TheFLCowboy From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 403 posts, RR: 0 Posted (9 years 4 months 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 2129 times:
I was just wondering...
In SouthWest's grand scheme of things, their mission is to do the quick turn around thingand for that reason you see them at some airports that are in the suburbs and that sort of thing. But with airports such as LAX and PHL where delays are common, why wouldn't they want to move towards an airport less prone to delays?
As739x From United States of America, joined Apr 2003, 5819 posts, RR: 23 Reply 1, posted (9 years 4 months 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 1972 times:
Simple...it does not work anymore! LAX is huge for WN, but where else would they go? BUR,small and no gates. SNA,small,no gates and restricted.ONT, to far. No choice but LAX and they make it work.
PHL, they need a big name city in the east. As other post have stated they are hurting the NYC area not flying to major airports there. B6 is making it work at JFK. BWI is not big enough and I imagine delays will be all but gone in PHL if US was to fold, which WN may contributing to. I can go farther into this if need, but this is a broad view of things. Plain and simple, WN needed a big city in the East and Philly was the best choice. LAX, no choice in the LA Basin area but LAX.
ASSFO
"Some pilots avoid storm cells and some play connect the dots!"
Goldenshield From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 5427 posts, RR: 12 Reply 2, posted (9 years 4 months 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 1908 times:
Not true. WN has quite the business in ONT. Yes, it's 50 miles east of LAX, but hey, less stress, less worry.
I'm not sure how many LAX is pumping out, but I'm sure it's comparable to ONT, with 50ish flights per day.
Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.
SprxflySWA From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 597 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (9 years 4 months 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 1890 times:
As of Jan 18,2004, LAX has 114 flts/day. Add on to STL 3/7. ONT has 58 flights/day. I didn't realize we flew nonstop ONT-BNA.
LoveFieldFlyer From United States of America, joined Dec 2001, 80 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (9 years 4 months 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 1874 times:
BUR and SNA are very good stations for Southwest as well.
STT757 From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 16254 posts, RR: 52 Reply 5, posted (9 years 4 months 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 1876 times:
LAX has four runways, and good weather. I have not checked the FAA statistics but Im sure LAX if far from the worst airport in the Nation when it comes to delays.
Socalatc From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 509 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (9 years 4 months 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 1847 times:
It is rare for LAX to have major delays due to the airport. Things like gate holds, flow times, ext.. Are not the airport fault. Rather the arrival airports, weather, or traffic over a certain VOR or intersection. I have been on southwest many times and it seems like everytime right after push back, within seconds we are cleared for take off. Unless we are going to Phoenix, then you almost always have that damn flow. LAX Is a great airport for WN, as well as ONT,SNA, and BUR. I would like to see them in LGB again too, but its not going to happen.
Barney Captain From United States of America, joined Nov 2001, 749 posts, RR: 14 Reply 7, posted (9 years 4 months 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 1839 times:
One reason PHL had such delays is because, like any other hub, when the trunk carrier does it's bank, the system just gets saturated. Sadly (for those employed), this may not be much of an issue for very much longer with the proposed US reductions in PHL.
USAFHummer From United States of America, joined May 2000, 10685 posts, RR: 54 Reply 8, posted (9 years 4 months 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 1799 times:
Also the extremely poor airport layout of PHL and the runway utilization patterns are a factor in PHL's delay problems too...I guess its a "wait-and-see" for how WN performs on-time wise...also depends on the flight times...
Greg
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Usairways85 From United States of America, joined Nov 2001, 3097 posts, RR: 8 Reply 9, posted (9 years 4 months 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 1710 times:
If WN is smart they will schedule their planes when US isn't bringing in 40 flts an hour and make out with no delays. Very possible in PHL. During some periods of the day there are hardly any aircraft landing/taking off.
SWAbubba From United States of America, joined Mar 2002, 154 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (9 years 4 months 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 1704 times:
IMHO LAX doesn't have bad delays at all. The only thing I don't like there is when we get stuck waiting for the 747's at the next terminal to taxi and get towed in and out. That can kill 10 minutes.
I think there is enough money to be made in PHL that we'll be willing to take the inevitable delays.
Av8rDAL From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 456 posts, RR: 2 Reply 11, posted (9 years 4 months 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 1674 times:
Wish WN would come to ATL. Having to drive to BHM or BNA to get on a WN flight is a pain in the arse. Oh well, we have AirTran and Frontier to serve the west and I guess I'm fine w/ that, especially when AirTran takes delivery of the new 737NGs
Maintain thine airspeed, lest the Earth rise up and smite thee.
