And British Airways just announced NS service from London Heathrow to Austin on a 787 so they are definitely in another league. Would love to have their coverage, but it's just not going to happen.

Great route for AUS to get...to LHR no less. Everything I'm seeing is that this is being driven by their Hi-Tech industries, leisure demand in AUS, Formula 1, and UT. We simply don't have the international IT demand that AUS does. While oil/gas is huge here...how much of that is actually international? We also have to consider a large part of our economy is also gov't jobs driven which doesn't really require much more than what we have now. AUS's true market study showed a demand for 50 pax each way per day and about 200 total to Europe. So with the 787 they'll definitely pull this one off I have a feeling. This just continues to reinforce that we need a true market study done for OKC to really get a clear idea of who to target. The autopilot management gets old.

Great insights, venture. I had a feeling that's how things are.

The airport trust definitely has room for improvement, but our market is what it is at the end of the day. I actually looked for airport in a similar sized market that has similar challenges compared to ours (rather isolated, not a huge tourist city) and found El Paso International. Their passenger counts are very similar when adjusted on a per-population basis.

Our biggest industry (oil and gas) only requires easy access to other oil hubs like Denver and Houston. And we have that in spades. And most people here vacation in surrounding states and I am imagining a good number of those folks drive. So absent a major structural shift we are probably close to maxing out the market.



Is our air service weak? Hardly. I grew up in a city that had nearly 60 nonstop departures a day to around 20 markets nationally. Today...they have on average 6 flights a day to 4 cities (G4 makes up most of those). That's in a city with roughly a million people with in 45 minutes of the airport. For years they were preached "Use it or Lose it" because airport management saw sagging passenger numbers year to year. 9/11 and The Great Recession hit and guess what? Airlines said peace out and pulled the service because people didn't use it. If OKC wants to grow they have to use the existing services here to encourage airlines to spend the assets.


Wow, where did you grow up? That sounds awful.

TSA Pre check coming to OKC and Tulsa TSA Pre?? Expands to 60 Additional Airports | Transportation Security Administration (http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2013/09/04/tsa-precheck-expands-60-additional-airports)

http://www.flyokc.com/statistics/August%202013%20Enplanement.pdf

:|

Frontier being weaker hurts but it also looks like WN and UA are the main reasons for the decline.

No real excuse for performance like that if our economy is humming along as reported. Of course if people can't afford to fly due to low wages then that doesn't help. I think this is just a classic example of our market being saturated and not able to support any additional capacity - unless it is going to hit the lower yield crowd (cough G4 cough).

There's a lot of empty flights. LAX on UA won't be around much longer if it doesn't improve, it is one of the worst routes in the system.

Airlines add/drop flights all the time. There used to be an Austin-Midland direct flight but SWA dropped that about 5 years ago, my wife took it often and she felt good about putting her dad on that flight, Now to get to Midland from Austin you have to fly through another airport. The same for Denver to Midland, yesterday my wife flew from Denver to Amarillo, to DFW to Midland. On other DEN-MAF flights she has flown through Houston, Lubbock, OKC, Tulsa and Las Vegas. The SWA flight runs around $300, UA has a direct flight but it is about $1,000. We drove most of the time between Austin and OKC since there was no direct flight and having to go through somewhere else seemed to take about as long. Plus we could load up a cooler with stuff from Braum's and the grocery store with items we couldn't get in Austin.

There's a lot of empty flights. LAX on UA won't be around much longer if it doesn't improve, it is one of the worst routes in the system.

That's not good...but it is a case of "use it or lose it".


Airlines add/drop flights all the time.

Of course. That is very apparent from those of us that earn a paycheck from our Jet-A addiction. ;)


There used to be an Austin-Midland direct flight but SWA dropped that about 5 years ago, my wife took it often and she felt good about putting her dad on that flight, Now to get to Midland from Austin you have to fly through another airport. The same for Denver to Midland, yesterday my wife flew from Denver to Amarillo, to DFW to Midland. On other DEN-MAF flights she has flown through Houston, Lubbock, OKC, Tulsa and Las Vegas. The SWA flight runs around $300, UA has a direct flight but it is about $1,000. We drove most of the time between Austin and OKC since there was no direct flight and having to go through somewhere else seemed to take about as long. Plus we could load up a cooler with stuff from Braum's and the grocery store with items we couldn't get in Austin.

