Non-Stop to Cleveland Added at WRWA

[Kerry]

Tue July 24, 2007
Will Rogers World Airport adds nonstop flight to ClevelandRelated Searches
By Ja’Rena Lunsford
Business Writer

Will Rogers World Airport has secured another nonstop flight, announcing today that Continental Airlines will provide service between Oklahoma City and Cleveland.

The new service begins Sept. 30 and will be the only nonstop flight from Oklahoma City to Cleveland.

"The service offers other options out of Oklahoma City,” Continental spokeswoman Mary Clark said.

Continental will operate two daily flights with 50-seat Embraer 145 regional jets.

Mark Kranenburg, director of Will Rogers, said the Cleveland flight will allow travelers access to other destinations in the area.

"It really does just open up the northeast quadrant,” he said.

[venture]

Already being discussed...

http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-are...matically.html

Mods, can the threads be merged?

[metro]

Continental Airlines to offer direct service to Cleveland

July 26, 2007

OKLAHOMA CITY – The recent growth in direct flights from Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers World Airport is uncommon in the larger airline market currently, industry analysts said.The addition of a Continental Airlines flight to the company’s hub at Cleveland Hopkins Airport is scheduled to begin Sept. 30. It is the 11th new nonstop route since September and brings the airport’s total direct flight routes to 27. “Some airports across the country are doing quite well, but there are others who haven’t seen much in the way of new service for a while,” said Kevin Schorr, managing director of Washington, D.C.-based TranSystems, a consultant to Will Rogers and several other regional airports. “I don’t recall many airports of this size with so many recent air service announcements. … I really have to say that Oklahoma City is doing fairly well right now.”Rather than offer routes that duplicate what other carriers are already offering, the airline companies are putting in services to new markets, Schorr said. The one destination that stands out at Will Rogers is Las Vegas, with three airlines taking passengers to the gambling and entertainment mecca. Otherwise, there is very little destination overlap among nonstop carriers.“A lot of times what happens is that one new service will be added, and then the other airlines take notice and do something to defend their turf. Or they might suddenly realize that there is sort of a hidden gem here that they didn’t know about, so they start to look into it further,” Schorr said. “

What the airport has been doing for the last year and a half or so is really stepping up their marketing efforts. … And that really does make a big difference.”Airline industry insider Bob Mann, principal of New York-based R.W. Mann & Co. Inc., said, “The general trend across the 48-state marketplace has been a reduction in capacity. In some cases, that’s accomplished by pulling out mainline jets – 250-seat and larger – and replacing them with regionally operated, 50- or 70-seat jets.”Oklahoma City’s new Cleveland daily route uses a 50-seat Embraer 145 regional jet aircraft.Nationwide, Mann said, “the number of aircraft has grown, which has led to the air traffic delay problems that we’ve seen. The trend, however, is to a smaller-sized aircraft. So although the number has grown, the number of seats in the new fleet has not grown proportionally.”He also said the number of corporate-operated aircraft has grown dramatically, “a function of a lot of people opting out of the scheduled airline system altogether.”

Schorr agreed that the industry is growing with smaller aircraft and reassessing traditionally heavy-volume routes. That also might be one of the components playing into Will Rogers’ new destinations.“It’s a bit of both,” Schorr said. “There are some airlines ordering new planes – getting more toys to play with, essentially. But others that are just sort of reshuffling … to most profitably deploy their aircraft.”

Roy Williams, president of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, gave credit for the surge in direct flights to the city itself.“This is absolutely a sign that Oklahoma City is booming – employment is up, population is up – and the airlines are taking notice,” Williams said.Mark Kranenburg, director of Oklahoma City Department of Airports, agreed: “The things that are going on in Oklahoma City, the prosperous times we’re having right now because of MAPS and some of the new industries like Dell, has created an economic environment where the community is doing well,” he said.