Wedgetail737 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 5526 posts, RR: 5 Reply 12, posted (9 years 4 months 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 1615 times:
WN is quite a powerhouse in the West. Some of their high-density airports for WN are LAX, AS / KLAS), USA - Nevada">LAS, PHX and OAK. WN has taken over the west and is well-established there.
Alaska Airlines is doing just fine co-existing with WN...two totally different products. Both are very good airlines.
AS739X...your airline rocks! Keep the quality of service up! I fly AS every opportunity I get.
SWAFA30 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 13, posted (9 years 4 months 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 1596 times:
I think there is enough money to be made in PHL that we'll be willing to take the inevitable delays.
A delay is only a delay if the passenger arrives later than they expected to. Just build extra taxi time into the schedule. If you get in and out without problems you arrive "early" and everyone is happy otherwise the pax is already anticipating the inevitable sit times. I think a more important point is that even if WN were to max out their 4 gates to 40 flights per day that is just a fraction of the number of the flights operated systemwide on a daily basis. Currently the number hovers around 2,700 so even if every PHL flight is impacted by delays that is still only around 1/10 of 1 percent of the total flights in the system. Schedule the aircraft so the impact on the the rest of the system is minimal and make the necessary adjustments to block time as needed. Plus if we are talking about delay prone airports in the WN system...you gotta include STL. With the recent reductions in traffic, it has gotten better but in years past, STL wreaked havoc on the WN schedule.
Jeffrey1970 From United States of America, joined Apr 2001, 1335 posts, RR: 13 Reply 14, posted (9 years 4 months 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 1582 times:
As739x,
I believe I read not to long ago that Southwest will soon have there own terminal at BWI.
DCA-ROCguy From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 4402 posts, RR: 37 Reply 15, posted (9 years 4 months 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 1561 times:
As other post have stated they are hurting the NYC area not flying to major airports there. B6 is making it work at JFK. BWI is not big enough and I imagine delays will be all but gone in PHL if US was to fold, which WN may contributing to.
It's probably more accurate to say that BWI is big enough for what WN needs it to do. The Maryland Aviation Administration's surveys show that WN draws about half of its traffic from the DC metro area (only 47 percent from the Baltimore metro area). But BWI isn't placed to serve metro areas other than DC and Baltimore. I agree AS739x, WN needed another big city in the Northeast, and Philly was the logical candidate for reasons you stated.
Yes, Jeff, Southwest will have their own BWI terminal by the spring of 2005. Its connection to the existing Concourse B airside is slated to be finished in fall 2005. The steelwork is up for the entire new building, and they're already closing in the new Concourse A with glass.
InnocuousFox From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 2805 posts, RR: 16 Reply 17, posted (9 years 4 months 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 1501 times:
"There have been no proposed reductions in service by US at PHL"
My guess is that when US ceases operations, someone may proprose it for them.
Dave Mark - Intrinsic Algorithm - Reducing the world to mathematical equations!
LGBGUY From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 18, posted (9 years 4 months 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1439 times:
By the end of the year LUV will have 8 gates total at PHL ,the rumor is that 16 of the new planes will be used for PHL service, tomorrow the flight & fares from PHL should be posted and LAS,PHX,PVD,MDW,TPA & MCO was just the first wave of destinations and in JUNE you should see even more destinations from PHL..LGBguyNOT!!!
Usairways85 From United States of America, joined Nov 2001, 3097 posts, RR: 8 Reply 19, posted (9 years 4 months 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 1349 times:
LGBGUY: While it wouldn't surprise me to see WN eventually get 8 gates at PHL, eventhough i don't know if that's possible at their current terminal. I think first they need to get full utilization of their current 4 gates, which would be adding another 26 flights. Then you are saying they are going to add another 40 flights by year's end. Thats 80 Southwest flights added at PHL in a 7 month period (May-December). Quite an expansion if you ask me.
Flyboy7974 From United States of America, joined Jan 2003, 1540 posts, RR: 2 Reply 20, posted (9 years 4 months 13 hours ago) and read 1291 times:
burbank is one of the top performers in the whole system of southwest airlines. if you look at load factors and market share, someone here a couple of weeks ago posted that for every airline, and on the top 100 for swa, burbank was at the top of the list for flights to oak, las, and sjc, concerning load factors. i am surprised that they don't add more flights and take over all of terminal B since only aloha and america west are there now since aa has moved to terminal a
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