WN is going to keep dropping the short haul flights like. Financials aren't in line with expectations right now so additional adjustments are on the way.

As much as Midland is booming the flights in/out of there are full most of the time, it is pretty much impossible to get a seat on SWA on a short notice. That was the main reason why we drove down there when my father-in-law decided to terminate care and go into hospice. That decision was on Sunday, no Monday flight available on either SWA or UA so we drove. Pretty much every flight to Dallas or Houston that my wife has been on is completely full no matter the day or time, full of "oilies" as she knows all too well growing up in a family of them.

TSA Pre check coming to OKC and Tulsa TSA Pre?? Expands to 60 Additional Airports | Transportation Security Administration (http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2013/09/04/tsa-precheck-expands-60-additional-airports)

I used pre check last month in Boston and Detroit. It was great. No line to show id and boarding pass at either airport. There was maybe one person at the xray machine but was quick. I think that most people that will get precheck will be seasoned travelers that know how to efficiently get through security and not hold up every else. As it expands though...will be interesting to see if the lines are still efficient.

The nice thing abut precheck versus my global entry is that kids under 13 can go through precheck with you.

I am not traveling enough right now to worry about it but I do have a contractors badge for DIA so that helps get through the lines there. Might be easier to get the Pre-Check since I have already been through a TSA check to get the badge.

Those badges are issued by the airport authority who do their own background check. The TSA is not involved in those.

Those badges are issued by the airport authority who do their own background check. The TSA is not involved in those.
Then why did all the paperwork I had to fill out all say TSA on it? Why did the FBI call my references? The badging office said that it goes to TSA from their office. I realize there are different levels of access, I have a badge and PIN that has access to everywhere but the airfield. I have been through other background checks in the past for badges at the FAA complex OKC and the GSA, in those cases there was FBI questionnaires and calls as well.

Southwest (WN) #62 ? 14-Sep-2013 ? KHOU - KDEN Flight Tracker ? FlightAware (http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA62/history/20130914/2025Z/KHOU/KDEN)

Wow, if you ever needed an idea of which airports in America can handle a 737..this outta show you. Looks like there arent many options between OKC and DEN :)

We've had some horrible weather here in Denver today so I can understand diverting flights but I'd be intdrested to k ow the logic of divertinv to HOUSTON???

We've had some horrible weather here in Denver today so I can understand diverting flights but I'd be intdrested to k ow the logic of divertinv to HOUSTON???

Looks like it was a HOU-DEN flight that diverted to OKC. I'm kinda shocked they sent it here when AMA would be closer. I would imagine COS had bad weather as well, which would have ruled them out. DDC should have been able to handle it as well, but at some point they start looking at what airport has the ground handling capabilities, fuel costs, etc...usually it is a safer bet to send it to a company station instead of a place they don't fly to.

The storms have been rolling up from the south and hitting COS on the way up here. We had hail that looked like snow on the ground in Aurora today, it moved right over DIA after hammering us here.

Then why did all the paperwork I had to fill out all say TSA on it? Why did the FBI call my references? The badging office said that it goes to TSA from their office. I realize there are different levels of access, I have a badge and PIN that has access to everywhere but the airfield. I have been through other background checks in the past for badges at the FAA complex OKC and the GSA, in those cases there was FBI questionnaires and calls as well.

Airport authorities vendor out their background check companies. Sometimes the TSA wins the bid, sometimes they do not. At one point in time the TSA did the background checks for WRWA, but now Wackenhut or some other private vendor does it.

My background check was done by my airline and the result of that test was forwarded to the airport authority who issued my badge. The TSA never touched any of my paperwork, because my airline has it's own background check division. Your company does not and most airports do not, therefore they contract that work out. The result of the background check has to be acceptable to the airport, and not the TSA. The TSA in your case provided the info to the airport who decided if you were eligible for a badge.

Airport authorities vendor out their background check companies. Sometimes the TSA wins the bid, sometimes they do not. At one point in time the TSA did the background checks for WRWA, but now Wackenhut or some other private vendor does it.

My background check was done by my airline and the result of that test was forwarded to the airport authority who issued my badge. The TSA never touched any of my paperwork, because my airline has it's own background check division. Your company does not and most airports do not, therefore they contract that work out. The result of the background check has to be acceptable to the airport, and not the TSA. The TSA in your case provided the info to the airport who decided if you were eligible for a badge.

