View Full Version : 2022 Oklahoma City Aviation Thread



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Richard at Remax
06-30-2022, 06:41 PM
The Embraer E 170\5 and 190\5 were just such nice treat when they arrived to replace the CRJ and ERJ 145. So roomier.

Just went to NoLa last week and was surprised to have an A 321, full or close to, on my DFW flight from OKC. It seems more common that I think but a first out of OKC for me. Surely the biggest passenger plane working in OKC.

I was on an A319 from DFW to OKC back in early May. This coming Wednesday I'm on an A321 coming back. Looking forward to it

shawnw
07-05-2022, 04:56 PM
Texarkana is one thing, but San Diego/LAX is surprising (that they couldn't make it work)

https://thepointsguy.com/news/united-airlines-cuts-us-cities-ends-san-diego-shuttle/

catch22
07-05-2022, 09:19 PM
LAX-SAN is a loss leader route. No one ever makes money on such short flights, they exist primarily to support connections through a hub. Similar to DEN-COS. LAX has steadily been reduced from a major connection hub to a large focus city. Any SAN-LAX traffic can flow through SFO, DEN, and IAH with little to no backtracking. That aircraft and (more importantly) crew can better be utilized elsewhere.

More surprised by Flagstaff than any of the rest.

Richard at Remax
07-05-2022, 10:40 PM
Looks like it's only AA in Flag now unless I'm missing something

Celebrator
07-05-2022, 10:50 PM
Texarkana is one thing, but San Diego/LAX is surprising (that they couldn't make it work)

https://thepointsguy.com/news/united-airlines-cuts-us-cities-ends-san-diego-shuttle/

I flew SAN-LAX in the 90s sometime on an American Eagle Saab 340. They flew relatively low right along the coast for the 25 minute flight--very memorable.

brianinok
07-11-2022, 08:08 AM
I was on an A319 from DFW to OKC back in early May. This coming Wednesday I'm on an A321 coming back. Looking forward to itWas on an A321 a couple weeks ago. They're nice. On a couple more over the next couple weeks. They're nice to have in OKC.

PaddyShack
07-11-2022, 09:24 AM
Was on an A321 a couple weeks ago. They're nice. On a couple more over the next couple weeks. They're nice to have in OKC.

How do they compare to the 737?

brianinok
07-11-2022, 10:20 AM
How do they compare to the 737?I've only flown first class on the A321 and that's what I'll be in on future trips (AA, FAA, and Lord willing, since that's what I have booked). But first is very similar, really. No real difference except some 737-800s have a real bulkhead between first and main as a recall. I've heard grumbling about the main cabin on the A321 and 737 Max I haven't flown those cabins and if I do I'll do everything I can to be in MCE.

PaddyShack
07-11-2022, 10:28 AM
I've only flown first class on the A321 and that's what I'll be in on future trips (AA, FAA, and Lord willing, since that's what I have booked). But first is very similar, really. No real difference except some 737-800s have a real bulkhead between first and main as a recall. I've heard grumbling about the main cabin on the A321 and 737 Max I haven't flown those cabins and if I do I'll do everything I can to be in MCE.

What do you mean by MCE, is that an airport code or some lingo concerning airplane seat class?

catch22
07-11-2022, 10:44 AM
It is American's premium economy product. Main Cabin Extra.

PaddyShack
07-11-2022, 12:03 PM
It is American's premium economy product. Main Cabin Extra.

Ah, thank you.

Richard at Remax
07-11-2022, 01:08 PM
Was on an A321 a couple weeks ago. They're nice. On a couple more over the next couple weeks. They're nice to have in OKC.

yeah we ended up missing that flight but they put us on another flight in the AM which was also a A321. It was real nice. First class is nice too plus like you said the MCE is top notch. With my status I get those for "free" now and it's totally worth it.

damonsmuz
07-11-2022, 05:54 PM
Anyone know how loads have been on Breeze out of OKC? New airline, but I hate it when flights aren't daily.

chssooner
07-11-2022, 06:11 PM
Anyone know how loads have been on Breeze out of OKC? New airline, but I hate it when flights aren't daily.

Breeze is basically about to be gone from OKC, according to Wikipedia (which, no one really messes with airport pages there, since, who cares).

sooner333
07-12-2022, 11:47 AM
I flew in Breeze recently. It was not full to TPA or back to OKC, but I’d estimate maybe 75% of the seats were filled (I’m admittedly a bad estimator). But, I did check on their website and the flights end out of OKC next month and nothing has been added back to the schedule later on.

no1cub17
07-13-2022, 10:26 AM
How do they compare to the 737?

