190 aircraft.

“We are happy to bring our affordable fares and great customer service to these routes,” said Frontier Vice President of Strategy and Planning Daniel M. Shurz. “The arrival of three new Airbus A320 aircraft next spring allows us to expand to a growing list of destinations. And we are pleased to offer the fastest and most convenient way to get from Oklahoma to Florida.”

Here are the schedules for the new flights:

Oklahoma City-Orlando

Flight
Number
Departs Arrives Frequency
1610 2:50 p.m. 6:30 p.m.
Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat
Tue start Feb 16
Orlando-Oklahoma City

Flight
Number
Departs Arrives Frequency
1611 12:20 p.m. 2:15 p.m.
Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat
Tue start Feb 16
Oklahoma City-Tampa

Flight
Number
Departs Arrives Frequency
1616 2:25 p.m. 5:55 p.m. Thu/Sunday
Tampa-Oklahoma City

Flight
Number
Departs Arrives Frequency
1617 12:05 p.m. 1:50 p.m. Thu/Sunday
Denver-Louisville

Flight
Number
Departs Arrives Frequency
362 11:15 a.m. 3:42 p.m. Daily
Louisville-Denver

Flight
Number
Departs Arrives Frequency
363 4:25 p.m. 5:27 p.m. Daily
Denver-New Orleans

Flight
Number
Departs Arrives Frequency
702 1:25 p.m. 5:02 p.m. Daily
New Orleans-Denver

Flight
Number
Departs Arrives Frequency
701 6:00 p.m. 7:48 p.m. Daily
The OKC flights and DEN-SDF flights will be available for purchase at FrontierAirlines.com on Oct. 22. DEN-MSY will be available on Nov. 1. For the latest updates on new fare sales, follow us on Twitter @FrontierSale.

About Frontier Airlines

Frontier Airlines is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings Inc, an airline holding company that owns Chautauqua Airlines, Midwest Airlines, Republic Airlines and Shuttle America. Currently in its 16th year of operations, Frontier is the second-largest jet service carrier at Denver International Airport, employing approximately 5,000 aviation professionals. Frontier is made up of one of the youngest Airbus fleets in North America offering 24 channels of DIRECTV® service in every seatback along with a comfortable all-coach configuration. Frontier offers routes to more than 50 destinations in the U.S., Mexico and Costa Rica. In addition, Frontier and Midwest have a codeshare partnership that allows passengers of both airlines access to 70 destinations in the U.S., Mexico and Costa Rica.

For more in-depth information on Frontier Airlines and to book tickets, please visit its Web site at FrontierAirlines.com.

Southwest will add a 3rd daily flight to Denver starting in March. The attack on Frontier is starting...but it is good to know, OKC is one of Frontier's stronger cities.

^I have my doubts about the Florida service, especially Tampa flights, but we'll see how it goes. And it's not just OKC WN is adding DEN service to, it's a whole plethora of airports, including several new ones. WN is expanding at DEN like it did at PHL in its early phase of expansion there. TUL gets an additional daily as well so both, OKC and TUL get three dailies from/to DEN.

The biggest thing for Frontier to do is advertise. I don't think any local media picked up on the story yet. There is a market to Florida, but so far any previous attempts have failed. Speculation that Frontier might match the service out of Tulsa is what has me worried. If they do that, both services are doomed. I don't understand why so many airlines duplicate services at both. If Tulsan's want to fly to Florida nonstop, they can drive down to OKC or to another airport.

In other news, Delta will be eliminating a flight to Cincinnati in January. Taking it down to 1 flight a day, and will more than likely be completely out of the OKC-CVG market by mid-next year. It does appear they are going to bump Detroit up to 2 a day, so that will offset this loss.

^^^

To Frontier's credit, they dropped service to Tulsa for over a year while maintaining a strong presence in OKC. Only recently did they even bring service back to TUL.

The biggest thing for Frontier to do is advertise. I don't think any local media picked up on the story yet. There is a market to Florida, but so far any previous attempts have failed. Speculation that Frontier might match the service out of Tulsa is what has me worried. If they do that, both services are doomed. I don't understand why so many airlines duplicate services at both. If Tulsan's want to fly to Florida nonstop, they can drive down to OKC or to another airport.

