2025 Oklahoma City Aviation Thread

[scottk]

It sounds like western Oklahoma 's population density really hurts us in pulling additional flyers and expansion routes. I also wonder how much OKC's top employers force business air travel.

For an airport like XNA in NW Arkansas, I assume Walmart creates a steady flow of business travel coming in and out of Bentonville.

OKC has Paycom, Hobby Lobby, Devon, Love's - do those corporate entities require a lot of business air travel?

As others have stated, leisure travel seems to be impacted by direct route choices from DFW and DAL and the ability to drive to worthy vacation destinations (Rocky Mountains/Gulf Coast) within a day.

[VeggieMeat]

It sounds like western Oklahoma 's population density really hurts us in pulling additional flyers and expansion routes.

Quite a few people in far western Oklahoma opt for AMA, LBB, and (if only needing to get through Denver) LBL.

[HOT ROD]

i agree that OKC airport is nice and is nicely run, but I think we should ask these questions where OKC falls short compared to its peers. We should strive for more, at least a chance; OKC should def have a flight to every hub at the very least; it did before 2019 yet the market and city is much bigger now.

we should not rest on our laurels, esp since the OKC flight map doesn't even match the 2019 version yet. Yes, pax numbers are record levels again but that's due to the city/metro population growth and NOT to the flights. Again, we should at least have flight to every hub and if we did we'd probably have 5 million pax instead of 4.6.

[scottk]

i agree that OKC airport is nice and is nicely run, but I think we should ask these questions where OKC falls short compared to its peers. We should strive for more, at least a chance; OKC should def have a flight to every hub at the very least; it did before 2019 yet the market and city is much bigger now.

we should not rest on our laurels, esp since the OKC flight map doesn't even match the 2019 version yet. Yes, pax numbers are record levels again but that's due to the city/metro population growth and NOT to the flights. Again, we should at least have flight to every hub and if we did we'd probably have 5 million pax instead of 4.6.

Is there a reason why flights from OKC seem to consistently be more expensive than when comparing to DFW, TUL, or even ICT?

I know there are many factors, but when comparing same day departures to the same destination, but from searching, I will find that neighboring airports sometimes can be anywhere between $100-150 a ticket cheaper on the same carrier.

An easy way to increase local passenger traffic from OKC, when it seems there from these posts there are a decent number of people that divert around OKC to neighboring airports, would be to get same day fares comparable.

Is OKC charging a considerable amount more in gate rentals and other fees to the airlines that drive up costs?

[shai2022]

https://x.com/ishriona/status/1882202872655303025?s=46

Let's hire this guy haha

[Urbanized]

Wilmington: twenty million people within a 100 mile radius. 20 million!

[Plutonic Panda]

I’m sure there’s also tons of other airports in the area to serve that 20 million people as well. There’s just always some excuse for mediocrity in Oklahoma. So frustrating to see.

[Urbanized]

There’s excuses for mediocrity, and then there is simple acknowledgement that we live in the real world. Those are two very different things.

[Plutonic Panda]

I’m not in agreeing or disagreeing with you I’m just stating there’s always excuses for mediocrity in Oklahoma especially on this website. It gets very tiring. And once again, I’m sure there are many airports that serve the 20 million people that live in this area. So the other person‘s point is still valid. Not saying yours isn’t. You do have a good point. But to me it seems Oklahoma City should pull more of its weight than it does when it comes to direct flights.

[Urbanized]

Fair enough. Let’s bring the radius down to 50 miles, so about the size of the OKC MSA, which has 1.4 million persons. Wilmington has…nearly 6.8 million. That’s roughly equal to the entire population of Oklahoma and Kansas combined.

[dcsooner]

I’m not in agreeing or disagreeing with you I’m just stating there’s always excuses for mediocrity in Oklahoma especially on this website. It gets very tiring. And once again, I’m sure there are many airports that serve the 20 million people that live in this area. So the other person‘s point is still valid. Not saying yours isn’t. You do have a good point. But to me it seems Oklahoma City should pull more of its weight than it does when it comes to direct flights.

Agree

[Plutonic Panda]

I probably shouldn’t have posted anything at all because in actuality I agree with what you’re saying. I’m just saying that it’s frustrating about our airport situation. I just went about wording it very poorly. But yes, you’re right. This is a much more dense area of the country population wise. Having looked up all these numbers now I’m actually surprised this airport doesn’t have more flights than it does.

[Plutonic Panda]

Agree

Yeah, just seems like every time there’s some excuse for Oklahoma for being as mediocre as it is and really it is a boring state. I say that as someone who is from there and loves Oklahoma and wants to see it do more, but the state sucks. And I’m sorry if that offends anybody here, but I guarantee you a lot more people feel that way than who don’t. And it doesn’t have to be that way there’s so much potential. I’m not trying to get political or anything, but you probably get where I’m going with this.

