Oklahoma Commercial Air Service Discussion 2012

[venture]

You know what, I may have misspoken. Forgive my stupidness this evening. I was reading something online and I thought it was saying that the DCA slots had been announced...nevermind, it was just a dude's guess on which routes would be approved. In other news, it appears that the routes will be announced in a few days...

Someone is reading a.net. :-P LOL

That threat is about the Beyond Perimeter Slots being awarded. The OKC-DCA slot is an AIR21 slot (completely different) that was operated by DL on JAN (Jackson MS) to DCA and is currently being temporarily being operated by US on the same route. Indications seem to be that the AIR21 slot award will probably take place pretty close to the other slots being awarded.

My own personal thoughts are that if they award WN the AUS-DCA route that the OKC-DCA route gets awarded too. It just seems to make sense. Of course that also means that it may not happen at all then. LOL It would be tough for WN to just have AUS-DCA and that's it. Of course we could see WN move the DCA-MKE, MCO, and RSW service over to WN metal immediately then from FL. Right now FL operates MKE 4x, MCO 1x, RSW 1x, and ATL 6x. The Florida routes might be okay...RSW could get the ax though. I would expect MKE to go to 1 or 2 flights a day instead. They could then add like 2x to MDW and 1x to STL to get the airport connected to most of the network. Not sure they'll tough the ATL flights right now until the hub is unbanked.

[damonsmuz]

Venture, you know my online habits all too well I'm a lurker... not a poster.

[OUman]

Not sure they'll tough the ATL flights right now until the hub is unbanked.

I'm assuming you're talking about DL's hub? ATL was switched to a rolling hub years ago: http://archives.californiaaviation.o.../msg31841.html

[venture]

I'm assuming you're talking about DL's hub? ATL was switched to a rolling hub years ago: http://archives.californiaaviation.o.../msg31841.html

Oops meant to say toss, and no I wasn't talking about DL's hub. Consider the context of the post was on WN/FL, I was referring to WN unbanking FL's ATL hub. Just my opinion that it'll eventually happen, haven't heard anything confirming it yet.

[OUman]

^Ahh ok, yeah. It will likely happen, WN spreads out its flights at its busiest stations.

[HangryHippo]

Looks like the flights were awarded today and we didn't get the Southwest route to Reagan National.

[venture]

Looks like the flights were awarded today and we didn't get the Southwest route to Reagan National.

These were the beyond perimeter slot awards only, not the AIR21 slots. There hasn't been any word yet on those...chances are it'll stay with US Airways, but giving WN a slot at DCA now could mean things are more likely for us.

[HangryHippo]

These were the beyond perimeter slot awards only, not the AIR21 slots. There hasn't been any word yet on those...chances are it'll stay with US Airways, but giving WN a slot at DCA now could mean things are more likely for us.

Ah, okay. Thanks for clearing that up. I thought I had read that we were beyond the perimeter by just a few miles, but clearly I was mistaken. Any word on when the flights will be awarded?

[venture]

The decision is expected any day. It would do a lot of good OKC especially in the WN world. Not only providing connections (for WN) to markets such as DEN, LAS, PHX, and DAL...but also all of the one stop markets from the west that will bring people through here. The flights will also be very high yielding flights which could open us up to getting a 738 at sometime.

[brianinok]

Looks like April traffic was up. Another good month.

link

[shawnw]

Is there a thread for the new consolidated rental car facility being built? Should there be?

[ljbab728]

Is there a thread for the new consolidated rental car facility being built? Should there be?

It's been mentioned and discussed here starting at post number 69 and on.

http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=26061&page=3

There's not really enough there to devote an entire thread to it.

[shawnw]

I was thinking now that we're doing the "article" thing there could at least be an article until there's more to discuss...

[OUman]

Lokks like DL has intentions of subleasing the newly acquired 717-200s by WN, subject to final pilot ratification:

http://news.delta.com/index.php?s=43&item=1624

It would be nice to have a 712 or two to ATL once every now and then.