Also, that is why my badge at OKC is not valid at any other airport, because the airport authorities themselves are responsible for the airport's security and limiting it's access, not the TSA.

This is turning into a lovely little bloodbath of excess capacity.

22DEC-SUN- ALTERNATE SERVICE\
1DL1540 OKCATL 600A 903A 73W 0 203\
2FL 455 OKCATL 700A 955A 717 0 155\
3DL2481 OKCATL 1010A 105P M88 0 155\
4DL1802 OKCATL 1240P 335P 319 0 155\
5DL2361 OKCATL 330P 624P 319 0 154\
6FL 51 OKCATL 525P 820P 717 0 155\
7DL2483 OKCATL 535P 839P M88 0 204\

22DEC-SUN- ALTERNATE SERVICE\
1DL2481 ATLOKC 810A 934A M88 0 224\
2FL1972 ATLOKC 831A 954A 717 0 223\
3DL1802 ATLOKC 1050A 1211P 319 0 221\
4DL2361 ATLOKC 140P 258P 319 0 218\
5DL2483 ATLOKC 345P 508P M88 0 223\
6FL 446 ATLOKC 430P 552P 717 0 222\
7DL1259 ATLOKC 830P 1001P 73W 0 231\ >

This is turning into a lovely little bloodbath of excess capacity.

22DEC-SUN- ALTERNATE SERVICE\
1DL1540 OKCATL 600A 903A 73W 0 203\
2FL 455 OKCATL 700A 955A 717 0 155\
3DL2481 OKCATL 1010A 105P M88 0 155\
4DL1802 OKCATL 1240P 335P 319 0 155\
5DL2361 OKCATL 330P 624P 319 0 154\
6FL 51 OKCATL 525P 820P 717 0 155\
7DL2483 OKCATL 535P 839P M88 0 204\

22DEC-SUN- ALTERNATE SERVICE\
1DL2481 ATLOKC 810A 934A M88 0 224\
2FL1972 ATLOKC 831A 954A 717 0 223\
3DL1802 ATLOKC 1050A 1211P 319 0 221\
4DL2361 ATLOKC 140P 258P 319 0 218\
5DL2483 ATLOKC 345P 508P M88 0 223\
6FL 446 ATLOKC 430P 552P 717 0 222\
7DL1259 ATLOKC 830P 1001P 73W 0 231\ >

All the better for nonrevvers during the holidays. :-P LOL

Airport authorities vendor out their background check companies. Sometimes the TSA wins the bid, sometimes they do not. At one point in time the TSA did the background checks for WRWA, but now Wackenhut or some other private vendor does it.

My background check was done by my airline and the result of that test was forwarded to the airport authority who issued my badge. The TSA never touched any of my paperwork, because my airline has it's own background check division. Your company does not and most airports do not, therefore they contract that work out. The result of the background check has to be acceptable to the airport, and not the TSA. The TSA in your case provided the info to the airport who decided if you were eligible for a badge.
We are just a small (20 person) architecture firm who does work for DIA and tenants at the airport so we can't justify our own security process like a major vendor like your airline could. The badge sure makes it nice to bypass the long lines that occur at DIA security.


Also, that is why my badge at OKC is not valid at any other airport, because the airport authorities themselves are responsible for the airport's security and limiting it's access, not the TSA.
I know others in our office have badges at other airports where we do work (New Orleans, Louisville, Minot are current projects) and they have badges for those airports. From what they have said once you have a badge from one airport the review period seems much shorter.

TSA Pre check coming to OKC and Tulsa TSA Pre?? Expands to 60 Additional Airports | Transportation Security Administration (http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2013/09/04/tsa-precheck-expands-60-additional-airports)

Does anyone know where the TSA Pre Check is expected to located - east or west checkpoint?

I bet they will use the West Auxiliary Checkpoint behind the old Continental Airlines counter.

Also, United Airlines will be taking over the old ExpressJet and Frontier counter space, and I believe Frontier will take either the old Continental counter space or a counter space by Delta.

Amazing how the counter space requirements are so different than they used to be. It seems most airlines at DIA use less than half the counter space in their areas and that airport is only 20 years old. In the new Minot terminal building that we are doing there are only 12 positions opening with expansion for 6 more positions for a 6 gate airport.

Amazing how the counter space requirements are so different than they used to be. It seems most airlines at DIA use less than half the counter space in their areas and that airport is only 20 years old. In the new Minot terminal building that we are doing there are only 12 positions opening with expansion for 6 more positions for a 6 gate airport.

