2020 Oklahoma City Aviation Thread

[gopokes88]

Took a few flights in & out this week on American.

Good news the planes were all full. Bad news is they were CRJ-900s. At least we’re off the bottom and the lows

[TheTravellers]

More of a general article, not OKC specifically, but interesting enough to be posted.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/airli...b6513fdffca4e3

I call BS on the last sentence in it, though:

'Airlines for America continues to exclude load factor data from its daily COVID-19 updates. And Pinkerton insisted that flying on a full flight is completely safe.

“If it weren’t,” she said, ”we wouldn’t be doing it.”'

[Celebrator]

More of a general article, not OKC specifically, but interesting enough to be posted.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/airli...b6513fdffca4e3

I call BS on the last sentence in it, though:

'Airlines for America continues to exclude load factor data from its daily COVID-19 updates. And Pinkerton insisted that flying on a full flight is completely safe.

“If it weren’t,” she said, ”we wouldn’t be doing it.”'

I don't get the tone of that article. I heard an interview with WN's Gary Kelley and he outlined a very strict cleaning regimen and policies to keep passengers safe. And, bottom line, if you don't feel it is safe, then don't fly. I don't get why this article portrayed this tone of concern so strongly. It's just the free market, being the free market. If airlines discover a reason to cease flights again for safety reasons, they will, or they will suffer the consequences in the marketplace.

[TheTravellers]

I don't get the tone of that article. I heard an interview with WN's Gary Kelley and he outlined a very strict cleaning regimen and policies to keep passengers safe. And, bottom line, if you don't feel it is safe, then don't fly. I don't get why this article portrayed this tone of concern so strongly. It's just the free market, being the free market. If airlines discover a reason to cease flights again for safety reasons, they will, or they will suffer the consequences in the marketplace.

Some people *must* fly, they don't have a choice, so "if you don't feel is it safe, then don't fly" isn't a valid option, just like "if you don't feel safe, just don't go out" isn't a valid option for tons of people. And WN seems to be an outlier (they're still keeping middle seats empty, for example), so Kelley's statements aren't valid for the rest of the industry. The main gist of the article is that there is no federal guidance and every airline is on their own (much like everything else in this pandemic).

[gopokes88]

I don't get the tone of that article. I heard an interview with WN's Gary Kelley and he outlined a very strict cleaning regimen and policies to keep passengers safe. And, bottom line, if you don't feel it is safe, then don't fly. I don't get why this article portrayed this tone of concern so strongly. It's just the free market, being the free market. If airlines discover a reason to cease flights again for safety reasons, they will, or they will suffer the consequences in the marketplace.

Covid is so May bro

[Celebrator]

Covid is so May bro

Haha, right...moving on...nm

[Ward]

What is WN as referenced in the posts just above this one?

[theanvil]

What is WN as referenced in the posts just above this one?

WN is the airline code for Southwest Airlines.

[catch22]

Looks like AS has ended the Wichita (ICT) tag and has resumed nonstop service to SEA, albeit on E175. Hopefully we can see more service recoveries soon.

[HangryHippo]

Catch - any thoughts on if AA will kick off their LGA service or you think that is on indefinite hold?

[catch22]

Catch - any thoughts on if AA will kick off their LGA service or you think that is on indefinite hold?

They continue to keep it loaded in future sales windows, you can book it right now in August as well as all of their routes from okc. But they eliminate it on a month-to-month basis. That tells me they intend to operate it, but not at this moment.

[HangryHippo]

They continue to keep it loaded in future sales windows, you can book it right now in August as well as all of their routes from okc. But they eliminate it on a month-to-month basis. That tells me they intend to operate it, but not at this moment.

Thanks man!

[Edmond Hausfrau]

Looks like AS has ended the Wichita (ICT) tag and has resumed nonstop service to SEA, albeit on E175. Hopefully we can see more service recoveries soon.

I like the Embracer Jet. I feel like there's more legroom.

[AP]

I'm flying Thursday. Looking forward to seeing an increase in passengers from what has been reported, though for selfish reasons I'm hoping for an empty pre-check line.

[gopokes88]

I'm flying Thursday. Looking forward to seeing an increase in passengers from what has been reported, though for selfish reasons I'm hoping for an empty pre-check line.

Pre-check is merged with the regular line right now :-(

[AP]

Oh, that's right. The last time I flew was the holidays. I totally forgot.

[catch22]

It's a cold nearly snowing morning (in fact I did get a few flakes overnight that have melted), so I am going to use today to put together a few schedules that are current and future. Get us back to square one on what is operating as I completely lost track during the last few months as things were changing so quick. That way as flights get added we can see exactly where we are in the recovery and what changes for us permanently post-covid.

Oh, that's right. The last time I flew was the holidays. I totally forgot.

At least requiring the tsa?

[Edmond Hausfrau]

Pre-check is merged with the regular line right now :-(

Ugh. Hope that's just temporary.

[gopokes88]

It’ll be nice to get mainline service again.

Right now it’s Skywest for American eagle for American Airlines on some flights.

[gopokes88]

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/15/unit...rn-easing.html

At least it’s headed in the right direction.

[gopokes88]

https://twitter.com/mark_j_perry/sta...744487936?s=21

https://twitter.com/therealarod1984/...663767040?s=21

https://twitter.com/bretonrlong/stat...404335616?s=21

Still down 80% YOY but the growth trend is clearly there.

[Jersey Boss]

It would be helpful when looking at stats, how many business flyers now compared to a year ago. It has been my understanding that is where airlines make their money.

[catch22]

Business demand is still as close to zero as it can be. Leisure is picking up steam, however right now the airlines don't care what kind of traveler you are. Revenue is revenue at this point in time and it at least slows the bleeding.

[Jeepnokc]

Business demand is still as close to zero as it can be. Leisure is picking up steam, however right now the airlines don't care what kind of traveler you are. Revenue is revenue at this point in time and it at least slows the bleeding.

We have looked at flights several times and it seems flights are high and schedules are slim with bad connection times so we haven't booked any.

[catch22]

Chicken and egg scenario. Airlines are afraid to add capacity, but the lack of capacity is negatively affecting demand in the form of schedule effectiveness and network robustness. At some point they need to return services to something a little more usable than what is out there currently. AA and WN are the two that seem to be going that route, while UA and DL operate a skeleton schedule.