View Full Version : Great Plains Airlines was a regional airline headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.



Laramie
07-16-2024, 08:53 PM
https://avgeekery.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Greatplains.jpg


Founded 2001; 23 years ago
Ceased operations 2004

Hubs
Will Rogers World Airport (Oklahoma City)
Tulsa International Airport

Fleet size 5
Destinations 11
Headquarters: Tulsa, Oklahoma

Destinations:
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Austin, Texas
Chicago, Illinois (Midway)
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Nashville, Tennessee
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
St. Louis, Missouri
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Washington, DC (Dulles)

mugofbeer
07-16-2024, 09:40 PM
I took them a couple of times from Co. Springs to OKC. It was a bit of an experience. They served Krispy Kreme doughnuts. They would rearrange where people sat to balance out the weight. Lol.

Celebrator
07-16-2024, 11:12 PM
The airline business is hard...especially was just after 9/11. Those Dornier 328JETs are funny looking airplanes, imo. Anybody remember the BAE 146? They looked very similar but had two high wing engines. Having been on that airplane twice and seeing them lots at the airport near where I grew up in my life has always made me think the Dornier looks weird and incomplete somehow.

(The musings of an avgeek)

Did they fly between OKC and TUL? If yes, was that the last airline to fly a scheduled passenger route between the two cities? What was a typical fare? If you look at the FedEx and UPS flights that regularly operate wide body cargo planes between the cities, you'll notice that the flight time is about 20 minutes.

The
07-17-2024, 09:37 AM
They would rearrange where people sat to balance out the weight. Lol.

United did this on my flight to Chicago last week.

CaptDave
07-17-2024, 11:21 AM
I flew Great Plains regularly from OKC to Nashville. The flight would literally track along the turnpike to Tulsa for a stop. I actually liked the aircraft - the high wing provided unobstructed views from every window seat.

Overall I liked them - the prices were great and they had a frequent flyer program within which you got a free flight after flying X number of times (can't recall the exact details.) But it became pretty clear it probably couldn't compete against the larger carriers.

BG918
07-17-2024, 05:23 PM
I flew GPA once on a roundtrip from TUL-Colorado Springs. The plane made a quick stop in OKC where about half of the passengers boarded. The flight to COS was in the morning so they gave out Krispy Kreme doughnuts while the return flight from COS-OKC-TUL was in the afternoon so they gave out 3" Subway sandwiches.

I miss having a nonstop flight to Colorado Springs - it was such an easy way to get up to the mountains for skiing compared to DEN. Wish we could have similar flights to Kansas City, Wichita, Little Rock and Memphis.

mugofbeer
07-18-2024, 09:36 AM
I live in S. Denver and it was possibly faster going to the "similar-size-to-OKC's airport in Colorado Springs vs. giant DIA car to plane. Usually, fares are better out of DIA.

oktxatty
07-22-2024, 08:30 AM
I live in S. Denver and it was possibly faster going to the "similar-size-to-OKC's airport in Colorado Springs vs. giant DIA car to plane. Usually, fares are better out of DIA.

I remember the day they filed bankruptcy, inconveniencing about 10-12 passengers.

Jeepnokc
07-22-2024, 05:55 PM
I remember the day they filed bankruptcy, inconveniencing about 10-12 passengers.

Not sure if you meant as a joke but that is funny.

PaddyShack
07-23-2024, 09:00 AM
The airline business is hard...especially was just after 9/11. Those Dornier 328JETs are funny looking airplanes, imo. Anybody remember the BAE 146? They looked very similar but had two high wing engines. Having been on that airplane twice and seeing them lots at the airport near where I grew up in my life has always made me think the Dornier looks weird and incomplete somehow.

(The musings of an avgeek)

Did they fly between OKC and TUL? If yes, was that the last airline to fly a scheduled passenger route between the two cities? What was a typical fare? If you look at the FedEx and UPS flights that regularly operate wide body cargo planes between the cities, you'll notice that the flight time is about 20 minutes.

Fellow avgeek here, I have always loved the high wing design. It is hard getting them in the US, but when I was traveling through Europe a number of years ago I had two flights with Swiss on the BAE platform. If I ever had the money I probably would have one as a private jet, even if they are not the best in efficiency.

Celebrator
07-23-2024, 11:01 AM
Fellow avgeek here, I have always loved the high wing design. It is hard getting them in the US, but when I was traveling through Europe a number of years ago I had two flights with Swiss on the BAE platform. If I ever had the money I probably would have one as a private jet, even if they are not the best in efficiency.

Yes! My three BAE 146 flights are not nearly as cool as yours...BUR-OAK-BUR (USAir), MEM-STL (old NW days), LAX-SAN (USAir--although that one did fly very low up the SoCal coast, so that was cool)