2025 Oklahoma City Aviation Thread

[Jeepnokc]

Hopefully they put a bigger plane on the MSP. The current flight uses an Embraer75 which is not the most comfortable plane (even in first) for a 2 hour flight. I usually avoid going through MSP for this reason.

[BG918]

Nice to see an increase in frequency out of OKC. I guess I'm surprised that Delta added frequency to MSP instead of restarting DTW. Not complaining,just an observation. Hopefully United follows with bringing back SFO,EWR and IAD

SFO is a good bet to be added back, likely with some kind of subsidy. I wouldn't expect to see the others anytime soon though - too much competition in those markets now and they can better serve OKC from their IAH, DEN and ORD hubs.

[bison34]

SFO is a good bet to be added back, likely with some kind of subsidy. I wouldn't expect to see the others anytime soon though - too much competition in those markets now and they can better serve OKC from their IAH, DEN and ORD hubs.

If OKC got another flight to the NYC area, I agree. But a lot of people go to EWR to avoid the NYC airports, and can easily train in to Manhattan.

[Jersey Boss]

if okc got another flight to the nyc area, i agree. But a lot of people go to ewr to avoid the nyc airports, and can easily train in to manhattan.

Iykyk

[gopokes88]

January is out. Growth trend continues. https://flyokc.com/wp-content/upload...nplanement.pdf

American might surpass Southwest sometime this year.

[PhiAlpha]

If OKC got another flight to the NYC area, I agree. But a lot of people go to EWR to avoid the NYC airports, and can easily train in to Manhattan.

This

[Jeepnokc]

If OKC got another flight to the NYC area, I agree. But a lot of people go to EWR to avoid the NYC airports, and can easily train in to Manhattan.

I think a lot also has to do with direct flights available. If you fly United...makes sense to fly into EWR. I fly Delta so I fly into LGA. No way am I going to do two flights and then spend all the time to get into Manhattan and then Uber from train station to hotel. LGA was just remodeled and is so much better and easier than it used to be. Has a great skyclub now also.

[PistolChad]

Many people like to blame airport officials, but the FACT is that the majority of the non-hub / non-"focus city" airports that lost direct flights in 2020 haven't gotten them all back. Oklahoma City is normal - not an anomaly.

ALL US-based airlines are SIGNIFICANTLY behind where they wanted to be in both pilots and aircraft. Airbus is behind. Boeing is WAY behind and can't seem to pull their head out. Every single source of training new pilots in the USA is already at max capacity. It is a time consuming process to get pilots trained in this country. It is also very difficult to bring in foreign pilots to fly domestically here for many reasons.

By the end of 2025 it appears all regional airlines will FINALLY have their entire fleets back operational. Only a small number of regional jet pilots that flew in 2020 are still flying regional jets. Most have gotten hired by mainline operators. They have taken the brunt of backfilling all the talent they lost. The ONLY reason they are FINALLY going to be able to recover this year IS BECAUSE Boeing can't produce jets fast enough. If Boeing suddenly started producing twice the number of jets per year, the regional airlines would get decimated again within a year and would have to rebuild all over again.

For OKC, if what you care about is MORE cities with direct flights, then those are going to be via regional jets to begin with. Fill those regional jets and then we'll get more flights per day and ultimately then we'll get mainline aircraft.

[bison34]

https://www.threads.net/@ishrion.avi...H8WN9VjXr4FZ9g

According to this, OKC will be getting a Frontier flight to Atlanta. Ishrion is usually accurate.

[BG918]

https://www.threads.net/@ishrion.avi...H8WN9VjXr4FZ9g

According to this, OKC will be getting a Frontier flight to Atlanta. Ishrion is usually accurate.

Interesting. I recently had to travel to Atlanta and was looking at flights. There is a significant price difference between OKC and TUL due to OKC having a daily Southwest nonstop while TUL only has flights on Delta. This Frontier flight should make fares even more competitive similar to OKC-DEN which has three airlines with daily flights.

[Celebrator]

I believe WN will be ending their flights to ATL sometime soon, if I recall correctly, so F9 and DL will be the only competitors on the route. WN is really pulling back at ATL.

[sooner333]

I was looking at flights on google in late May and saw an option to connect in Atlanta on Frontier.

[okcrun]

https://www.threads.net/@ishrion.avi...H8WN9VjXr4FZ9g

According to this, OKC will be getting a Frontier flight to Atlanta. Ishrion is usually accurate.

