Oklahoma Commercial Air Service Discussion 2012

[ljbab728]

Why don't we see increased air service? Is it a lack of political clout, is it that we split meager numbers between here and Tulsa, is it people traveling through DFW, little corporate travel?

The airlines have been reducing capacity for the last few years in many markets. It's nothing to do with politics and you would be very surprised about the amount of corporate travel here. It's not insignificant.

[bradh]

I am flying to Denver in late September on UA for the Texans/Broncos game and I got an email this past weekend that changed my schedule. I think they may have cancelled my early afternoon flight and put everyone on a flight leaving at 10am, so it appears the shrinkage has started.

[catch22]

Nothing to be alarmed about, seasonal reductions go across the board.

[LakeEffect]

The airlines have been reducing capacity for the last few years in many markets. It's nothing to do with politics and you would be very surprised about the amount of corporate travel here. It's not insignificant.

It's extremely political with United at Houston. They originally announced that their first 787 would fly Houston to Auckland, New Zealand, which would have been the first US airline to have a direct flight to NZ. United decided to pull that flight after Southwest won the right to fly internationally out of Hobby. Also, United has "warned" Houston that they'll be cutting many, many jobs because of the potential for lost connections at Intercontinental. It's all posturing.

[venture]

It's extremely political with United at Houston. They originally announced that their first 787 would fly Houston to Auckland, New Zealand, which would have been the first US airline to have a direct flight to NZ. United decided to pull that flight after Southwest won the right to fly internationally out of Hobby. Also, United has "warned" Houston that they'll be cutting many, many jobs because of the potential for lost connections at Intercontinental. It's all posturing.

The whole UA vs WN in Houston is just stupid. UA just needed an excuse to move capacity around. WN won't be starting international flying from HOU until 2015. How a 737 to CUN or LIM can impact a 787 to Aukland is just beyond me. LOL

Like Catch22 mentioned though, these are mainly seasonal adjustments like most airlines do during the fall until the middle of November.

[LakeEffect]

The whole UA vs WN in Houston is just stupid. UA just needed an excuse to move capacity around. WN won't be starting international flying from HOU until 2015. How a 737 to CUN or LIM can impact a 787 to Aukland is just beyond me. LOL

Like Catch22 mentioned though, these are mainly seasonal adjustments like most airlines do during the fall until the middle of November.

From a traveler's standpoint, I was upset. First, I want to get on a 787 soon, and second, we have family in NZ and it looked like a great opportunity to hit the 787 and NZ in one shot.

[chrisok]

Now the first 787 "scheduled" is DEN-NRT

[bradh]

Houston is definitely getting the shaft from UA across the board.

[ljbab728]

It's extremely political with United at Houston. They originally announced that their first 787 would fly Houston to Auckland, New Zealand, which would have been the first US airline to have a direct flight to NZ. United decided to pull that flight after Southwest won the right to fly internationally out of Hobby. Also, United has "warned" Houston that they'll be cutting many, many jobs because of the potential for lost connections at Intercontinental. It's all posturing.

Houston and the issues with Southwest Airlines and United are a unique situation and I don't really consider that about politics anyway unless you consider any business pressures to be politics.

Now if you're talking about awarding spots in slot restricted airports politics, I might not argue about that.

[ljbab728]

It appears that any reduced capacity out of OKC is not significanly affecting our stats.

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-citys-wil...financial-news

[venture]

Pax increases are always good...but I would like to see the okc airports authority release load factor details per airline as well like more cities do. Though I guess we can get the detailed information once the dot posts them.

[catch22]

If someone would email the airport, and request they start including those details, I'm sure they would. I emailed them requesting them to start including passenger data per airline, and they started doing it shortly thereafter with each month's data reports.

[LakeEffect]

Anyone going to purchase a United 787 ticket this weekend? If I had the cash, I'd be doing so...

[jmpokc1957]

A 787 was in Portland a while ago. Of course, they're made just up I-5 in Seattle.

Flight Aware shows 3 787's in the air at this time( 5:35 CDT ). One( http://flightaware.com/live/flight/JAL7) is about a third of the way through a 13 hour flight from Boston to Tokyo. 6694 miles.

[OUman]

^Just some FYI, while FlightAware is a good tool to have (especially for aviation enthusiasts, like me), the aircraft map is on a 5-minute delay. So the flight can be much further along than shown on the map.

[catch22]

The times are accurate, the map is delayed. When it says an Estimated 1:18 arrival. The flight usually touches down about 1:18.

[OUman]

I realized that as soon as I posted it and went to fix it, 'cause I knew someone would catch that error lol. Fixed.

[HangryHippo]

Does anyone think we'll see Spirit Airlines here in the near future? I'm sure I'll get backlash over Spirit, but while I don't love their customer service and their ancillary fees, you can't really beat their fares.

[damonsmuz]

While one can never say never in the airline business, I don't see OKC having the right type of business model that Spirit is seeking on a daily basis. If they were to come here, perhaps they would fly somewhere a few days a week like Florida. Spirit has a unique presence on the east coast connecting passengers to popular east coast towns like Atlantic City or Myrtle Beach. For OKC, I just don't see it.

If an airline were to start new service to the east coast from OKC, it would be AA with non-stop service to CLT ( yes, I just went there.... )

[venture]

While one can never say never in the airline business, I don't see OKC having the right type of business model that Spirit is seeking on a daily basis. If they were to come here, perhaps they would fly somewhere a few days a week like Florida. Spirit has a unique presence on the east coast connecting passengers to popular east coast towns like Atlantic City or Myrtle Beach. For OKC, I just don't see it.

Yeah I have to agree. Spirit is cherry picking some pretty decent sized markets right now. DFW is turning into one of their larger stations. They'll get people to drive down and won't have to fly into Oklahoma at all.

If an airline were to start new service to the east coast from OKC, it would be AA with non-stop service to CLT ( yes, I just went there.... )

Your scenario couldn't possibly include Doug Parker being CEO of AMR at the time, would it? LOL

[catch22]

The only scenario I see Spirit opening service in OKC is if they do a major Denver or Las Vegas expansion again. Both are large O/D leisure markets with people searching for the lowest fare.

[bradh]

I couldn't imagine driving to DFW just to save money on airfare. The time cost alone is a deal breaker for me.

[Richard at Remax]

I couldn't imagine driving to DFW just to save money on airfare. The time cost alone is a deal breaker for me.

plus don't forget the money you'll spend to park and gas money to get there and back.

[venture]

I couldn't imagine driving to DFW just to save money on airfare. The time cost alone is a deal breaker for me.

You'll probably be shocked on how many people actually do it though. Especially when Spirit offers their $9 air fares...well then add in 5 billion in fees. LOL

[BG918]

Does anyone think we'll see Spirit Airlines here in the near future? I'm sure I'll get backlash over Spirit, but while I don't love their customer service and their ancillary fees, you can't really beat their fares.

I'm flying Spirit for the first time next month. The fare was low but for what they charge you for a checked or even a carry on bag I don't know if it's worth it for most people.