In other news, Delta will be eliminating a flight to Cincinnati in January. Taking it down to 1 flight a day, and will more than likely be completely out of the OKC-CVG market by mid-next year. It does appear they are going to bump Detroit up to 2 a day, so that will offset this loss.

You're right about the markets but the more I think about it, the more I get the feeling that at least to some extent, having similar sized metro areas and so on, the top destinations (not served) are also similar that when a carrier looks at connecting one city to a new destination, it also adds the same to the other city. Both cities want more nonstops to both coasts but both are far enough to where most people won't drive 100 miles every time they want to go somewhere their airport doesn't have service to (..."well Tulsa is a large enough city, why doesn't it have nonstops there?"). Also note that XNA (NW Arkansas regional) also has better connectivity than TUL when looked at eastern/western U.S. connectivity. I have feeling that if and when UAX finally adds nonstops between OKC and SFO, TUL will not be far down the road... The air servce demographics are too similar and that's what ends up happening all the time. Then again I may be off on that but just my thinking.

The biggest thing for Frontier to do is advertise. I don't think any local media picked up on the story yet. There is a market to Florida, but so far any previous attempts have failed. Speculation that Frontier might match the service out of Tulsa is what has me worried. If they do that, both services are doomed. I don't understand why so many airlines duplicate services at both. If Tulsan's want to fly to Florida nonstop, they can drive down to OKC or to another airport.


I agree. Frontier has an excellent add campaign with the talking animals that are on the tails of their planes. They are a part of Denver television just as BC Clarks is in OKC at Christmas. Their adds would catch on quickly in any market they are shown.

Haven't posted this in a while, so wanted to get back to it. The O&D data for OKC is available up through the 2nd quarter of this year. Some interesting things to consider, especially when planning travel on just who is REALLY the low fare airline leader on a route.

http://www.anvilcrawlers.com/other/okc2009q2.html

Some highlights...
- With the addition of new nonstops to Orlando, OKC will have nonstop service to its top 13 markets. Tampa is market #21.
- Top 25 markets (which also have at least 92 passengers per day) not served: San Diego (#14), San Antonio (#16), Seattle (#17), Austin (#18), Fort Lauderdale (#19), San Francisco (#20), New Orleans (#22), Sacramento (#23), and Philadelphia (#24).
- Five cities have average fares over $300 from OKC: Indio/Palm Springs CA ($320), Cincinnati ($318), Charleston SC ($317), Columbia SC ($316), and Atlanta ($316).
- Five cities have average fares under $150 from OKC: Kansas City ($111), Dallas/Ft Worth ($119), Denver ($129), St. Louis ($131), and Austin ($135).
- The cheapest city to fly to: Denver on Frontier at $105. Frontier has a 26% market share on the route, compared to Southwest at 35% as the largest on the route. United is in between somewhere but isn't reported.
- Routes with one airline controlling at least 80% of all passengers: Kansas City (Southwest - 98%), Harlingen TX (Southwest - 97%), Omaha (American - 91%), Midland/Odessa (Southwest - 88%), Lubbock (Southwest - 85%), Corpus Christi (Southwest - 84%), and Houston (Southwest - 81%). Interesting to note, the airline with the largest market share is not the low fare leader on 3 of those routes: Harlingen - Continental is $19 cheaper, Omaha - United is $70 cheaper, and Lubbock - American is $7 cheaper.

Who offers the lowest fares to what cities?

American: Atlanta, Birmingham (AL), Boston, Charleston (SC), Colorado Springs, Ft Myers, Glendale (CA), Indio/Palm Springs (CA), Lubbock, Madison, Memphis, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Reno, Richmond, St. Louis, Tuscon, and Washington.

Continental: Baton Rouge, Fort Lauderdale, Harlingen, New Orleans, Ontario (CA), Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Ana (CA), Tampa, and West Palm Beach.

Delta: Buffalo, Cincinnati, and Miami.

Frontier: Albuquerque, Boise, Denver, Portland (OR), Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Seattle, and Spokane.