It's not surprising since so many passengers now use the advance check-in which allows them to bypass the counter entirely.

Looks like AA's A319 made it's arrival into KOKC before any of us expected it too. Someone take any pics from tonights diverts?

Looks like AA's A319 made it's arrival into KOKC before any of us expected it too. Someone take any pics from tonights diverts?

Too bad we didn't get Lufthansa's A380 divert. Now that would have been incredible to see in OKC. :)

Too bad we didn't get Lufthansa's A380 divert. Now that would have been incredible to see in OKC. :)

Saw a few of these at LAX last month. Might be one of the biggest things I have ever seen

It's not surprising since so many passengers now use the advance check-in which allows them to bypass the counter entirely.

Definitely true. I've flown about twice a month on AA for the last 4 years, mostly for business and the only times I've visited the counter are the few times a year I fly with my family and have to check bags. Really no need to visit the counter these days if you don't check bags and use an app for boarding passes.

Delta modified the January schedule to 1x 73W (737-700), 2x CR9 (CRJ-900), 2x M88 (MD-88).

Could be them seeing the weakening OKC market, or trimming fat for the slow deep winter travel period, or backing off on the assault on Southwest.

We'll see what they load for Feb.

Does anyone know where the TSA Pre Check is expected to located - east or west checkpoint?

I just passed through security and asked them about this. They said they were currently training and TSA PreCheck would be available next month at the West checkpoint. Good news if it's up and running before the holidays!

Southwest nonstop flights to ATL will be starting up in November.

Southwest Airlines adds direct flight between Oklahoma City and Atlanta | News OK (http://newsok.com/southwest-airlines-adds-direct-flight-between-oklahoma-city-and-atlanta/article/3886662)

Southwest nonstop flights to ATL will be starting up in November.

Southwest Airlines adds direct flight between Oklahoma City and Atlanta | News OK (http://newsok.com/southwest-airlines-adds-direct-flight-between-oklahoma-city-and-atlanta/article/3886662)

Wow really? That is only like 6 months behind the times.

Wow really? That is only like 6 months behind the times.

Venture, I'm so sorry. This was an announcement which came out in the paper which many may not have been aware of. Excuse me for mentioning it. You seem to be especially snarky tonight.

Venture, I'm so sorry. This was an announcement which came out in the paper which many may not have been aware of. Excuse me for mentioning it. You seem to be especially snarky tonight.

Oh that wasn't at you, that was at the always "timely" Oklahoman. :)

The article is also filled with many inaccuracies. Does Jennifer Palmer actually consider herself of qualified journalist to work for a news organization?


A new nonstop flight between Oklahoma City to Atlanta launches Nov. 3.

Technically 2 daily flights.


Southwest Airlines will fly between Will Rogers World Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport daily, excluding Fridays and Sundays.

Technically they will be flown by AirTran Airways for Southwest. Also, they will operated twice daily every day of the week. I'm not sure where she got these excluding Fridays and Sundays.


It will be the second carrier to fly direct from Oklahoma City to Atlanta; currently, Delta provides the service.
Fares went on sale Wednesday. Southwest is offering one-way tickets starting at $129. To book, visit www.southwest.com.

Well...they went on say at the beginning of May, but whose counting. Here is the ironic thing...

http://newsok.com/airtran-brings-atlanta-nonstop-flights-to-oklahoma-city/article/3807430

May 7th article from...Jennifer Palmer. Maybe she just writes a lot and forgets. Maybe she just discards facts she already written about. Maybe she is just a complete ditz and should try a new line of work. Is that harsh? Maybe. However, shouldn't we expect better from the news media?

Two OU charters today for the game in SBN.

DL 752 with the team (I'm guessing) has already left. United has a 753 here for a departure just before Noon. United (UA) #1824 Flight Tracker ? FlightAware (http://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAL1824)

Any spotters that need pictures you have about 50 minutes to go snap a shot. :)

SCASD Grant Awards Announced Today

DOT-OST-2013-0120-0103 - Order 2013-9-15 Awarding Grants - Federal Notice (http://www.noticeandcomment.com/Order-2013-9-15-Awarding-Grants-fn-67592.aspx)

Sixteen (16) of the awards are made to communities proposing revenue guarantee and/or
marketing support as means to attract new carriers, restore lost service or capacity, and/or
provide air travelers with access to additional markets. These communities are:
Savannah, Georgia; Hailey, Idaho; Bismarck, North Dakota; Del Rio, Texas;
Oxnard/Ventura, California; Gunnison, Colorado; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Fort Wayne,
Indiana; Springfield, Missouri; Wilmington, North Carolina; Stillwater, Oklahoma;
McAllen, Texas; Richmond, Virginia; La Crosse, Wisconsin; Lincoln, Nebraska; and
Charleston, West Virginia.