In general the economy class seats on the A320 series aircraft are approximately 1 inch wider than on the 737s. Only an inch but makes a huge difference IMO. Airbus is really taking Boeing to the cleaners lately. F seats are all garbage now on AA (on the planes with the new Oasis interiors anyway).

no1cub17
07-13-2022, 10:28 AM
It is American's premium economy product. Main Cabin Extra.

MCE isn't "premium economy" - it's regular economy with extra legroom. Similar to "economy plus" on United. I know you know this but just so others aren't confused. Premium economy is an entirely separate cabin/class on widebodies.

chssooner
07-13-2022, 10:47 AM
Our airport has lost more destinations in 2022 than it has gained. Losing Breeze sucks. OKC really needs more of a business base.

Richard at Remax
07-13-2022, 10:47 AM
I got upgraded to Premium Class on Alaska for my trip in August to SEA. Anyone flown in those seats? I assume they are very similar to MCE on AA. TIA

damonsmuz
07-13-2022, 03:47 PM
According to Breeze, their service here is listed as "seasonal". So, will have to see if they return next year. I hate the "seasonal" service. Hard to build brand loyalty when you're inconsistent

Edmond Hausfrau
07-13-2022, 10:27 PM
I got upgraded to Premium Class on Alaska for my trip in August to SEA. Anyone flown in those seats? I assume they are very similar to MCE on AA. TIA

I used to fly it for business circa 2019 and the seats were perfect on Alaska, they are my favorite airline besides Lufthansa, but I don't know how it compares to AA business seats

shartel_ave
07-14-2022, 09:47 AM
I used to fly it for business circa 2019 and the seats were perfect on Alaska, they are my favorite airline besides Lufthansa, but I don't know how it compares to AA business seats

Has anyone ever flown on Korean Air? By far the nicest airline I've ever experienced and I've flown on tons of airlines and have been all over the world.

Alaska airlines is really nice even coach is not bad

gopokes88
07-15-2022, 11:55 AM
June is out btw. Weird month for American

https://flyokc.com/sites/default/files/June%202022%20Enplanement.pdf

fromdust
07-15-2022, 02:16 PM
Has anyone ever flown on Korean Air? By far the nicest airline I've ever experienced and I've flown on tons of airlines and have been all over the world.

Alaska airlines is really nice even coach is not bad

Alaska is nice.
Yeah, I think Korean is good, but Emirates and Qatar blow it out of the water.

HOT ROD
07-15-2022, 05:53 PM
OKC didn't lose Breeze do to it's business base.

citywokchinesefood
07-16-2022, 10:02 PM
Alaska is nice.
Yeah, I think Korean is good, but Emirates and Qatar blow it out of the water.

Air France La Premier is perfection, and the ownership is not nearly as problematic as the ME carriers.

no1cub17
07-18-2022, 10:42 AM
Air France La Premier is perfection, and the ownership is not nearly as problematic as the ME carriers.

Nice - I believe you can only redeem Flying Blue points for AF's F cabin right? They don't release any award space to partners? That's awesome

And as far as ownership - meh. Every airline/country has it's issues. I love how the US3 have consistently whined about the government assistance the ME3 receives; as if the US3 haven't gotten bailout after bailout after bailout (even before COVID). Delta is the best at this - whine about the ME3's government subsidies while at the same time cozying up to China Eastern (which is completely government run). Hilarious. Maybe the US3 (and other airlines) ought to actually invest in their products! What a novel concept.

Paule4ou
07-21-2022, 03:33 PM
One of the better WN liveries, “Freedom One” (N500WR) will make its way through OKC tomorrow.

Arrival: SAT-OKC, #1291, Arrives at 2:40pm
Depart: OKC-AUS, #621, Departs at 3:25pm

Subject to change of course.
17576
17575

Jeepnokc
07-21-2022, 09:28 PM
As I was driving home around 855 pm, I swear i saw a large commercial airliner abort their landing in OKC and take back off circling around to the west. It is possible it could have been another taking off at same time but it really looked like same runway. Couldn't find anything on Flightaware. There were two flights coming in...AA768 from Charlotte and a Frontier flight from denver. Couldn't find a flight path on the Frontier but the AA didn't show it circling. Anyone have a better way to look?