[venture]

Still uncertain if DL ALPA will approve this. The membership is not happy with the addition of 70 more larger regional jets. They will eliminate 50-seat jets though, so it shouldn't be much of an issue.

All in all this is good for WN. The company wants to be 737 only and the plan is to keep increasing capacity to spread costs out more. Also good for Boeing in being able to find a very good home for these to make the air frame attractive on the used market.

The draw back here, it probably means WN to ATL isn't going to happen for awhile since the company will be capacity neutral for a bit. We'll have to wait and see what the ATL hub looks like after FL is fully integrated though.

[damonsmuz]

The 717-200 was a very weird airplane for the BA family. It followed the look and feel of the MD family but was built firmly by BA. Good airplane that could have done extremely well. Airlines loved the plane by itself, but it was tough to have in a BA fleet because it had a different style cockpit and required a whole different type of flight testing for pilots. You couldn't just go from being a 737 pilot to a 717 pilot. The birth of the CRJ-700/900 and EMB family really hit the 717 hard.

So, what I am saying is that the 717 is a good plane, but it fit no-where in the WN family. Though me would have liked to see a 717 freshly painted in WN colors...

[venture]

The 717 had promise, but Boeing didn't want to invest in developing the 717-300 to create a family for it. It would have encroached too much on the 737 and it wasn't about to let the MD-95 (the original name) take away from that. Had they done the stretch we probably would have seen NW and AA jump at it them to replace the DC-9s in their fleets. The 717s in DL should finish off replacing the DC-9-50s. Of course the 737 and potentially the A320 (if the order goes through) will be taking care of the DC-9-80s with AA... albeit over a fairly lengthy time.

This is about as close as we'll get to seeing it...

[OUman]

^All things considered, as a commercial aviation junkie, this plane and the 757 are both on my list of getting to experience one day. Hopefully both in one trip .

[venture]

The 757 is a blast to fly, especially taking off out of DCA or MDW. I am like you and want to get on the 717 one day and at least DL will keep them flying for awhile. I wouldn't be shocked to see OKC-ATL switched over to all 717s.

My heart still belongs to...

[damonsmuz]

I love the 757. It's a blast on short runways. Try taking it in and out of Jackson Hole. I fly in there once or twice a winter and hardly ever do we not do one heck of a engine runup before releasing the brakes. Those Rolls Royce engines are freakin awesome. There's never a 757 TO that does not go un-filmed by me.

Venture, im surprised you don't have that pic being your profile pic.

[brianinok]

Looks like Delta has increased the frequency of the MD-88 to 3-times daily through early September for the Atlanta flights. Sunday-Friday there appears to be 2 morning MD-88 flights, a midday CRJ-900, a mid-afternoon MD-88 (great for international connections in ATL), and an evening CRJ-900. Saturday is the same minus the evening CRJ-900.

[OUman]

^That's awesome. Good to see more mainline between ATL and OKC. Hopefully some of that translates to DTW as well. DL also had a 738 daily for a few months this spring, it's been a while since we had a 738 at OKC.

[venture]

There was a response last month from Southwest to the DOT in regards to demands by US Airways and Frontier to deny the OKC-DCA application by WN. No response is out yet. The latest update a couple of weeks ago is that it is still under consideration on what to do with the AIR 21 slot. Going by the WN response, they have a slam dunk here and should win the slot. It pretty clearly points out US Airways' poor utilization of the DCA slots it already has. I would have to agree with them. I personally think that DCA slots should to be used to serve as many cities as possible to connect to the Nation's capital...not provide a connecting hub. Unfortunately US hasn't really followed this. It is somewhat disturbing that they won't maintain JAN service by reallocating a slot that is on another route that is probably over saturated with frequencies. Especially a route operated by multiple RJs a day versus mainline aircraft.

OKCDCAWNRESPONSE.pdf

[venture]

Anyone at the airport this morning able to get a pic of the Emirates 777 diversion from DFW?

[Jesseda]

Anyone at the airport this morning able to get a pic of the Emirates 777 diversion from DFW?

No but it was huge.