2018 Oklahoma City Aviation Thread

[gopokes88]

That’s really really good news. Awesome

[jonny d]

So we have both DC airports covered now? Awesome! Can never have enough flights there.

[PaddyShack]

Boy, looking at the fares in November, I might need to book a trip! I wonder if it will stay cheaper than BWI. Curious, for those of you who have flown into DCA, which airport is better between BWI and DCA?

[benjico]

Was hoping the announcement would be for a city not already offered from OKC...at least it's a different airline option to get to the east coast.

[king183]

Boy, looking at the fares in November, I might need to book a trip! I wonder if it will stay cheaper than BWI. Curious, for those of you who have flown into DCA, which airport is better between BWI and DCA?

It depends on what you're trying to do. If you're trying to get into Baltimore: BWI. If you're trying to get into DC: DCA. If you fly into BWI with the aim of getting into DC, you're going to have at least one hour of commute. If you fly into DCA, you'll have a 10 minute commute.

[king183]

So we have both DC airports covered now? Awesome! Can never have enough flights there.

This will be substantially more convenient for those trying to get to DC. I don't think most people realize how inconvenient Dulles and BWI are for the DC-bound.

[Celebrator]

Yes, great news for OKC. While the west coast's major cities (outside of PDX) are pretty well covered now, east coast service is in need of development. To get DCA is great, now let's pull for LGA and BOS (and maybe MIA or FLL) back east and PDX out west and we have a pretty good network out of Will!

[Celebrator]

So we have both DC airports covered now? Awesome! Can never have enough flights there.

We have all three WAS metro airports now! DCA, BWI, and IAD.

[s00nr1]

This makes trips to DC/Arlington, VA extremely more convenient now for me. We are talking one stop on the blue line -- maybe 5 minutes. Excellent news.

[BG918]

Appears I was correct about it being Southwest.

OKC-DCA nonstop begins November 5th.

That's a great add and well overdue!

[BG918]

It depends on what you're trying to do. If you're trying to get into Baltimore: BWI. If you're trying to get into DC: DCA. If you fly into BWI with the aim of getting into DC, you're going to have at least one hour of commute. If you fly into DCA, you'll have a 10 minute commute.

IAD is best if you are making an international flight connection. Not sure how well-timed the single OKC-IAD flight is for those connections though.

Hopefully TUL will see some LUV from Southwest to DC. Allegiant and soon Frontier currently offer the only nonstop service to the DC area to BWI since United dropped IAD a couple years ago. DCA or IAD on WN would be awesome.

[jonny d]

IAD is best if you are making an international flight connection. Not sure how well-timed the single OKC-IAD flight is for those connections though.

Hopefully TUL will see some LUV from Southwest to DC. Allegiant and soon Frontier currently offer the only nonstop service to the DC area to BWI since United dropped IAD a couple years ago. DCA or IAD on WN would be awesome.

It is weird, since TUL has a lot of the same destinations offered. If OKC wants truly expanded destinations, not having TUL have the same offerings is a good thing. Like, OKC to PDX - we do not need TUL having that, as well, since it would dilute the market.

[HangryHippo]

It is weird, since TUL has a lot of the same destinations offered. If OKC wants truly expanded destinations, not having TUL have the same offerings is a good thing. Like, OKC to PDX - we do not need TUL having that, as well, since it would dilute the market.

Unfortunately for Tulsa, I agree with you.

[BG918]

Unfortunately for Tulsa, I agree with you.

That definitely plays a role. Airlines might consider OKC/TUL as a combined market, with more service to OKC due to it being the larger market of the two. Off the top of my head OKC has SEA on Alaska, SFO, IAD & EWR on United, LAX, PHX & PHL on American and MDW, BNA*, BWI & DCA* on Southwest that do not exist from TUL. Both have seen similar new adds from Frontier but who knows how long those will last. Everything else is exactly the same though there are variations in frequency. The only TUL route that OKC doesn't have is MIA which is Saturday only on AA. I imagine Tulsa needs to grow larger to see more future service other than what is already in place, or have AA send more rev flights to the MX base (LAX, PHX, PHL, LGA).