The awards to Lawton, Oklahoma, and Wenatchee, Washington, will provide assistance
for marketing campaigns to support existing service and draw more passengers to the
communities’ airports. Additionally, the award to Klamath Falls, Oregon, is a marketing
grant for existing air service as well as a passenger education effort to inform passengers
of the airport’s name change.

OK Lawton $195,000 - Marketing of existing air service to increase enplanements.


This application aligns with several priority and secondary
selection criteria. The project aligns with the local
contribution, higher-than-average air fare, and publicprivate
partnership priority criteria because the community
is providing 16.2% towards the project, air fares are 20
percent higher than the national average, and the
community has demonstrated a strong public-private
partnership. In addition, the project aligns with the
secondary criterion of participation as the community has
broad support for its proposal.

OK Stillwater $447,000 - Revenue guarantee for first service to Dallas/Fort Worth.


This application aligns with several priority and secondary
selection criteria. The project aligns with the local
contribution and public-private partnership priority criteria
as the local community and State are contributing 88.3%
towards the project to establish air service for the
community. In addition, the project aligns with the
participation secondary criterion as the community has
broad support for its proposal.

LAW went through as most marketing campaign grants normally are approved, so that's not a shock. SWO's app getting approved is a bit surprising. This will provide about a quarter of the total subsidy of $4.3 million to American for 2 daily ERJ-145 flights to Dallas.

Referring back to my previous post on the details of the grant and market: http://www.okctalk.com/transportation/33015-oklahoma-commercial-aviation-discussion-2013-a-15.html#post676232

This is going to be tough. Only 20 pax per day each way, 68% via OKC and 32% via TUL...I would imagine a good chuck are on WN. AA pax they can probably secure, but it depends how many make up the total O&D. Service was proposed to start in April, but who knows now after the merger was delayed. If AA takes too long or declines, their back up is UA - but who knows if they would actually follow through.

This has probably a 50% chance of actually happening, and I would probably pin it at a 35% chance of actually being sustained once the subsidy runs dry. I hope I'm wrong as I love seeing smaller communities get reconnected to the air network - but I just have a problem seeing this work in the long term with high cost 50-seat RJs that people are wanting to scrap.

Oh that wasn't at you, that was at the always "timely" Oklahoman. :)

OK, gotcha.

Sale of Frontier has officially been agreed upon today and will close in December. They were indeed purchase by Indigo Partners, the former investors in Spirit. Indigo purchase F9 for...$36 million. Yes...only $36 million. Granted they will also assume the debt from F9 as well, so I guess it evens it out.

Indigo is led by William Franke, which many will remember from his time leading America West before Parker and crew took over. He's also been part of the investment teams that starting infamous discounter RyanAir (who charges for everything) as well as Wizz Air in Hungary, Tiger Air in Singapore, and Volaris down in Mexico.

All signs point to F9 becoming a clone of Spirit/RyanAir with this purchase. That is the guy's model. So what should OKC expect?

I think 2 daily is the max we'll ever see to DEN again. F9 is likely going to become more stable now with a huge investor behind them, so they are going to look to grow. If you want discount point to point service from OKC, they are going to be the ones to go after. Their costs are lower than Southwest and any other airline here, so they can compete on fares. They do a lot of trips to Mexico, so if we could find a way to get an FIS area setup that might allow us to get nonstops south of the border.

They are an opportunity to get discount P2P flights, but I still don't see it happening personally.

Specific Q2 data should be out later this month, so as soon as that is, we'll be able to do a look at how Orlando did on Southwest. March is out now, so I might take a peak and post those in a bit.

For right now, here is the performance for the first six months of this year. This will be a long post, sorry for that, but some good information for those who aren't exposed to this daily. I'm going to avoid doing YOY analysis for right now. Keep in mind carriers listed like ExpressJet operate under someone else's banner but they are the ones operating the flights, so DOT breaks them out. DOT doesn't have numbers for everyone, but this is what I have access to right now.

