Stillwater Regional Airport Still Pursuing Commercial Air Service

[catch22]

Stranger things have happened.

The airline industry is doing some experimentation with low oil prices.

[Bunty]

As expensive as the ticket is, hopefully parking will be free at Stillwater airport.

[Bunty]

Stranger things have happened.

The airline industry is doing some experimentation with low oil prices.

Probably prior air service failed, at least in part, because it only flew to Tulsa and/or Oklahoma City, instead of Dallas/Ft. Worth.

[adaniel]

Hope it works out Stillwater but I have my doubts.

I hope this is not using Essential Air Service funding. That would be a colossal waste of money in this case.

[gopokes88]

I think it's going to work. dallas connects you to the world. It'll save a ton of time for people in the area. Plus there will be a decent amount of student traffic.

[shawnw]

Does OU fly out of WR or do they use the Norman airport?

[baralheia]

Looks like the funding for this most likely came from a grant SWO got in 2013: http://www.okctalk.com/other-communi...ce-dallas.html

[venture]

The SCASD grant is what is helping with this. In total, SWO is forking out $4.4 million to get 2 daily flights to Dallas. Pretty crazy.

[Bunty]

The SCASD grant is what is helping with this. In total, SWO is forking out $4.4 million to get 2 daily flights to Dallas. Pretty crazy.

Isn't OSU forking over $2 million? Anywah, what's crazy about it? Because there is just no possible way there is enough people in Stillwater who want to fly out of there to Dallas? And it's doesn't matter how low the price of oil gets?

[Bunty]

Hope it works out Stillwater but I have my doubts.

I hope this is not using Essential Air Service funding. That would be a colossal waste of money in this case.

Why, if so? Because, due to so few people living in the Stillwater area, the only time of year to fill a passenger plane headed to or from Stillwater is for home OSU football weekends?

[Bunty]

Reading the history of this thread is kind of amusing.

Yeah, I noticed hardly anybody thought it was a realistic goal.

[no1cub17]

Well good luck to all involved ... I'll definitely be checking fares out of SWO - can't be any worse than out of OKC!

[kevinpate]

Does OU fly out of WR or do they use the Norman airport?

I believe they travel by bus to WR and fly charters from there.

[venture]

Yeah, I noticed hardly anybody thought it was a realistic goal.

If the goal was to get service to start, that seems to be accomplished (but experience dictates wait for the plane to actually park at the gate first). However, the longevity of this service is going to be in doubt. Regardless, it isn't costing AA anything to do this.

[Bunty]

If the goal was to get service to start, that seems to be accomplished (but experience dictates wait for the plane to actually park at the gate first). However, the longevity of this service is going to be in doubt. Regardless, it isn't costing AA anything to do this.

OSU President Burns Hargis sure doesn't want to be in doubt. He said he expects the flights to be busy because of students. To quote him, “We have a lot of students that’ll use this flight pretty regularly. There are 2,000 international students here at the university, and we have over 2,600 students from North Texas. They’ll be thrilled that their parents can come up more often, maybe. We want to go around and announce this to Guthrie, to Ponca City, Enid and all of the great towns around our area because we want to load these planes up. I want it to be a tough ticket.”

Sen. Jim Inhofe said, "Not one thing has happened to the city and university that will pay off like this."

I hope Inhofe means the flights will attract industry to Stillwater, since it hasn't been able to attract much of it, other than ASCO Aerospace.

Not sure if enough students will have the money to buy tickets. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how empty the seats will be when OSU is not in session and how the first summer goes. Maybe OSU better think about hosting the type of conferences for the summer that attract people from out of state.

[gopokes88]

Students might not have the money but parents likely do. The study said there's demand for 135,000 passengers and with 100 departing arriving daily that's 36,000 arriving and departing. If that study was correct this won't be very difficult for Stillwater to support. Osu loves it because Stillwater doesn't feel as isolated. No longer is it a 4 hour drive or a flight to tul/okc +1 hour. Just a quick one hour flight from one of the largest most connected airports in the country.

[catch22]

Students might not have the money but parents likely do. The study said there's demand for 135,000 passengers and with 100 departing arriving daily that's 36,000 arriving and departing. If that study was correct this won't be very difficult for Stillwater to support. Osu loves it because Stillwater doesn't feel as isolated. No longer is it a 4 hour drive or a flight to tul/okc +1 hour. Just a quick one hour flight from one of the largest most connected airports in the country.

Ironic given how many people in OKC do the 3 hour drive in lieu of a 30 minute flight.

[gopokes88]

Ironic given how many people in OKC do the 3 hour drive in lieu of a 30 minute flight.

Context. The added option of flight makes Stillwater feel less isolated.

[Bunty]

What the Sunday Stillwater News Press said about the jet service:

“A game-changer.” “A whole new league.”
“A connection to the world.”
We’re going to be hearing that one for a while.

A shared project between Oklahoma State University, American Airlines and Stillwater Regional Airport is sending planes from The Plains to Dallas/Fort Worth.

Not only does it mean we’ll be able to fly out of Stillwater to international destinations, it is a smaller but no less important connection to the many OSU alumni that reside in north Texas.

We must be grateful for the very large part Oklahoma State played in making this a reality. The university is not only a large financial catalyst, but will also be the reason for most of the tourism we can expect.

Athletic events, those too, could see better attendance, which in turn would mean more shopping and dining in Stillwater.

It also may be the deciding factor for someone to visit Stillwater, including dignitaries or industry. The folks here who work in tourism and economic development have said that often when they pitch Stillwater to outsiders they get the same question, “Do you have direct air service?” People will pay for convenience.

We can’t really see a downside to this new service. There may be some concern about price, but when you factor in additional travel and parking fees to surrounding airports, the value will be there.

Imagine not having to show up hours before your flight. It may be worth it just to have more of your day to yourself.

Now it will be our responsibility, as consumers, to use this service. The onus is on us to keep up the momentum and to keep this service in business. It fits into our mantra of “shop local.” Why do you always hear that? Why is that important? It’s the reason we can have nice things. If you like our revitalized downtown area, you have to patronize those businesses. The same goes for the airport. If you like all the things that come with having commercial flights in our city, you need to take advantage of the service.

Thanks to American Airlines for taking a chance on us. For Burns Hargis and OSU leadership for having the courage to “put our money where our mouth is.” For Stillwater Regional Airport director Gary Johnson for keeping this torch burning as long as he did. There are too many people to thank, politicians among them, so maybe let’s cut it off there and say, “Outstanding job, everybody.”

[Bunty]

Hope it works out Stillwater but I have my doubts.

I hope this is not using Essential Air Service funding. That would be a colossal waste of money in this case.

No Oklahoma towns are on the eligibility list for use of that service as of Sept. 2015.

[pure]

You can now search and book on American's web site....if you're willing to pay that $1519 to DFW round trip, I guess I can save some money if I leave on Sunday lol!

[AP]

^Looked those up yesterday and was surprised. I don't see anyone paying that...

[gopokes88]

You can now search and book on American's web site....if you're willing to pay that $1519 to DFW round trip, I guess I can save some money if I leave on Sunday lol!

Save $900 and fly to NYC. Lol. Airline fares make 0 sense.

[catch22]

It's also a completely unproven market so they have to experiment with fares until they discover the right fare mix.

[catch22]

I also have ran through various city pairs and see some very illogical connections to the SWO flights.

I bet they haven't run an optimization, which does affect fares. Usually once a month airlines will run a connection and fare optimization program which will go through and find errors and connections that aren't being displayed. They added this trip in what is likely between that program run.

Give it some time.