[dcsooner]

Great News! So much more convenient

[HOT ROD]

very good news! congrats OKC!

Keep 'em coming!

[HangryHippo]

Now we need JFK or LGA, New Orleans, and Boston and I’ll be good to go!

[warreng88]

Southwest to start direct flight from OKC to D.C.

By: Brian Brus The Journal Record May 31, 2018

OKLAHOMA CITY – Southwest Airlines will operate Oklahoma City’s first direct flight to Washington, D.C., this fall, Managing Director Juan Suarez said Thursday.

The new route to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, represented by the industry as DCA, will begin Nov. 4. Flights will leave Oklahoma City at 7:30 a.m. with return arrival at 8:45 p.m. Tickets are already available for purchase.

Among the factors Southwest considered were the overall economic health of the region and the businesses that are likely to be interested in the route, Suarez said. The flight is the result of new terminal slots opening at Ronald Reagan. No cities lost flights to Oklahoma City’s benefit, Suarez said.

Aside from the Oklahoma City flight, Southwest hasn’t made many other announcements about changes to its network. The company reported in April that it ended its first quarter with a fleet of 717 aircraft and has expectations to end 2018 with 752 aircraft. The company recently announced plans to serve Hawaii nonstop from four California cities.

Will Rogers spokeswoman Karen Carney said Southwest intends the Oklahoma City route to be in place for the long run, not merely a summer vacation setup. Southwest is the largest carrier at the airport with an average of 19 daily departures. The addition of Ronald Reagan brings the total number of Southwest cities served nonstop out of Oklahoma City to eight, including Chicago, Dallas and Las Vegas.

City Airports Director Mark Kranenburg said he, the city Airport Trust and representatives of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber have been lobbying with Southwest for a D.C. route for a long time.

Mayor David Holt said he knows firsthand how valuable the route will be to local businesspeople and those with government interests.

“We’re a capital city, and for that reason alone we have a lot of business in Washington, D.C.,” said Holt, who was a state legislator before winning an office at City Hall this year. “This makes all the sense in the world. We also obviously are an industrial center for the energy community and health and science.

“I went to D.C. for seven years, so I know that it’s nice to have a flight to BWI (Baltimore-Washington International Airport),” he said. “But when you fly into Washington Reagan, you’re 15 minutes from the White House.”

Chamber President Roy Williams said Southwest is not responsible alone for ensuring the success of the new route.

“We will actually be doing a promotional campaign both in Oklahoma City and in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “So we will be working both ends of the rope to raise awareness. There will be a very proactive marketing campaign.”

“I don’t know of a single route that we’ve received as much enthusiasm as has been expressed over this,” Williams said. “So many of our corporate community members, our organizations and other entities travel so much to D.C., and Reagan is by far the airport of choice.”

[warreng88]

To the people in the know, what is usually the process of getting new flights to and from OKC from a local perspective?

Are there incentives? Space needed at the airport? Demo studies? Need?

Help me understand how something like this works and what the timeframe, usually, is for a decision that came out yesterday.

[shawnw]

I suspect it's not a "follow this process and it will all work out" kind of thing because even if everything is perfect on our end the airline has to decide, yeah, they want to be in this market.

[catch22]

Was surprised to see AA use Gate 2 (Alaska) this morning. With their upcoming growth I wonder if they will need 4 gates in the future.

[OUman]

To the people in the know, what is usually the process of getting new flights to and from OKC from a local perspective?

Are there incentives? Space needed at the airport? Demo studies? Need?

Help me understand how something like this works and what the timeframe, usually, is for a decision that came out yesterday.