Anonymous.
07-22-2022, 08:46 AM
Has OKC - PDX ever had a direct before? I swear it did, but maybe I am crazy.

chssooner
07-22-2022, 09:28 AM
Has OKC - PDX ever had a direct before? I swear it did, but maybe I am crazy.

As someone whose mom was from Portland, and we flew there 2x a year for 20 years, we never flew directly there. But I also never booked the trips, so maybe there was a direct option and it was more expensive than flying through Denver or Salt Lake or Dallas.

I would love that direct flight!

Urbanized
07-22-2022, 09:51 AM
I’ve flown to PDX a number of times and don’t recall a direct flight ever being an option when booking those, but can’t swear to it.

BG918
07-22-2022, 10:51 AM
I could see OKC-PDX on Alaska someday. Allegiant could also be an option. They run nonstop flights from Des Moines to Portland.

catch22
07-22-2022, 11:26 AM
Nope. I would say the closest we came was in 2016-2019 when Alaska was making their pre-pandemic run at strengthening PDX to relieve connecting pressure off of SEA and ward off the threat of other airlines growing into the PDX market which was on fire. If the pandemic hadn’t happened, we were probably next in line and just a year or two away from getting a nonstop to PDX on Alaska. I believe in 2018 Omaha got theirs.

Now, Alaska in response to the pandemic and political events which took place recently in Portland, they have had a considerable shelving of plans for their Portland hub. Many destinations have not returned to the schedule and it appears their focus has been to consolidate, retrench, and protect their crown jewel hub in Seattle for the time being.

Richard at Remax
07-22-2022, 11:59 AM
I just can't see enough travelers out of OKC that go to PDX. You would think with Alaska it would be either SEA or PDX. Makes more sense to SEA.

Mississippi Blues
07-22-2022, 12:05 PM
I’ve been going to Portland for roughly a decade, lived there for 2-3 years, and have made as much as a trip every month in a calendar year at the height of my traveling but I’ve never seen a direct flight between PDX-OKC. I’ve always felt Alaska would be the most likely to break that, especially with PDX being a hub for them, but they haven’t jumped on it so far.

Delta has added a few new routes in the last few years (most if not all have been international) from PDX and with the new gates at Will Rogers it could make sense for Delta to consider that route. From an anecdotal perspective, I normally fly Delta and it seems like there’s always multiple people on the flight between PDX-SLC that are also on the SLC-OKC flight, whichever direction I’m going. With SLC and MSP being pretty natural hubs for them to connect to the PNW and SEA being their PNW hub, I’m not sure they’d mix that up for an OKC-PDX route, but that’s all just me thinking out loud. (out written?)

catch22
07-22-2022, 12:27 PM
I just can't see enough travelers out of OKC that go to PDX. You would think with Alaska it would be either SEA or PDX. Makes more sense to SEA.

There's enough to fill an E175. It makes sense when viewed in the pre-pandemic lens that Alaska was operating in at the time. Demand from both SEA and PDX was bursting at the seams. Delta was on a serious, aggressive expansion strategy in Seattle eyeing to kick Alaska in the groin. Alaska was desperate to maintain that lucrative hub. They were moving towards driving increased revenue from Seattle by decreasing connection and focusing on O&D demand, which is generally more profitable. They wanted to move duplicate service and lower yield connections elsewhere, freeing up those seats on the Seattle flights for local, non-connecting traffic.

In a hypothetical OKC/PDX scenario, Alaska could move 35 connection itineraries onto an OKC-PDX flight, which will provide enough butts in seats to justify the OKC-PDX flight along with local demand for that route, and now those 35 seats on the OKC-SEA leg are freed up for local, higher priced fares. This eats into Delta in two ways: it decreases their connection leverage to the region as a whole (via OKC-SLC), and it provides instant growth to Alaska in Seattle without operating any extra planes into the airport. Their costs remain fixed, and their flight schedule can remain flat all the while serving up an additional 20% of seats to local Seattle area travelers. Delta's network at the time could not match a 20% increase in seats without flying in extra airplanes and leasing extra gates. Alaska had a built-in advantage by growing PDX/SEA into a "single hub" with PDX handling the low yield connections, and SEA handling the high-yield premium nonstop traffic to SEA.

This of course, was prior to 2020, and this was the trajectory of their strategy. You multiply those connections from dozens of flights and now Portland has some significant scale, and Seattle has a lot of breathing room to focus on the high yield local traffic.

