Will Rogers World Airport

[catch22]

The parking garage elevators definitely feel like freight elevators.

While they are not the most aesthetically pleasing, at the end of the day they are airport parking garage elevators. The way some people pack their bags, they are fulfilling the "freight" part.

[Jesseda]

Plenty of Parking still available at the airport, I know an off airport parking site misinformed some people saying the airport parking is full, there is still plenty available parking at the airport

[Plutonic Panda]

New Parking Option For OKC Air Travelers - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |

[ChargerAg]

I wonder who started the new business. I would bet that if the parking spot couldn't hack it with their well oiled machine then it is next to impossible to make it work.

[bluedogok]

Parking garage elevators also suffer from exposure to more elements and vandalism. The finishes are usually the standard manufacturer finishes, you just really can't do the same level of finish on them that you can in an indoor, conditioned space with security around. That is one area where a significant upgrade is wasted money better spent elsewhere which is always an issue with public buildings.

[bradh]

New Parking Option For OKC Air Travelers - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |

Meh, it's just not enough savings compared to next to the terminal garage parking for me. We've rehashed this argument on this board before, but the parking at the terminal garage is just too cheap for anything like this to really succeed, in my opinion.

[bombermwc]

Agreed pahdz....and the off-site folks charge more than the daily rate already.

The garage often fills up quickly (especially before 6:30 am on Mondays), but there's still PLENTY of surface lot and the shuttles do a pretty dang good job of making sure you don't wait outside too long. I don't think I've ever waited more than 5 minutes. Of course, now that I have said that, the next time I go, i'll have to walk it... lol.

[Jesseda]

The offsite parking u.s.a Parking has been open since the summer, so many companies have come and gone. Sunpark, Parking spot. etc. plus with it being so far from the airport about 4 or 5 stop lights I believe it is probably more than a 4 minute drive unless all lights are green. The parking at the airport is just to cheap for off airport parking to compete with. For as many on airport shuttle parking lots ( 3 of them) the shuttles do a pretty good job at picking up customers with short wait times. The Garage does get full often even after the 1,000+ parking space expansion, next year after rental car facility gets built that should free up garage space for traveling customers.

[catch22]

The airport artificially keeps prices low to stifle private competiton. They pretty much have a monopoly and have so much land bordering the airport that no one can compete with the airport. (The landlord can't compete with a tenant on services so all the land the airport owns could not be turned into off airport parking by a private party).

The airport makes money on the volume of parkers and not the price. They flood the market with cheap parking to ensure they control the market share.

[TheTravellers]

The airport artificially keeps prices low to stifle private competiton. They pretty much have a monopoly and have so much land bordering the airport that no one can compete with the airport. (The landlord can't compete with a tenant on services so all the land the airport owns could not be turned into off airport parking by a private party).

The airport makes money on the volume of parkers and not the price. They flood the market with cheap parking to ensure they control the market share.

So do they make a profit on parking in spite of keeping prices so low?

[catch22]

So do they make a profit on parking in spite of keeping prices so low?

I'm sure they do, I can't remember the exact figure but the daily garages hold around 2,400 cars. At $7 a day and 80% occupancy that's $5 million in revenue just from garage parking. The expansion cost somewhere around $30 million. So that's probably close to being paid off, if not already. All the surface lots probably hold 7,000 or more cars. And those are cheap asphalt lots that are raking in revenue.

[Jesseda]

total parking in all lots combined is 7,400 just an fyi. 80 plus employees run the parking facility, you have to remember new shuttles, shuttle maintenance, trucks, golf carts etc is not cheap along with toll booth revenue equipment there is so much more expense then meets the eye. but of course the airport will make a profit on parking, it would be stupid if they didn't, but at least they are not price gouging and charging more then what should be like other airports who charge two to three times more

[Snowman]

The airport artificially keeps prices low to stifle private competiton. They pretty much have a monopoly and have so much land bordering the airport that no one can compete with the airport. (The landlord can't compete with a tenant on services so all the land the airport owns could not be turned into off airport parking by a private party).