There are a lot of factors, but it's not just a "local" process that gets you new nonstop flights. It's what goes on at both ends of the spectrum that determines whether or not an airline is willing to invest in a new route or additional flights to an existing destination.

The city needs to show that there is demand for a nonstop flight to a certain destination, and sometimes, a particular airport (in this case, DCA which has been in demand for quite some time now). Sure, we already have nonstop service to BWI and IAD, the other two airports that serve the D.C. metro but they are of course far out from the main attractions and points of interest, especially for those who travel to/from D.C. for business. The airline needs to be convinced that investing in a route will indeed be profitable, because as they say, use it or lose it. If an airline does not make money on a route, chances are pretty high that route will get cancelled sooner rather than later. Especially these days when airlines have become a lot more cautious about flying with empty seats.

On the airline's side, even if the city shows there is demand a-plenty, it needs to ensure there are adequate takeoff/landing slots available. At OKC, no problem, we have three runways and more than adequate runway capacity at the moment. Gates are becoming a little tight now but we still have enough flexibility (see catch's post above as an example). The terminal is also being expanded with a construction project starting this year that will add four gates. At DCA of course things are not so straightforward. It's a well-known fact that airport is slot-constrained and has the "perimeter rule" in effect. That is 1,250 statute miles (so most flights cannot fly between DCA and airports farther than 1,250 statute miles), but several exemptions have been granted in recent years. Not sure if OKC will be an exemption or not because the straight-line distance is 1,150 miles from what I gathered on some distance calculators, but I'm guessing slot-wise it will be an exemption. That's just a guess though.

So it does take a while on both sides, especially if one or both airports are slot-constrained. Sometimes, cities with higher "buying power" so to speak get preference over cities with lesser population or importance. I believe someone asked the other day why cities like Knoxville or Charleston already have DCA service. That has to do with them being much closer to DCA than Oklahoma City, much like why many cities out east still don't have DFW service but we do (upto 9 times daily this summer).

So yes, it does take a while to hash out everything and even then, there's no guarantee you will get the nonstop flight/destination.

That's about the overall explanation I have based on my knowledge, as an aviation geek, but of course there are more factors "behind the scenes" that go into all of this.

[catch22]

Most of it happens in a Microsoft excel spreadsheet in a cubicle.

Usually the process starts from the top, interns or newer route planners are given a task such as “find 10 routes out of XYZ that you think we should serve nonstop”. They will sift through internal and external public data and put together a list of likely profitable routes. In a meeting with a managing director these routes will be put up for discussion and narrowed down to the best 3 or 4. This refining may mean skipping a market that does not fit the current strategy or require greater investment of aircraft time or obtaining more real estate. These will be chosen and presented to the VP of Network and he will give feedback and give the OK. If it involves opening a new station the process will go a lot higher and through more rigorous data.

Really, outside of cold hard cash or very generous incentives (Stillwater), you an lobby all you want to the airline network analysts but they are only enjoying your free lunch. It helps to have your city name in their mind though when they do happen to run across it in a spreadsheet. Every bit helps to push it the top of the list.

OKC-DCA was likely selected because their strategy was to fill the slots with cities that they are strong in (OKC) and could dominate the market TO DCA. If their strategy was to dominate markets FROM DCA we would have not shown up anywhere on a spreadsheet. So it ultimately depends on what the airline is trying to accomplish.

This is how United works anyway. A good friend of mine is a Managing Director of Long Range Network Planning, and I’ve also had a one-on-one lunch with the VP of Network (Brian Znotins) before he moved along to westJet. This is how it was explained to me by both of them.

[gopokes88]

Here’s a chance we could maybe get a hub

https://thepointsguy.com/news/the-us...estic-airline/

[no1cub17]

Here’s a chance we could maybe get a hub

https://thepointsguy.com/news/the-us...estic-airline/

Haha, what about that article suggested a hub in OKC? I would love a hub here as much as anyone, but I just don't see it ... Is all I'm saying.