BG918
07-22-2022, 01:27 PM
PDX is building a beautiful new terminal building. I can see Alaska wanting to strengthen its presence there. I don’t know how many business connections there are but Oregon is a big tourist draw especially the wine country.

catch22
07-22-2022, 02:46 PM
Right now there is not much urgency on the part of Alaska as demand to PDX still hasn't fully recovered, and Delta is 15-20% smaller overall than they were pre-pandemic and Delta is not actively threatening their SEA operation on the same scale and aggressiveness as prior.

I imagine this is one of those routes OKC will get one of these days, so long as AS remains committed to Portland. They have a long ways to go in building PDX back to its pre-pandemic strength. OKC won't happen ahead of that.

ksearls
07-22-2022, 02:46 PM
We go to Oregon at least once a year and would go at least three or four times a year with a direct flight. The last time we went we flew into Eugene which was great. It is close to where we go on the coast and is small and super easy to navigate. Also super close to tons of great wine.

Urbanized
07-22-2022, 04:32 PM
We go to Oregon at least once a year and would go at least three or four times a year with a direct flight. The last time we went we flew into Eugene which was great. It is close to where we go on the coast and is small and super easy to navigate. Also super close to tons of great wine.

I flew into/out of Bend a couple of years ago and it was easier than flying into/out of OKC pre-9/11. Tiny airport, would recommend. That said, flying into Bend doesn't help if you are trying to get to the coast. The Oregon coast is the subject of probably half of my daydreams...I would live there if only I could make it work. I'll keep Eugene in mind for future coastal trips. I've been there a couple of times, but I've never flown into that airport.

Celebrator
07-22-2022, 10:20 PM
We go to Oregon at least once a year and would go at least three or four times a year with a direct flight. The last time we went we flew into Eugene which was great. It is close to where we go on the coast and is small and super easy to navigate. Also super close to tons of great wine.
Will be trying EUG for the first time for our annual Oregon Coast trip in September. PDX is fine, but Portland itself has become such a bombed out shell of itself, not to mention crowded that we thought we'd give EUG a try with Southwest staring service there late last summer.

damonsmuz
07-29-2022, 08:38 PM
United is offering nonstop service from Oklahoma City to Lincoln, Nebraska on September 16 and return September 18. It's an EMB175 and departs at 4pm and leaves Sunday around 9am.

United announced 120 new flights for this fall for college football. It appears this is the only "odd flight" they're flying out of OKC this fall.

no1cub17
07-30-2022, 11:45 AM
United is offering nonstop service from Oklahoma City to Lincoln, Nebraska on September 16 and return September 18. It's an EMB175 and departs at 4pm and leaves Sunday around 9am.

United announced 120 new flights for this fall for college football. It appears this is the only "odd flight" they're flying out of OKC this fall.

Cool add, would have expected something 737/A320 sized though! But UA is probably just short on crews and planes like everyone else.

damonsmuz
07-31-2022, 10:03 PM
Question: I was looking at flights schedules for Delta and saw that they're sending 5 mainline a day on a A320 and then a CRJ900 to Atlanta. Looking at the timetable, the CRJ900 flight leaves Atlanta around 9pm and then sits overnight and doesn't depart until 530pm the next day. Does the plane really sit here for 19 hours?

I looked at other routes into OKC that Delta flies a 900 on and they're all in and then out the next morning (SLC and MSP)

Just wondering why Delta would have a plane sit here that long, unless it's going in to the Skywest hanger for something. Someone help me understand this

LakeEffect
08-01-2022, 10:03 AM
Just wondering why Delta would have a plane sit here that long, unless it's going in to the Skywest hanger for something. Someone help me understand this

That would be my guess... maybe gets a thorough check in the hangar? Seems odd to not use an aircraft for that much time right now though.

catch22
08-01-2022, 10:36 AM
What dates are you seeing this? Is it just one day or multiple days.

Usually AC rotations into maintenance are planned around the schedule, very rare to build a schedule around maintenance.

If it is several months out it just hasn’t been adjusted.

damonsmuz
08-01-2022, 11:21 AM
According to the Delta website,the flight has been operating daily for a few weeks now and is running daily this week. I didn't look past next week

catch22
08-01-2022, 11:58 AM
Looks like it is MSP-OKC-ATL and ATL-OKC-MSP

amocore
08-04-2022, 11:51 AM
Delta will start flying several times a week between Cincinnati and Paris. Cincy had been doing only 7 to 8 M passengers a year pre pandemic.
It makes you hope for OKC !
It will be this airport only European route.

chssooner
08-04-2022, 11:54 AM
Delta will start flying several times a week between Cincinnati and Paris. Cincy had been doing only 7 to 8 M passengers a year pre pandemic.
It makes you hope for OKC !
It will be this airport only European route.