[Jake]

I too wish we had the route network of a city 3 times our size. Has airport leadership thought about this?

[Richard at Remax]

Are you getting Wilmington, Delaware confused with Wilmington, NC?

The tweet was about the one in NC

[Plutonic Panda]

Are you getting Wilmington, Delaware confused with Wilmington, NC?

The tweet was about the one in NC

Well, hang on now you’ve got me confused. I’m looking at Delaware slightly south of Philadelphia off the 95. I just Google maps the one in North Carolina. There is really 20 million people around that area?

[Plutonic Panda]

I too wish we had the route network of a city 3 times our size. Has airport leadership thought about this?

Well, unless I’m confused about which city we were talking about it looks like we already do have a bigger network. But that’s only due to the fact that there’s other larger cities closer by than what we have.

[Celebrator]

I’m not in agreeing or disagreeing with you I’m just stating there’s always excuses for mediocrity in Oklahoma especially on this website. It gets very tiring. And once again, I’m sure there are many airports that serve the 20 million people that live in this area. So the other person‘s point is still valid. Not saying yours isn’t. You do have a good point. But to me it seems Oklahoma City should pull more of its weight than it does when it comes to direct flights.

What excuses are being made? A lot of people contributing to the current discussion here are presenting facts or well-thought out theories, not excuses. And you just say things like its "boring" and it "sucks." As sports commentator Jim Rome says, "Saying something sucks is not a take."

[Plutonic Panda]

What excuses are being made? A lot of people contributing to the current discussion here are presenting facts or well-thought out theories, not excuses. And you just say things like its "boring" and it "sucks." As sports commentator Jim Rome says, "Saying something sucks is not a take."

Hey, I love my home state. I love your analogy to a sports commentators. But I’ll tell you it. It’s a little exciting or at least I feel a little relief when I come back in hear thunder. I miss my thunderstorms.

[Urbanized]

Are you getting Wilmington, Delaware confused with Wilmington, NC?

The tweet was about the one in NC

Ah, I’d missed that if it was NC. In that case the proximate population is very similar. 2.9 million within 100 miles vs 2.8 million for OKC. Possibly difference are related to demographics or industry, but I haven’t dug into that.

[BG918]

Ah, I’d missed that if it was NC. In that case the proximate population is very similar. 2.9 million within 100 miles vs 2.8 million for OKC. Possibly difference are related to demographics or industry, but I haven’t dug into that.

It is the main gateway airport for NC beaches including the OBX.

[Swake]

So just looking at some cities that I would put in our lane (Omaha, des Moines, grand rapids, Louisville) and their route maps, I found something obvious but interesting.

Each one of those above have nonstop connections to 9-12 airports in Florida alone. We have 3, and right now they are mostly seasonal. I don't have any rhyme or reason on why oklahomans don't want to go to Florida, but it was eye opening.

This has to be part of it:

Average snowfall per year:
OKC 10 inches

Louisville 17 inches
Grand Rapids 29 inches
Omaha 31 inches
Des Moines 37 inches

[VeggieMeat]

This has to be part of it:

Average snowfall per year:
OKC 10 inches

Louisville 17 inches
Grand Rapids 29 inches
Omaha 31 inches
Des Moines 37 inches

Louisville (Mesa, Republic), Grand Rapids (Allegiant), and Des Moines (Allegiant) are regional bases.

Enough natural demand to merit a base may be just enough to beget a few additional routes beyond the natural demand.

[dcsooner]

Yeah, just seems like every time there’s some excuse for Oklahoma for being as mediocre as it is and really it is a boring state. I say that as someone who is from there and loves Oklahoma and wants to see it do more, but the state sucks. And I’m sorry if that offends anybody here, but I guarantee you a lot more people feel that way than who don’t. And it doesn’t have to be that way there’s so much potential. I’m not trying to get political or anything, but you probably get where I’m going with this.

My sentiment as well. But don't say it to loudly or to often you will get crushed

[Celebrator]

My sentiment as well. But don't say it to loudly or to often you will get crushed

It gets crushed because it is not constructive. Again, saying something sucks "is not a take." And honestly, it is harder to hear from posters who do not even live here, which, given your screen name, I assume you don't, just like PluPan doesn't. Just lobbing insults from afar is not only not constructive, it's frankly annoying and rude. You don't live here, I assume, because you like it better somewhere else, well that is good for you, but the rest of us live here and many of us on here love it, despite the challenges. Can it be better, sure, (what place shouldn't be working on continuous improvement) but I am certainly not bored here and am happy to call it home.