Stillwater Regional Airport Still Pursuing Commercial Air Service

[bradh]

Saw a presentation from the director of OKC airports on thursday, there is a proposal to upgrade PWA's western most runway but not sure it will get the weight limit up that much.

[gopokes88]

Is there a way we could get Q3 2016 enplanement and deplanement statistics ? They have 100 in and 100 out everyday so calculating load factor won't be difficult.

[Bunty]

A column writer for the Stillwater News Press writes of her impression with the flight service: http://www.stwnewspress.com/news/loc...eeab61d57.html

At the Dec. 5 City Council meeting, City Manager Norman McNickle reported the City is very excited about the airport investment. He added the City should see some recovery of those invested funds. The City had estimated 10,000 passengers for the first year of operations based upon a Manhattan, Kansas, model. McNickle said, “We are way way WAY ahead of that projection. We eclipsed that number in the first three months with over 12,500 passengers utilizing the service.”

[gopokes88]

http://www.stwnewspress.com/news/loc...7d356ad5c.html

"Strawder said the increasing number of passengers keeps her crew busy.

The mid-day flight is usually almost full, and the airport’s overflow parking lot has been used more than expected.

Stillwater Regional Airport Director Gary Johnson has been excited to watch commercial air service succeed after working for years to bring it to Stillwater."

[catch22]

http://www.stwnewspress.com/news/loc...7d356ad5c.html

"Strawder said the increasing number of passengers keeps her crew busy.

The mid-day flight is usually almost full, and the airport’s overflow parking lot has been used more than expected.

Stillwater Regional Airport Director Gary Johnson has been excited to watch commercial air service succeed after working for years to bring it to Stillwater."

That's great news. I really hope it works out for Stillwater in the long run. It will be interesting to see if the service sticks around after route subsidies end, or if Stillwater feels the subsidies are worth the cost to have the city connected. Would be nice if they could convince United to offer a DEN service. I would love it as it would give me one more option to get home when OKC and TUL flights are full.

[theanvil]

That's great news. I really hope it works out for Stillwater in the long run. It will be interesting to see if the service sticks around after route subsidies end, or if Stillwater feels the subsidies are worth the cost to have the city connected. Would be nice if they could convince United to offer a DEN service. I would love it as it would give me one more option to get home when OKC and TUL flights are full.

How long do the subsidies last? I live in Edmond and have flown out of Stilly twice and both times the fares were about 10%-15% cheaper than the same flight out of OKC. The check-in and boarding process were much faster, too. It's a longer drive, but in the end I have to leave the house at about the same time because I don't have to spend as much time waiting in lines.

[BG918]

That's great news. I really hope it works out for Stillwater in the long run. It will be interesting to see if the service sticks around after route subsidies end, or if Stillwater feels the subsidies are worth the cost to have the city connected. Would be nice if they could convince United to offer a DEN service. I would love it as it would give me one more option to get home when OKC and TUL flights are full.

Denver on United Express would be a nice, realistic second option for Stillwater. Houston on United and Atlanta on Delta are long shots. I can't see anything else working.

Though Stillwater-DEN would likely be more expensive than DEN-OKC or DEN-TUL due to having United and Southwest competition on those routes.

Denver has several non-stops to smaller cities in Kansas and Nebraska. Dodge City, Liberal, Kearney, North Platte and Scottsbluff on PenAir; Salina on Great Lakes; and Hays on United Express. I'm surprised they don't have a Lawton/Ft Sill non-stop.

[pure]

Lawton did have a non-stop to Atlanta on Delta Connection about 5-6 years ago. From what I heard, it didn't do well because the flights weren't popping up on the system that the army was using to book flights. I'm not sure how accurate that rumor was though. My parents live in Lawton and they only fly out of the airport down there and they tell me every flight they get on is full.

[BG918]

Lawton did have a non-stop to Atlanta on Delta Connection about 5-6 years ago. From what I heard, it didn't do well because the flights weren't popping up on the system that the army was using to book flights. I'm not sure how accurate that rumor was though. My parents live in Lawton and they only fly out of the airport down there and they tell me every flight they get on is full.