American Airlines



MonthLoad FactorPaxFlightsRPMsASMJan69.30%2054021837355389Fe b82.28%2118318437074505Mar72.84%2149122138975350Ap r84.40%2318620541224884May91.96%2566922047995219Ju n88.82%2357120743834935





American Eagle Airlines


MonthLoad FactorPaxFlightsRPMsASMJan65.38%556915351767917Feb 66.78%493012844406649Mar70.65%714517463408973Apr74 .06%8439192796610755May84.52%10391206966811439Jun8 0.30%9763211868610817





Delta Air Lines



MonthLoad FactorPaxFlightsRPMsASMJan60.42%31003624934126Feb6 0.26%34123825974309Mar72.24%36173427533810Apr75.61 %33343127013572May85.51%82536362817344Jun92.25%104 217579308596





ExpressJet Airlines



MonthLoad FactorPaxFlightsRPMsASMJan77.16%968022561377953Feb 76.62%810818656167329Mar79.14%12052271856110817Apr 86.36%14259290987011429May91.45%164183061213013264 Jun85.67%167263361134213240





Frontier Airlines



MonthLoad FactorPaxFlightsRPMsASMJan81.19%45794122672792Feb7 2.76%45094022321697Mar79.69%32303116172029Apr79.12 %27822613771740May88.86%33112716391844Jun96.93%401 33019862049





SkyWest Airlines



MonthLoad FactorPaxFlightsRPMsASMJan64.19%9791256784012213Fe b68.84%11104263788711456Mar75.23%16177348117461561 5Apr78.84%153043201143214500May88.17%1626430712472 14146Jun81.95%204314051518118524





Southwest Airlines



MonthLoad FactorPaxFlightsRPMsASMJan64.33%441546523033047147 Feb65.88%435725962935244556Mar73.41%56668685388505 2926Apr72.26%552456723613850010May80.57%6325768039 93349565Jun84.64%608166093858945590





United Airlines



MonthLoad FactorPaxFlightsRPMsASMJan58.15%46355621123632Feb6 4.82%57366426284055Mar69.85%2192268661240Apr68.32% 26282710441528May84.06%32193013451600Jun82.20%3957 3116081956





OVERALL




MonthLoad FactorPaxFlightsRPMsASMJan66.20%126632055722211090 90Feb68.54%118386184768920100548Mar74.42%144562223 188436118832Apr76.00%149955219688667116662May85.03 %1713752287103721121984Jun85.31%168592225310258612 0252

I think 2 daily is the max we'll ever see to DEN again. F9 is likely going to become more stable now with a huge investor behind them, so they are going to look to grow. If you want discount point to point service from OKC, they are going to be the ones to go after. Their costs are lower than Southwest and any other airline here, so they can compete on fares. They do a lot of trips to Mexico, so if we could find a way to get an FIS area setup that might allow us to get nonstops south of the border.

I like having a cheap OKC-DEN option. I booked this roundtrip in early Sep for something like $130 roundtrip. I made sure I didn't have a checked bag though. It's such a short flight the no drink thing (unless you pay $$) didn't bother me.

I wonder if they would ever resume TUL-DEN? They flew to TUL a few years ago.

F9's numbers look surprisingly good.

man, i'd love an extremely cheap option to fly to DIA. when I go skiing i'll just UPS mine & my wife's stuff and pick it up at our friends house in Denver on the way to the slopes.

It's easy to fill a flight on junk fares.

Full does not equal profitable.

I like having a cheap OKC-DEN option. I booked this roundtrip in early Sep for something like $130 roundtrip. I made sure I didn't have a checked bag though. It's such a short flight the no drink thing (unless you pay $$) didn't bother me.

I wonder if they would ever resume TUL-DEN? They flew to TUL a few years ago.


F9's numbers look surprisingly good.

As Catch mentioned...you can't make money with junk fares. Perfect case in point. Pull up the data for South Bend, IN. Their load factors on Frontier this year...

72, 72, 87, 72, 90, and finally 98.04% for June. They announced in July they were canning the service and it ended in September. They were bleeding money because no one was paying for the extras that generate the ancillary revenue their model now requires. The low fares are great, but they mean jack if you can't pay the bills with them. This is something a lot of airline passengers (no one here, just in general) don't get and just they think every flight should be $69. Allegiant is going to be an interesting test for OKC because they also require a high amount of ancillary revenue to retain a city - especially when nearly every market fills 90% of the seats. They have no time for cities that lag behind.