Northwest: Charlotte, Cleveland, Columbus (OH), Des Moines, Detroit, Greenville, Harrisburg, Indianapolis, Knoxville, Louisville, Milwaukee, Nashville, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Raleigh/Durham, and Valparaiso (FL).

United: Columbia (SC), Dayton, Hartford, Las Vegas, Manchester (NH), Oakland, Omaha, and Providence.

Southwest: Albany, Austin, Baltimore, Chicago, Corpus Christi, Dallas/Fort Worth, El Paso, Houston, Jackson (MS), Jacksonville, Kansas City, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Midland/Odessa, Norfolk, and San Antonio.

You're right about the markets but the more I think about it, the more I get the feeling that at least to some extent, having similar sized metro areas and so on, the top destinations (not served) are also similar that when a carrier looks at connecting one city to a new destination, it also adds the same to the other city. Both cities want more nonstops to both coasts but both are far enough to where most people won't drive 100 miles every time they want to go somewhere their airport doesn't have service to (..."well Tulsa is a large enough city, why doesn't it have nonstops there?"). Also note that XNA (NW Arkansas regional) also has better connectivity than TUL when looked at eastern/western U.S. connectivity. I have feeling that if and when UAX finally adds nonstops between OKC and SFO, TUL will not be far down the road... The air servce demographics are too similar and that's what ends up happening all the time. Then again I may be off on that but just my thinking.

O&D stats would tend to back your argument pretty well. While I think people WILL drive over 100 miles for low fares or nonstop service (see people going to Dallas or Wichita for Allegiant), there may be enough of the local market to make service work.

Comparison Markets:

Orlando, FL
OKC - 196 pax per day
TUL - 164 pax per day

Tampa, FL
OKC - 100 pax per day
TUL - 107 pax per day

San Francisco, CA
OKC - 101 pax per day
TUL - 56 pax per day

I could see F9 or another airline attempt TUL to Orlando based on a fairly strong market. I Think Tampa is too weak individually that F9 (Frontier - sorry for typing in code lol) will need OKC to draw from TUL some to make it work. Can they pull 50 pax a day from TUL? Not sure, but I would guess at least 15-20 will make the drive. San Francisco looks way too weak for TUL right now. United has 38% of the market on the route already, largest in the market, but that is at a premium of $16 over Southwest (lowest in market and 17% market share). Maybe it could work...but it'll come down to scheduling to get the people going through Denver or LAX instead.

I agree. Frontier has an excellent add campaign with the talking animals that are on the tails of their planes. They are a part of Denver television just as BC Clarks is in OKC at Christmas. Their adds would catch on quickly in any market they are shown.

The Frontier commercials are genius and I always love watching them.
Commercials - Frontier Airlines (http://www.frontierairlines.com/frontier/fun-stuff/commercials.do)
YouTube -Frontier Commercials (http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=30721CC5F6FDA668&search_query=frontier+airlines+commercials)
Animal Tales - Frontier Airlines (http://www.frontierairlines.com/frontier/fun-stuff/animal-tales.do)

Revealed today that Frontier/Midwest will be adding Omaha-Orlando/Tampa. Aircraft will original in OMA fly to Florida and then do the OKC turn before returning to RON at OMA.

Effective January 2010 Delta will cut 2 daily flights to Atlanta and go down to 5 daily.

New 1500 space Airport parking garage opened last Monday. Garage rate goes to $7.00 on Dec 1. Surface lots 2 & 3 to go up $1.00 on Dec 1 also.

Why is the airport website so incredibly out of date?


No news posted in all of 2008 or 2009.
No mention of United flying to Washington Dulles.
No mention of Southwest flying to Baltimore/Washington or Denver.
No mention of Frontier starting to fly to Orlando or Tampa.
No mention of parking price increases.
No mention of the new garage being open.
Incorrect gates listed for airlines.
Still have Northwest information listed.

Because they really don't care about the website?

I've been tempted to get an "unofficial" airport site up and going. I've been helping an old high school friend with one for his local airport for a few years, and it gets more traffic than the "official" site.

oh venture, that would be a WONDERFUL idea! I wonder if there is some way it could tie to OKCTalk or somehow be co-sponsored??? (Pete :) ).