Interesting. I have relatives in Duncan that use LAW to fly to DFW instead of driving to OKC. AA has flights to DFW 4x/day. I think United Express could do fine with 2x/day to LAW and 1x/day to SWO from Denver, especially with an EAS subsidy for SWO.

[Bunty]

Denver on United Express would be a nice, realistic second option for Stillwater. Houston on United and Atlanta on Delta are long shots. I can't see anything else working.

Though Stillwater-DEN would likely be more expensive than DEN-OKC or DEN-TUL due to having United and Southwest competition on those routes.

Why not Chicago? Manhattan, KS other departure is to Chicago.

[catch22]

Why not Chicago? Manhattan, KS other departure is to Chicago.

If AA added service to SWO it would be to chicago. If United added service they would add Denver as it would provide better west connections than DFW or ORD can.

[_Cramer_]

I would love to see Southwest! Possibly to Denver or Chicago. Or one to and from each daily. However, I think there's a non-compete contract in place for a couple of years. If we did Delta it would have to connect to Atlanta. But I would prefer Southwest!

[gopokes88]

Guys Stillwater isn't getting another flight for at least 3-4 more years. Let's just hope they can keep the Dallas flight consistently full enough to keep it

[ljbab728]

Guys Stillwater isn't getting another flight for at least 3-4 more years. Let's just hope they can keep the Dallas flight consistently full enough to keep it

I'm very sure that's true. Getting more service anytime soon would just dilute the amount of traffic on AA and possibly cause the loss of that service.

[ljbab728]

Lankford said “We can't continue to sustain programs that are economic development jumpstarts in communities where historically that program has not worked out in other communities most of the time,” So is it working out well in Manhattan, KS and Columbia, MO? If the federal government isn't putting up some of the money to subsidize empty seats, why should it try to be against such an arrangement? Anyway, I'm glad I never voted for Sen. Lankford.

It looks like it may be a big problem for Stillwater.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-end...-politics.html

[flyfisher07]

It looks like it may be a big problem for Stillwater.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-end...-politics.html

SWO isn't in the EAS program so there wouldn't be any issues with their service if it went away.

[_Cramer_]

And now they're changing the flights. This sucks! No more early morning flight. This just ruins connections.
Anyone know why this would happen?
http://www.stwnewspress.com/news/loc...de0ad2fca.html

[Bunty]

And now they're changing the flights. This sucks! No more early morning flight. This just ruins connections.
Anyone know why this would happen?
http://www.stwnewspress.com/news/loc...de0ad2fca.html

No, but hope it's only for the summer months, but I won't be surprised, if it doesn't help summer business.

[gopokes88]

And now they're changing the flights. This sucks! No more early morning flight. This just ruins connections.
Anyone know why this would happen?
http://www.stwnewspress.com/news/loc...de0ad2fca.html

Don't be so reactionary. The flight now arrives in Dallas around 1pm, still a ton of connecting flights out of Dallas in the afternoon.

[OUman]

^I think AA/Eagle have 8-9 daily banks of flights (they re-banked their hub in 2015 I believe), so yeah plenty of connecting opportunities left after that (even if you assume a minimum one-hour connecting time after the flight reaches the gate). Not to mention most of the international flights leave after 3:00p.m. anyway. Now it probably doesn't help the business traveller that has to have an early morning departure, but knowing the kind of passenger traffic to/from SWO, I don't think it will hurt matters that much.

[gopokes88]

American Airlines resumes non-summer flight schedule on Aug. 22
Released:Apr 24, 2017

MEDIA RELEASE

(STILLWATER, OKLAHOMA / April 24, 2017) – The City of Stillwater and Oklahoma State University are pleased to announce that starting Aug. 22, 2017, American Airlines will resume its non-summer commercial flight schedule from Stillwater Regional Airport. This schedule features an early morning departure time of approximately 7 a.m. to DFW and a late evening arrival time in Stillwater.