I like having a cheap OKC-DEN option. I booked this roundtrip in early Sep for something like $130 roundtrip. I made sure I didn't have a checked bag though. It's such a short flight the no drink thing (unless you pay $$) didn't bother me.

I wonder if they would ever resume TUL-DEN? They flew to TUL a few years ago.


Many people don't realize that for many years OKC to Den was always a very expensive trip. Average fares around $400 to $500 were common.

Many people don't realize that for many years OKC to Den was always a very expensive trip. Average fares around $400 to $500 were common.

I remember, when UA had the only non-stops. Western Pacific tried TUL-COS (and maybe OKC-COS) for awhile as a cheap alternative, and Great Plains had non-stops to COS from OKC and TUL. If you drive a typical car you'll spend over $200 in gas making the drive plus lose 10 hours each way. Hour and 15 min flight in the $150-200 range roundtrip is a much better deal.

WP did OKC-COS and OKC-DEN. It was one of the last routes they held on to. It went from the 733s down to the 328s on MAX. WP was a nice little airline, but got stupid and left COS to take on DEN. Then the failed merger attempt with F9 and it all went splat.

If I remember correctly the Gaylords had an involvement in Western Pacific. It was similar to Southwest, a 90's era LCC. I didnt realize Mountain Air Express flew to OKC. MAX had flights from COS to the mountain towns, similar to the now-defunct Lynx that F9 operated.

I've always thought that if COS was more on the north side of Colorado Springs, closer to the main growth area and to Denver's southern sprawl burbs) then an airline could consider it as a focus city or small hub. DEN has the connecting flights with its hubs but is not thar great for those going to the mountains. COS and Hwy 24 is much easier vs. going through Denver and then dealing with I-70. Though it would be nice to see non-stops to COS resumed from OKC and TUL but without an airline there it won't be happening anytime soon.

Well the airport had their nonstop flight map updated. Removed MCI and added SFB. But forgot to also delete MEM service which ended some time ago.

I remember, when UA had the only non-stops.

Even when UA competed with CO here the fares were routinely high.

Southwest has launched their large winter sale. It'll be 72 hours long ending Thursday. Fares start at $49 one way. On their nonstop flights from OKC, for travel between Dec and Feb, I'm showing:

Fares starting at...
Denver - $49
Dallas - $49
St. Louis - $49
Phoenix - $99
Las Vegas - $99
Chicago - $99
Atlanta - $99
Houston - $49
Baltimore - $129

Normally everyone matches these larger sales, even to secondary airports (up to 50 mi away) to the various markets.

Southwest has launched their large winter sale. It'll be 72 hours long ending Thursday. Fares start at $49 one way. On their nonstop flights from OKC, for travel between Dec and Feb, I'm showing:

Fares starting at...
Denver - $49
Dallas - $49
St. Louis - $49
Phoenix - $99
Las Vegas - $99
Chicago - $99
Atlanta - $99
Houston - $49
Baltimore - $129

Normally everyone matches these larger sales, even to secondary airports (up to 50 mi away) to the various markets.

Thanks for posting this. Knowing about this allowed me to pick up a good deal that was being matched elsewhere. Thanks for all you do in keeping the community informed.

New Southwest schedule goes out tomorrow...the AirTran side is already loaded.

ATL - remains 2x daily (outbound 1042am, 448pm). No 717 overnighting/RON in OKC.

This schedule extension is for April 7th to Jun 6th.

Different visitor for TUL today. LH (Lufthansa) 744 is inbound right now. It'll be getting scrapped at TUL. Several folks on A.net will be out taking pictures, so I'll post links once they are up.

D-ABVE ? FlightAware (http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DABVE)

Not OKC-related but since DFW is relatively close...

http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2013/10/its-confirmed-american-airlines-to-launch-dfw-flights-to-hong-kong-shanghai-next-year.html/

What is the thinking of the wright amendment expiration on the OKC area next year? I wonder if we will see the Southwest flight to Baltimore disappear.

What is the thinking of the wright amendment expiration on the OKC area next year? I wonder if we will see the Southwest flight to Baltimore disappear.

I don't expect that but it comes down to the bottom line for Southwest as to what will happen.