Anyways, yes - the official OKC airport site is ridiculous and needs 'competition' (much like our healthcare) in order for it to be more reliable and efficient.

How can they not care?!? I mean, it's obvious they don't, but geeezz..........

It's a PR function for our city, a 'first impression' and they are derelect in not understanding this.

Venture, it would be great if you could prod them along by creating one. For years, I've cringed when looking at the WRWA website. It's pitiful. It's embarrassing. A look at some other airports websites reveals how bad WRWA's is. Take a look at: Austin, Portland, OR, Nashville. Even Tulsa International. The list is endless.

A site with nice pics of the new terminal (preferrably with people in them), good color scheme (use the sandstone and marine/green color of the existing signage), terminal information interacting maps, reflecting all the services the airport offers. It's not hard.......

And not to go off and misdirect the thread..........but:

The parking garages could really stand some cleaning. Esp the small, front, 2-level garage, where the rentals are kept. The lower level is nasty: cigarette butts everwhere, grime, dirt, litter fill the curbs and cracks in the pavement. The upper level, in the new escalator area, is almost as bad.

Last year, I wrote a letter (or email - dont recall) to M.Kranenburg about it. Got a typical reply saying he didn't think it was bad and that it was the responsibiltiy of the rental car companies.....something like that.

Bottom line: it's still just as dirty and nasty today as it has been. Admin needs to pay attention to details, just as much as the number of flights.

Yeah, I hate to admit it, but venture is right, they really don't care about keeping the website updated. They kept Allegiant as one of the airlines flying to/from the airport for almost a year after it stopped service. Other airports seem to have no problems keeping their websites updated, even airports like XNA (Northwest Arknasas Regional) and other smaller ones do a better job than WRAs administration does with its website.

By the way, did you know TUL will be getting a dedicated viewing area for spotters? Yep, they had a golf tournament to raise funds for a separate viewing area with picnic tables and such (much like what Austin-Bergstrom has) so aviation enthusiasts can continue to watch planes. Wish we had something like that.

That website is embarrassing. I just took a look at a few airports I have visited within the past 2 weeks and all were much better. Look at a couple of smaller airports which both have updated info within the last few days. Des Moines had a news update just today.

FlyWichita.com (http://www.flywichita.org/)

Des Moines International Airport, Des Moines, Iowa (http://www.dsmairport.com/index.htm)

I like the way many airport sites have big graphics to click straight to visitor information. Nothing like it for OKC.

Our city is failing us here. Airport Trust, where are you? Spend millions of dollars to update an airport and then fall down and fail to spend a thousand dollars (or less) to update the public face of our airport to the world?

I guess if it were only downtown it would get the attention it deserves.

Hum picking a domain name sucks for this. :-P

Nm

Delta will be adding 1 additional flight, total of 3, to Detroit in June.

Honestly, most airport web sites suck. To much text and not enough visual features. A nice airport website would look more like the intro to a child's computer game or a DVD menu. Instead of just a line of links it would be better to have a visual from inside the lobby with signs like Baggage Claim, Ticketing, Parking, Ground Transportation, Car Rental, Terminal Map, Arriving Flights, Departing Flights, Lounge/Food Service, Airport News - just like you would actully see at the airport.

OKC-DTW going from 2x daily to 3x daily on NW. (NWA filed the flights in OAG because SOC hasn't been granted, at the end of this month when it is granted, all NW flights in OAG will officially be filed under DL)

Beat me to it venture. Maybe I only saw the first page in this thread.

No worries. :) If you do beat me, be sure decode your posts. Only a handful here know the meanings of everything, so you'll start getting some grumpy responses if you type in all code. I've learned my lesson over the years. LOL

Yeah, I'm used to the A.net script that makes them an acronym. LOL

About the website, I am pretty good with PHP/HTML/JS etc. I started to make one a few months ago, but I kinda forgot about it. If you and I want to go at it together I'd be more than happy to help. okcaviation.net if isn't taken is a pretty good name.