City Manager Norman McNickle and OSU President Burns Hargis are grateful that American Airlines addressed the community’s concerns about flight times.

McNickle said, “Commercial flight from Stillwater Regional Airport has been a game changer for our business community and for the University. We appreciate the support we received from Transportation Secretary Gary Ridley as the airport continues to develop.”

Hargis agreed, “You can see how important this service has become to Stillwater and to the University since it began last August. Our elected officials also understand this. Governor Mary Fallin, Senator James Inhofe and Congressman Frank Lucas have been invested in the Airport from the beginning and have continued to show their support for its success.”

Airport Director Gary Johnson said that bookings since August had been well above what had been projected. “We discovered that the early flight time was part of that success, and our customers let us know how much that time was a major factor in choosing to fly from Stillwater.”

Customers took to social media to express how much they appreciated the early flight time. Many said they loved flying from Stillwater because of the ease of meeting connecting flights from DFW.

Mayor Gina J. Noble said, “I love that so many residents have benefited from commercial flight out of our airport. It’s so easy when you can make your connecting flight. We are grateful that American Airlines understands this and continues to serve our community.”

“We have had a wonderful experience working with our partner American Airlines, and we look forward to our future successes together,” Johnson said. “If you have not flown out of Stillwater yet, now is a great time to do so.”

Stillwater Regional Airport offers two direct American Airlines flights both to and from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) every day. The airport features free parking, shorter security lines and competitive rates.

For a full flight schedule or to book a flight from Stillwater Regional Airport, go to http://aa.com and use airport code SWO. American has announced a summer flight schedule that starts June 4 and will run through Aug. 21.

-30-

For media inquiries, contact the Office of Marketing and Public Relations at 405.742.8219 or email news@stillwater.org.

http://ht.ly/BlmP30b8oRv

[gopokes88]

Booked my first flight out of Stillwater. Living in north Edmond, Stillwater is only an extra 10 mins. Plus there is less traffic better early morning flight to Dallas 650am versus 5am and free parking. I'm flying to Austin for the osu Texas game, so this flight works extremely well versus okc. In the future whenever I'm flying American and have to connect through Dallas (most of the time) I'm going to check Stillwater as well as okc.

[brianinok]

Booked my first flight out of Stillwater. Living in north Edmond, Stillwater is only an extra 10 mins. Plus there is less traffic better early morning flight to Dallas 650am versus 5am and free parking. I'm flying to Austin for the osu Texas game, so this flight works extremely well versus okc. In the future whenever I'm flying American and have to connect through Dallas (most of the time) I'm going to check Stillwater as well as okc.

Despite the fact that I live in north Edmond I won't be doing the same. If the Stillwater flight is cancelled there's a huge chance of a much more major hassle to get rebooked on a later flight than if your OKC flight is cancelled. And it's not like the OKC airport is hard to get to, park at, or go through security at. There is virtually no Plan B when flying out of Stillwater; when flying out of OKC there is a Plan B, C, D, E.....

[gopokes88]

Despite the fact that I live in north Edmond I won't be doing the same. If the Stillwater flight is cancelled there's a huge chance of a much more major hassle to get rebooked on a later flight than if your OKC flight is cancelled. And it's not like the OKC airport is hard to get to, park at, or go through security at. There is virtually no Plan B when flying out of Stillwater; when flying out of OKC there is a Plan B, C, D, E.....

Highly doubt the 650am flight gets cancelled as the plane is already there from the night before but ok I guess.

[HangryHippo]

Despite the fact that I live in north Edmond I won't be doing the same. If the Stillwater flight is cancelled there's a huge chance of a much more major hassle to get rebooked on a later flight than if your OKC flight is cancelled. And it's not like the OKC airport is hard to get to, park at, or go through security at. There is virtually no Plan B when flying out of Stillwater; when flying out of OKC there is a Plan B, C, D, E.....

This.