The airport makes money on the volume of parkers and not the price. They flood the market with cheap parking to ensure they control the market share.

Crazy idea, the airport actually having enough parking to serve the public air travelers using it.

[ChargerAg]

Does anybody know if the parking spot actually sold the land to the new owners or is it just a rental. I am betting the new owners are some oil guys.

[catch22]

Crazy idea, the airport actually having enough parking to serve the public air travelers using it.

Crazy idea: the private sector creating a good experience for customers. Many private parking operators have complementary hot coffee ready, water bottles, snack, cookies, car detailing and washing, etc. however due to the absolute monopoly the city has on parking, the private sector can't charge enough to provide top quality service. The airport charges $7 a day, which allows no room for the private sector. Cheap is king in OKC.

The airport also doesn't give a flying flip about the employees. Companies pay $55 a month per employee for use of the employee lot, and the lines on the parking lot are completely worn and have been for years. We park in the employee lot based on oil stains. The OKC airport management is a joke, they are so detached from reality it's not even funny.

[bluedogok]

The airport artificially keeps prices low to stifle private competiton. They pretty much have a monopoly and have so much land bordering the airport that no one can compete with the airport. (The landlord can't compete with a tenant on services so all the land the airport owns could not be turned into off airport parking by a private party).

The airport makes money on the volume of parkers and not the price. They flood the market with cheap parking to ensure they control the market share.

...as opposed to DIA. If I am doing a 1-2 day trip I will park at DIA, if I am gone much longer than that I will park off-airport at the Canopy parking facility. Any holiday travel I use the covered parking at Canopy. I like not having to deal with the possibility of cleaning off snow when I get in late at night. They also offer the detailing and other services as well.

I picked my wife up at DIA this past Monday night (around 9:00 PM), it was already nuts and most of the airport surface lots and garage spaces were filling up. I have had to go to the airport for project meetings and some of the garages and lots were full even on non-prime days. They just don't have enough parking there, never had that issue in OKC but then the last time that I had to park there was in 2003.

DIA Parking
Valet: $33.00/day
Garage: $24.00/day
Surface: $13.00/day
Shuttle: $8.00/day

Canopy
Valet: $21.00/day
Covered: $16.00/day (this is a large metal building with some open sides and not fabric canopies)
Open Air: $10.00/day

[Tigerguy]

Crazy idea: the private sector creating a good experience for customers. Many private parking operators have complementary hot coffee ready, water bottles, snack, cookies, car detailing and washing, etc. however due to the absolute monopoly the city has on parking, the private sector can't charge enough to provide top quality service. The airport charges $7 a day, which allows no room for the private sector. Cheap is king in OKC.

When I'm starting a trip, I usually just want to park my car and get inside the airport. The extra service of a private vendor would have to be pretty darn enticing to get me to use it. When it comes to plunking down money for the privilege of letting my car sit on a paved surface, cheap definitely has a say in my final decision.

[Rover]

Extra service, if not valued by the consumer, is no value. The last post shows that sometimes the most basic is what is needed and wanted. There will be niches who may want more services and they will pay...but they will pay even when there are cheaper alternatives. If upscale parking is valued, then private operators can provide that now. It isn't the city that kills it.

[Plutonic Panda]

Extra service, if not valued by the consumer, is no value. The last post shows that sometimes the most basic is what is needed and wanted. There will be niches who may want more services and they will pay...but they will pay even when there are cheaper alternatives. If upscale parking is valued, then private operators can provide that now. It isn't the city that kills it.

Don't go to the Picasso Store, it wasn't what we thought it was.

[no1cub17]

May try out USAPARK tomorrow morning. $2/day is hard to beat. Hopefully the shuttles are prompt as we have a 6 AM flight.

