Oklahoma Commercial Air Service Discussion 2012

[catch22]

Loaded into the system

UA 4429 CLEOKC 0840A 1032A
Operates Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa

UA 4429 OKCCLE 1057A 0220P
Operates Mo Tu We Th Fr Su


Will be operated by Expressjet on 50 seat ERJ145.

[cjohnson.405]

Last night, I saw that there was construction activity in the bottom floor of the parking garage in WRWA. What's going on here?

Are we finally going to get valet/drop-off parking?

[catch22]

http://www.flyokc.com/statistics/Sep...ent%202012.pdf

Slightly down for September.

[G.Walker]

I wonder if the demand is there now for them to add the East Concourse...I think they need to go ahead a get it started, as it will take a couple years to fully complete.

[venture]

I wonder if the demand is there now for them to add the East Concourse...I think they need to go ahead a get it started, as it will take a couple years to fully complete.

If anything they need to add an FIS area for Mexican flights. With WN expanding south of the border, it could open opportunities up here for flights going that direction. Not to mention, there are other targets that OKC could go after to get service here.

Overall though we still are no where near capacity to force the need for additional gates. Airlines are also operating too many small jets into the city still to force the facility to be packed.

[catch22]

United will be taking Gate 8 soon. And keeping 3, 5, 9, 10 as well.

[OKCTalker]

Are all gates fully functional? By that I'm asking if each gate has telco, a computer, PA capability, boarding pass scanner, etc. I suppose that each is the responsibility of its respective airline, but I was in an airport on Sunday and UA checked us in at one gate and put us in the jetway at another nearby gate.

[catch22]

No. Each airline has their own computer systems and the airline is responsible for providing it. The unused gates are "dead". However, for operational needs we may rent a gate for a few hours from the city. All ticketing isues will be taken care of at another gate but you may board through a different gate. For example scan your pass at Gate 3 and board through Gate 1.

[G.Walker]

WRWA has a lot more traffic and non-stop flights now than they did 5 years ago when they considered expansion, so it should not be too far off before we see the East Concourse development and Central Terminal upgrades. We know that they are making utility and runway improvements on the east side of the airport, so maybe that is a start...

[catch22]

Central Terminal upgrades will happen before the East Concourse.

[OKCTalker]

Thanks catch. We were trying to get to ORD which had been under a tornado warning, the system everywhere had backed up, and airline personnel were doing their best to get pax to the aircraft. I appreciate their hard work, including scanning boarding passes at one gate and running us through another.

[venture]

WRWA has a lot more traffic and non-stop flights now than they did 5 years ago when they considered expansion, so it should not be too far off before we see the East Concourse development and Central Terminal upgrades. We know that they are making utility and runway improvements on the east side of the airport, so maybe that is a start...

Utility and runway improvements are mainly for the new mixed use developments going in on the east side of the airport. Nothing to do with the pax terminal. Right now we are at 17 gates and most airlines can get 8-12 flights out of each gate per day. So figure at least 130 flights a day. Granted some gates get squatted on by like Frontier who only has 3 flights a day.

[HangryHippo]

Central Terminal upgrades will happen before the East Concourse.

I may have missed you detailing this elsewhere, but what improvements are planned for the Central Terminal? God knows it needs help from a functional standpoint.

[catch22]

I may have missed you detailing this elsewhere, but what improvements are planned for the Central Terminal? God knows it needs help from a functional standpoint.

Really nothing to note of besides the consolidated security checkpoint and the closing of both east and west checkpoints. No timeline for this project though.

[OUman]

I may have missed you detailing this elsewhere, but what improvements are planned for the Central Terminal? God knows it needs help from a functional standpoint.

Revised Central Terminal Expansion/Phase III/East Concourse

You'll wonder what's up with a blank page for the better half of a minute but it will load, just takes a while. Scroll down to Option 2a, which is what was chosen for expansion. It starts on page 55 of the document.

And for those thinking that the East Concourse is an immediate necessity, remember that gates 1, 11 and 12 are still unused. And of course Gate 2 is barely used, even if another airline wanted to start service here, it could easily share Gate 2 with Frontier (which is very common at many other busier airports in the U.S.) In my opinion OKC's traffic will need to come up to 4 mil/yr and remain above it, at about which time the East Concourse will be required. Very few times of the year is the terminal very crowded, Thanskgiving break and Christmas holiday travel being the examples. It's a few years away I think.

As far as international flights are concerned, Option 2a. does allow for an FIS facility. Which is what SkywestOKC posted back then.

[catch22]

Revised Central Terminal Expansion/Phase III/East Concourse

You'll wonder what's up with a blank page for the better half of a minute but it will load, just takes a while. Scroll down to Option 2a, which is what was chosen for expansion. It starts on page 55 of the document.