This is now confirmed. Starts May 22nd. Frontier now has non-stop flights to DEN, LAS, MCO and ATL.

https://news.flyfrontier.com/atlanta...-and-honduras/

[Laramie]

Sean Duffy, U.S. Secretary of Transportation wants to bring the brightest and the best to Oklahoma City's academy. Give a 30% pay raise from $17 to $22 an hour; an annual
salary of $160,000 once they complete the academy through certification.

Good relief if this comes to fruition, hope WWIA OKC will retain some of these graduates and supply the nation's shortage of Air Traffic controllers. Initially asking of $1 billion
from Congress to upgrade the nations airports.

[VeggieMeat]

Sean Duffy, U.S. Secretary of Transportation wants to bring the brightest and the best to Oklahoma City's academy. Give a 30% pay raise from $17 to $22 an hour; an annual
salary of $160,000 once they complete the academy through certification.

Good relief if this comes to fruition, hope WWIA OKC will retain some of these graduates and supply the nation's shortage of Air Traffic controllers. Initially asking of $1 billion
from Congress to upgrade the nations airports.

Increasing training pay won't make a dent. Training capacity is the real problem, but our Congressmen have been against addressing that.

[damonsmuz]

Seeing Frontier add flights is nice,but Delta will protect ATL. Looks like Southwest tried to do something in Atlanta and it didn't work. I.hope Frontier has success there,but I don't think this route to ATL will be one that is long lasting

[OKCTalker]

Sean Duffy, U.S. Secretary of Transportation wants to bring the brightest and the best to Oklahoma City's academy. Give a 30% pay raise from $17 to $22 an hour; an annual
salary of $160,000 once they complete the academy through certification.

Good relief if this comes to fruition, hope WWIA OKC will retain some of these graduates and supply the nation's shortage of Air Traffic controllers. Initially asking of $1 billion
from Congress to upgrade the nations airports.

Is there a separate thread for the FAA Mike Monroney Center? If not, should there be?

[Rover]

Sean Duffy, U.S. Secretary of Transportation wants to bring the brightest and the best to Oklahoma City's academy. Give a 30% pay raise from $17 to $22 an hour; an annual
salary of $160,000 once they complete the academy through certification.

Good relief if this comes to fruition, hope WWIA OKC will retain some of these graduates and supply the nation's shortage of Air Traffic controllers. Initially asking of $1 billion
from Congress to upgrade the nations airports.

They’ve been asking for while and it’s been thwarted. Maybe it cant be ignored any longer. Just wondering how this squares with the layoffs.

[BG918]

This is now confirmed. Starts May 22nd. Frontier now has non-stop flights to DEN, LAS, MCO and ATL.

https://news.flyfrontier.com/atlanta...-and-honduras/

Frontier could be an option for flights from OKC to Cancun, especially if they already have a decent presence. I'd like to see them try San Diego again, even if just a couple days a week.

[Richard at Remax]

The new Alaska flights to SEA have are now live.

OKC to SEA - 7am that gets into SEA at 8:57am
SEA to OKC - 6:05 PM that gets into OKC at 11:40pm

Both flights are on 737-900

[HOT ROD]

so to clarify, Alaska now has a morning departure from OKC to SEA in addition to the existing afternoon departure.

This is great, but I believe this is a return to the flight schedule Alaska had in 2019. Great nonetheless and hopefully we can get those Alaska numbers back up (and beyond) as well.

I honestly think Alaska could make a nice run making OKC a focus city or mid-continent hub. If it's anyone, it'd make the most sense for Alaska.

[PoliSciGuy]

Oh man, that early fight is fantastic! That second one, not so much. That gets too late to make any connections in Seattle if you are going to a regional airport up there.

[Richard at Remax]

To be fair, the second one is coming back to OKC. The 2x daily schedule is:

OKC to SEA:
7:00am - 8:57am
2:44pm- 4:38pm

SEA to OKC:
8:11am - 1:48pm
6:05pm - 11:40am

[gopokes88]

Pretty tough guidance out from the big 4. Curious if we see a dip in OKC numbers or if it holds up strong. (February #'s will likely be down because of weather + extra day last year)

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/11/airl...el-demand.html

[scottk]

Pretty tough guidance out from the big 4. Curious if we see a dip in OKC numbers or if it holds up strong. (February #'s will likely be down because of weather + extra day last year)

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/11/airl...el-demand.html

Southwest with their announcement of doing away with "bags fly free", and now charging for bags starting in May certainly can't help things.