To be fair, Cincy used to be a hub and fly there daily.

But yes, I think it would be a weekly flight to a Toronto or Mexico City type flight for OKC.

BG918
08-04-2022, 02:47 PM
Delta will start flying several times a week between Cincinnati and Paris. Cincy had been doing only 7 to 8 M passengers a year pre pandemic.
It makes you hope for OKC !
It will be this airport only European route.

I'm sure it's being subsidized, either by the city/airport or local corporations like P&G. There used to be daily nonstops from Cincinnati to London, Paris and Amsterdam when Delta had their hub there. OKC and Tulsa also had daily nonstops there on Delta/Comair. It was a great connecting airport for traveling onward to the Northeast, similar to how St Louis currently operates with Southwest.

Zorba
08-04-2022, 11:25 PM
What dates are you seeing this? Is it just one day or multiple days.

Usually AC rotations into maintenance are planned around the schedule, very rare to build a schedule around maintenance.

If it is several months out it just hasn’t been adjusted.

It may not always be the same plane. AAL added MIA-TUL flights to get 737s in and out of maintenance when the 737 flight was much smaller and mostly based in MIA. Flew out of TUL on Friday evening, into TUL Sunday evening IIRC.

Also why TUL had some 757 service back in the day, made it easy to rotate the 757s into and out of maintenance without a ferry flight. In those days they'd have 3-4 757s a week move into/out of base maintenance.

Other the other scenario: It's flying somewhere else in that gap.

catch22
08-05-2022, 09:40 AM
In an operation that large you can get away with it. SkyWest's OKC operation is nothing compared to AA at TUL.

Alaska will ferry airplanes to/from OKC/SEA, many times minutes apart from their revenue counterparts. It is typically too hard to rely on an airplane coming in or out of maintenance to be ready to go to swap into the line; it's even more difficult to plan these moves weeks or months out.

In any case, this particular scenario has nothing to do with maintenance and is a MSP-OKC-ATL and back routing.

Richard at Remax
08-09-2022, 06:10 PM
According to this OKC-MIA comes back April 4 now

https://simpleflying.com/us-airlines-cut-34000-november-flights/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=echo&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1660072225

brianinok
08-09-2022, 09:04 PM
According to this OKC-MIA comes back April 4 now

https://simpleflying.com/us-airlines-cut-34000-november-flights/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=echo&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1660072225Well crap. Was planning a trip to MIA right after it was going to resume in early Nov. Guess I’ll cancel that and do something else.

Downwind17
08-10-2022, 02:08 PM
Well crap. Was planning a trip to MIA right after it was going to resume in early Nov. Guess I’ll cancel that and do something else.

Yes, this does stink. Especially since the flight has been doing so well. AA must be really feeling the pinch...or pinches as the case may be. We'll look for it again in April!

As an alternative, SWA has a decent itinerary into MIA via HOU. It leaves about 25 min after the AA nonstop would (525a), but gets you in after 11a. You can still have "toes in sand" by 12p Oklahoma time.

no1cub17
08-10-2022, 10:18 PM
Yes, this does stink. Especially since the flight has been doing so well. AA must be really feeling the pinch...or pinches as the case may be. We'll look for it again in April!

As an alternative, SWA has a decent itinerary into MIA via HOU. It leaves about 25 min after the AA nonstop would (525a), but gets you in after 11a. You can still have "toes in sand" by 12p Oklahoma time.

I was going to say - it's been full both times we've taken it. Lots of vacationers to/from the Caribbean like us. Sucks that they would cut this in the winter season.

chssooner
08-10-2022, 10:32 PM
I wonder if OKC is struggling to keep our get back flights due to the new leader of Will Rogers Airport. Didn't they replace their old director?

catch22
08-11-2022, 12:07 AM
Airlines don’t even know the name of the airport directors. I will reiterate that the only thing airlines care about is what markets drive profit. Second to that is what markets drive brand loyalty or a larger strategy,

You could have the smoothest talking airport director in the world heading up the Ada, OK airport and no airline will give two craps about it. You could have Barney Fife running Austin and the airlines would equally not give two craps about it so long as it doesn’t affect revenue,