Passenger traffic through Will Rogers has been increasing an average of 5 percent annually, Kranenburg said.“But it’s not just putting people on airplanes that an airline looks at,” he said. “They also look at how well the community is growing, is it prospering, will it be able to sustain a new service.”

[metro]

Continental Airlines to offer direct service to Cleveland

July 26, 2007
The Journal Record

OKLAHOMA CITY – The recent growth in direct flights from Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers World Airport is uncommon in the larger airline market currently, industry analysts said.The addition of a Continental Airlines flight to the company’s hub at Cleveland Hopkins Airport is scheduled to begin Sept. 30. It is the 11th new nonstop route since September and brings the airport’s total direct flight routes to 27. “Some airports across the country are doing quite well, but there are others who haven’t seen much in the way of new service for a while,” said Kevin Schorr, managing director of Washington, D.C.-based TranSystems, a consultant to Will Rogers and several other regional airports. “I don’t recall many airports of this size with so many recent air service announcements. … I really have to say that Oklahoma City is doing fairly well right now.”Rather than offer routes that duplicate what other carriers are already offering, the airline companies are putting in services to new markets, Schorr said. The one destination that stands out at Will Rogers is Las Vegas, with three airlines taking passengers to the gambling and entertainment mecca. Otherwise, there is very little destination overlap among nonstop carriers.“A lot of times what happens is that one new service will be added, and then the other airlines take notice and do something to defend their turf. Or they might suddenly realize that there is sort of a hidden gem here that they didn’t know about, so they start to look into it further,” Schorr said. “

What the airport has been doing for the last year and a half or so is really stepping up their marketing efforts. … And that really does make a big difference.”Airline industry insider Bob Mann, principal of New York-based R.W. Mann & Co. Inc., said, “The general trend across the 48-state marketplace has been a reduction in capacity. In some cases, that’s accomplished by pulling out mainline jets – 250-seat and larger – and replacing them with regionally operated, 50- or 70-seat jets.”Oklahoma City’s new Cleveland daily route uses a 50-seat Embraer 145 regional jet aircraft.Nationwide, Mann said, “the number of aircraft has grown, which has led to the air traffic delay problems that we’ve seen. The trend, however, is to a smaller-sized aircraft. So although the number has grown, the number of seats in the new fleet has not grown proportionally.”He also said the number of corporate-operated aircraft has grown dramatically, “a function of a lot of people opting out of the scheduled airline system altogether.”

Schorr agreed that the industry is growing with smaller aircraft and reassessing traditionally heavy-volume routes. That also might be one of the components playing into Will Rogers’ new destinations.“It’s a bit of both,” Schorr said. “There are some airlines ordering new planes – getting more toys to play with, essentially. But others that are just sort of reshuffling … to most profitably deploy their aircraft.”

Roy Williams, president of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, gave credit for the surge in direct flights to the city itself.“This is absolutely a sign that Oklahoma City is booming – employment is up, population is up – and the airlines are taking notice,” Williams said.Mark Kranenburg, director of Oklahoma City Department of Airports, agreed: “The things that are going on in Oklahoma City, the prosperous times we’re having right now because of MAPS and some of the new industries like Dell, has created an economic environment where the community is doing well,” he said.

Passenger traffic through Will Rogers has been increasing an average of 5 percent annually, Kranenburg said.“But it’s not just putting people on airplanes that an airline looks at,” he said. “They also look at how well the community is growing, is it prospering, will it be able to sustain a new service.”

[bombermwc]

On yet another 50 person puke jet.

[soonerliberal]

Frankly I prefer the Embraer Jets over 737s, especially the aging ones coming out of OKC. These smaller jets are actually pretty nice and are much more economical.

[OUman]

Yeah, ERJ's are the only option though, and if it weren't for the ERJ/CRJ/EMB what have you, OKC and a lot of other airports wouldn't have half the service they have now. After all, this is nonstop and you don't have to connect and wait at another airport.

[CCOKC]

I agree that I would much rather take a regional jet non-stop than 2 larger planes and have a 3-4 hour layover.