Not to interrupt the acronym party, but are there any places near the airport that are good for watching planes come and go (preferably an area where Homeland Security/OKCPD won't get the heebie-jeebies)?

I'm a pretty frequent spotter. The parking garage is good, just park in the short term. I've never been run off. OKC is spotter friendly, just don't break the law or look like you are breaking the law and they'll leave you alone. The Post Office is also good. I wrote this:

Spotting In Oklahoma — Aviation Photography Forum | Airliners.net (http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/aviation_photography/read.main/338329/#16)

I mistyped, Spot C is actually S. Meridian not Portland.

Nashville International Airport - BNA (http://www.flynashville.com/default.aspx)

I think our airport could change the site to something like that, it wouldn't take a ton of work. Hell, I would do it for free, just because it is an embarrassment to our city, if they gave me the opportunity.

I'm a pretty frequent spotter. The parking garage is good, just park in the short term. I've never been run off. OKC is spotter friendly, just don't break the law or look like you are breaking the law and they'll leave you alone. The Post Office is also good. I wrote this:

Spotting In Oklahoma — Aviation Photography Forum | Airliners.net (http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/aviation_photography/read.main/338329/#16)

I mistyped, Spot C is actually S. Meridian not Portland.

Thanks! Very informative (I forget sometimes that there is a west side of the airport, LOL!)

Nashville International Airport - BNA (http://www.flynashville.com/default.aspx)

I think our airport could change the site to something like that, it wouldn't take a ton of work. Hell, I would do it for free, just because it is an embarrassment to our city, if they gave me the opportunity.

The Nashville web site isn't any better than any other. Just text arranged in boxes.

Instead of boxes and texts an illustration showing the inside of the terminal with roll-over hotspots would be much more user friendly. For example, instead of a box that says "Wi-Fi Services" how about a lady sitting in a chair using her lap top. When you roll-over that part of the illustration it displays the text "Wi-Fi Services". People are visual in nature which is why even the youngest children can play video games before they can read.

Here is another example. Instead of text in a box that says "Construction Updates" there could be some Bob the Builder type guys in the background cutting wood on a saw horse. When you roll your mouse over it the text "Construction Update" appears. It will make people want to explore the web site.

Just joined the forum but, as a GA pilot pursuing a professional position, it's good to see aviation discussion here. Glad people recognize aviation as a lifeline for Oklahoma.

November 2009 statistics are now available:
http://flyokc.com/releases%5CNov%2009%20Activity.pdf
Everything is down except for Passenger Numbers, which is a good thing. November 2009 saw a 1.53% increase in passengers than November 2008. Now, that is not a number to get too excited about, but it does indicate either a bottoming out of traffic declines (which is supported by the past few months) or an increase in holiday traffic. YTD traffic is down approximately 9%, though.


The Nashville web site isn't any better than any other. Just text arranged in boxes.

Instead of boxes and texts an illustration showing the inside of the terminal with roll-over hotspots would be much more user friendly. For example, instead of a box that says "Wi-Fi Services" how about a lady sitting in a chair using her lap top. When you roll-over that part of the illustration it displays the text "Wi-Fi Services". People are visual in nature which is why even the youngest children can play video games before they can read.

Here is another example. Instead of text in a box that says "Construction Updates" there could be some Bob the Builder type guys in the background cutting wood on a saw horse. When you roll your mouse over it the text "Construction Update" appears. It will make people want to explore the web site.

It looks 1,000x better than our site:

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/7351/compq.jpg

It looks 1,000x better than our site:

LOL - yes but 1000 X 0 is still 0.

OKC-LAX goes from 1X->2X daily starting in April.

Oklahoma City -> Los Angeles Intl. 1 daily to 2 daily, beginning April. Will be served on a CRJ7 (Canadair Regional Jet 700).
OKC-LAX 640pm-750pm (local times)
LAX-OKC 709pm-1153pm (local times)

Also, people -- our new F9 (Frontier) service to MCO (Orlando) and TPA (Tampa) is NOT selling good. I think it is due to the bad flight times and (lack of) advertising. If you want this service to continue, support this route. I know if the service makes it until summer I will be supporting it.