[soondoc]

I copied and pasted the following comment that was made on the Convention Center thread because it may apply here more. We know that if we increase our convention numbers which will happen if this is done right and not taking the cheap route we do all to often, that much more air travel will be coming to OKC. With that said, is it possible for our city leaders to really make a push for some type of bigger expansion that what is proposed already and perhaps really recruit a mini hub type situation? I think we have the set up to be a fantastic mini hub and would love to see this become a possibility. It will increase our chances of landing more companies to locate or re-locate here which further helps our economy, unemployment rate, etc. It is the one thing that I think has really held us down for companies passing on us and we could change that. Things are going on here and it's getting the attention of the nation, but when it comes to this, we probably will never know how many companies or jobs it has cost us. Below is the post, please feel free to comment but be nice.


This is a factor that has concerned me for a long time. What can be done about this? Can our city leaders agressively pursue some type of mini hub type situation? If you think about it, we have so much land at our airport, very nice run ways, an air traffic control center, etc. DFW is about to bust at the seam but I am sure that won't matter. Is is possible that with our expansion we could add on to that and have a rail system from the airport to DT? Having more direct flights and a mini hub type situation will bring in more people for conventions and without a doubt easier to convince companies to locate here or relocate here. In fact, I think that might one of the biggest factors that determines whether a company will move it's HQ here and why we don't see more.

To me it would be worth the money to invest in this to pursue because I think it has hurt us more than we will ever admit. The problem is how do we get it done? Keep in mind, I am not talking about a major hub, just a mini hub that would be a positive or an airline and help our city as well. Could they be enticed to come here with funding, and a great facility? When you talk about TIF this would be an area that would add so much to our city. Citizens from all over would have more access and those in south of OKC would choose not to drive to DFW and Tulsa peeps would drive to OKC at times. If we get more conventions and a few businesses coming here it is worth it and then some.

[adaniel]

This has been rehashed on here several times, but long story short, no this is not happening.

It has little to do with OKC and everything to do with the state of the airline industry. Look at how many hubs there were in 1995 and compare it to now. Until recently the only city about OKC's size that was a hub was Memphis with Northwest/Delta. They dehubbed it back in 2010, and blew up Memphis's economy in the process.

I disagree it hurts us, because a company that needs easy access to cheap airfare will not be looking at a market of OKC size to begin with. So nothing is lost. I also disagree that air service here is terrible. You can fly nonstop to 14 of the nation's 20 largest metros. It may not be cheap, but it's a helluva lot better than most markets under 1.5 million.

[Plutonic Panda]

This has been rehashed on here several times, but long story short, no this is not happening.

It has little to do with OKC and everything to do with the state of the airline industry. Look at how many hubs there were in 1995 and compare it to now. Until recently the only city about OKC's size that was a hub was Memphis with Northwest/Delta. They dehubbed it back in 2010, and blew up Memphis's economy in the process.

I disagree it hurts us, because a company that needs easy access to cheap airfare will not be looking at a market of OKC size to begin with. So nothing is lost. I also disagree that air service here is terrible. You can fly nonstop to 14 of the nation's 20 largest metros. It may not be cheap, but it's a helluva lot better than most markets under 1.5 million.

I don't remember exactly what, but I do recall Steve saying a deal fell through that would have been huge for OKC a few years ago and it was due to lack of air service.

[s00nr1]

The airline industry is not one of "If you build it, they will come." There is simply no logistical sense in creating a hub at OKC other than geography. The O in O&D here in OKC would simply not support such a venture economically.

[Tigerguy]

I don't remember exactly what, but I do recall Steve saying a deal fell through that would have been huge for OKC a few years ago and it was due to lack of air service.

Perhaps a coveted route or more mainline or more frequencies might have helped that, but it's nowhere near worth setting up a hub or focus city operation to try to lure some fish. Unless there's some really low-hanging fruit available (ala Delta in Seattle), it ain't happening here.

The airline industry is not one of "If you build it, they will come." There is simply no logistical sense in creating a hub at OKC other than geography. The O in O&D here in OKC would simply not support such a venture economically.

Quite. Kansas City and St. Louis definitely have geography going for them, but their glory days as hubs are past. And as for here, if we can scarcely fill a regional jet year-round to the largest city in the country, it doesn't speak too highly of supporting any sort of large and profitable operation. (Profitable being the key, as planes full on junk fares don't help much.)