And for those thinking that the East Concourse is an immediate necessity, remember that gates 1, 11 and 12 are still unused. And of course Gate 2 is barely used, even if another airline wanted to start service here, it could easily share Gate 2 with Frontier (which is very common at many other busier airports in the U.S.) In my opinion OKC's traffic will need to come up to 4 mil/yr and remain above it, at about which time the East Concourse will be required. Very few times of the year is the terminal very crowded, Thanskgiving break and Christmas holiday travel being the examples. It's a few years away I think.

As far as international flights are concerned, Option 2a. does allow for an FIS facility. Which is what SkywestOKC posted back then.

The airport refuses to lease out Gate 1. They allow usage to be rented by the hour, but not a permanent lease. So after United takes Gate 8 that really allows only 2 leaseable gates. It really won't take too much expansion in service to trigger the construction of Phase 1 of the east concourse (small 3-4 gate extension). The second phase of the east concourse would finish it out to 9 gates.

[G.Walker]

One thing that will help the WRWA image, that will cost next to nothing is a new branding campaign. The website needs a total makeover and the logo of Will Rogers standing on the globe with a rope has to go. It's 2012, we are not in the 60's anymore. I know the OKC Airport Trust likes to stick with tradition but there are talented branding companies that can leverage old and new concepts and develop a new brand. Even the Tulsa Int'l Airport has a new brand, which is sleek, modern, and a breath of fresh air. Tulsa International Airport | Travel Above

[Snowman]

One thing that will help the WRWA image, that will cost next to nothing is a new branding campaign. The website needs a total makeover and the logo of Will Rogers standing on the globe with a rope has to go. It's 2012, we are not in the 60's anymore. I know the OKC Airport Trust likes to stick with tradition but there are talented branding companies that can leverage old and new concepts and develop a new brand. Even the Tulsa Int'l Airport has a new brand, which is sleek, modern, and a breath of fresh air. Tulsa International Airport | Travel Above

It is kind of ironic as far as tulsa's website, the layout may feel slightly more modern but the logo and color scheme feels more out of the 60's/70's to me.

[catch22]

They just redesigned the website about a year or two ago. And it is not very good. The OKC Airport Trust has a history of doing things on the cheap.

[OUman]

^I actually like the OKC website. It may have size issues on some pages (like the stats page) but it's way better than the one it replaced. The new one is easier to navigate, the homepage lists all the pertinent information you need to find quickly, and for once the press releases section is consistently updated. That used to be a chronic problem, not so these days, I hope they keep that up. Used to be when we were getting new service announcements, it either used to take forever for that press release to get posted, or it never showed up. The Alerts and Advisories page is also updated regularly.

Now as far as the new TUL website is concerned, I'm not sure why that colour scheme was chosen. On the other hand I do like how the terminal map has been posted as a link right there on the homepage without having to search for it.

[ljbab728]

One thing that will help the WRWA image, that will cost next to nothing is a new branding campaign. The website needs a total makeover and the logo of Will Rogers standing on the globe with a rope has to go. It's 2012, we are not in the 60's anymore. I know the OKC Airport Trust likes to stick with tradition but there are talented branding companies that can leverage old and new concepts and develop a new brand. Even the Tulsa Int'l Airport has a new brand, which is sleek, modern, and a breath of fresh air. Tulsa International Airport | Travel Above

Everyone is welcome to their opinion but I have absolutely no problem the current image for WRWA. Sometimes consistancy is important.

[adaniel]

^
Agree. I have never heard of anyone complaining about the image or logo.

For the record, why do so many people on here seem to run from this area's western roots? There is nothing special about TUL's website or logo, but the WRWA brand embraces this area's heritage. You are flying into an airport named after Will Rogers, for petes sake. Lots of things in Texas pile on the kitschy cowboy themes with the ubiquitous star everywhere and nobody complains. Yet here we try and do something that reflects our roots to the world and people hang their head in shame? I don't get it.

[Naptown12713]

From a branding standpoint for WRWA, would it make marketing and financial sense if the airport itself was called OKC International and terminal was named after Will Rogers?

[OUman]

From a branding standpoint for WRWA, would it make marketing and financial sense if the airport itself was called OKC International and terminal was named after Will Rogers?

Not really. Besides, an international airport should have at least one daily nonstop international flight, OKC has none. Even the seasonal summer charters to CUN we used to have are long gone. Remember Champion Air?

[Snowman]

From a branding standpoint for WRWA, would it make marketing and financial sense if the airport itself was called OKC International and terminal was named after Will Rogers?

It is a joke how much International is abused in airport branding