Sponsor Message:
Civil Aviation Forum
My Starred Topics | Profile | New Topic | Forum Index | Help | Search 
Some US Airlines Leave Money On The Table  
User currently offlineBillReid From Netherlands, joined Jun 2006, 847 posts, RR: 0
Posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 2734 times:

B6 started 21 September JFK-SRQ with a single frequency. Load Factor over 90% in the worst month of the year. Why only one frequency?

FL has higher yield to MDW from SRQ, than UA from TPA to ORD.

NW yields $27 per seat higher to DTW from SRQ than to DTW from TPA with same load factor. But NW kills service every year at SRQ on May 1st with load-factor well into the eighties??

Are the airlines missing a diamond in the rough?
Are the airlines just misreading the facts from their own industry data, do they not want to make money? What's the story?

Why do airlines turn tail and chose to leave significant dollars on the table? The B6 load factor being so high during the worst month of the year tells a story.


Some people don't get it. Business is about making MONEY!
8 replies: All unread, jump to last
 
User currently offlineBigb From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 593 posts, RR: 3
Reply 1, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 2682 times:

Don't get Yields confused with load factors! You can high load factor on both high and low yield routes


ETSN Baber, USN
User currently offlineTOLtommy From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 3221 posts, RR: 4
Reply 2, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 2648 times:

Just because yield is high in peak season, thats no indication that the yield will remain as high. And as everyone knows, a 100% load factor is not a guarantee of profit on ny particular route.

Snowbirds will pay extra to fly directly into SRQ in the winter. There just are not enough of them to keep the service year round.

User currently offlineBillReid From Netherlands, joined Jun 2006, 847 posts, RR: 0
Reply 3, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 2433 times:

Quoting TOLtommy (Reply 2):
Just because yield is high in peak season, thats no indication that the yield will remain as high. And as everyone knows, a 100% load factor is not a guarantee of profit on ny particular route.

Yes T-100 data is for four quarters. TPA lags SRQ in Yield in each quarter. Not only in 93% of all destinations but in each quarter.
Come up with a better answer??

Quoting Bigb (Reply 1):
Don't get Yields confused with load factors! You can high load factor on both high and low yield routes

No confusion at all.
T-100 data is a ten percent sample required by law of every domestic ticket.
TPA yields concistently lower than SRQ to 93% of all destinations.
The airlines chose for significantly lower total revenue on board for their flights.


Some people don't get it. Business is about making MONEY!
User currently offlineCMHSRQ From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 985 posts, RR: 4
Reply 4, posted (6 years 7 months 1 week 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 2288 times:

What are the costs associated with SRQ, TPA and RSW? Yield is one thing but if its five times more expensive to fly a pax from SRQ than TPA then it's a wash. Also don't carriers have agreements with an airport to cover all expenses, and if the airports revenues are higher then the expenses the airport then splits those with the airlines?

TPA has the critical mass to return a lot of revenue back to the airlines. I don't think SRQ does. RSW not sure of with that new terminal. I know it's difficult to do but if I were running SRQ I would cut costs in addition to finding new sources of revenue. Drop the PFC and each pax saves $10 a ticket. That can make a difference for the people who focus on the cost of the ticket and nothing else.

With jetBlues one flight a day you still need to pay for the same fixed cost for ramp space, gate rental, ticket counter space as AirTran's soon to be 9 flights a day. Labor will be slightly higher but not much. If there is only demand for 1 flight a day then it gets rather expensive per pax.

Correct me if I'm wrong.


The voice of moderation
User currently offlineTango-Bravo From United States of America, joined Jun 2001, 3725 posts, RR: 31
Reply 5, posted (6 years 7 months 1 week 6 days ago) and read 2200 times:

Bottom line, it would seem, is a case of "good" vs. "best" when airlines decide what routes and flight frequencies to operate when. Perhaps additional frequencies to/from SRQ would be "good" but there are other opportunities that are seen as "better" by airlines when allocating their aircraft resources during various seasons. It is very much a balancing act with a host of considerations that are weighed in airlines' flight scheduling decisions, especially in primarily leisure markets where traffic tends to be subject to seasonal fluctuations.

User currently offlineSupa7E7 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR:
Reply 6, posted (6 years 7 months 1 week 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 2152 times:

It does seem weird. SRQ will probably see lots more service once E-175s come online at NW, more E-190s at B6, etc. It is not a 757-filling city like TPA is, but it should have a more complete routemap than it does.

User currently offlineCMHSRQ From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 985 posts, RR: 4
Reply 7, posted (6 years 7 months 1 week 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 2013 times:

Freight and mail are also revenue producing, SRQ has no mail, and a small freight volume.


The voice of moderation
User currently offlineIkramerica From United States of America, joined May 2005, 21029 posts, RR: 60
Reply 8, posted (6 years 7 months 1 week 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 1952 times:

Quoting TOLtommy (Reply 2):
Snowbirds will pay extra to fly directly into SRQ in the winter. There just are not enough of them to keep the service year round.

False. Airlines were thinking that way by not looking at the changing demographics of Florida and Sarasota/Bradenton in particular. There is still a large seasonal population, but that has grown as well as the year round population growing even more. SRQ has had a huge build up of housing in the last 15 years, and it is only now subsiding due to the stagnant housing market. Many of these new communities are "own only" where you can't rent it out. And that leads to a good number of people living year round, or visiting year round. And we aren't talking trailer parks like it used to be, we are talking houses from $250k to $2 million, and condos in the harbor area that are $1 million plus. Pricey enough to attract pax to SRQ, but not so pricey that they would own their own private jets...

For an example of a seasonal community that has become more year round, look at Fort Myers. And they've been able to sustain more frequent and less seasonal flights because of this. Look at Palm Beach. Used to be seasonal for PBI, but more and more people are living in Boca, Palm Beach, etc. year round.

SRQ may be hot in the summer, but it still has good golf, fishing and beaches, and in the USA, the concept of going on holiday to Florida and Hawaii only in the winter is a thing of the past.

Expect service to continue to grow at SRQ.

Quoting CMHSRQ (Reply 4):
What are the costs associated with SRQ

Used to be high, now they have realized they were only preventing airlines from serving them. That was part of the problem.

Now I'm seeing consistently equal or lower fares into SRQ than into TPA, instead of the other way around. AA really needs to open up SRQ-MIA flights...


Of all the things to worry about... the Wookie has no pants.
Top Of Page
Forum Index

This topic is archived and can not be replied to any more.

Printer friendly format

Similar topics:More similar topics...
Making Money On The Airlines In The Stock Market posted Mon Oct 17 2005 18:23:59 by Thomacf
US/UK Open Skies Deal On The Table? posted Fri Aug 16 2002 21:04:22 by Qantas744
How Airlines Used 747sp On The LAX-SFO? posted Mon Aug 21 2006 00:35:36 by 747400sp
US Flag Still Painted On The DL Hanger @ SLC? posted Thu Aug 17 2006 19:46:56 by Clickhappy
Does Lufthansa Make Money On The BBJ A319? posted Mon Jan 23 2006 09:03:58 by OyKIE
US Airlines Vs Rest Of The World posted Fri Aug 19 2005 01:38:14 by CO737800
US Airways Pilots Back At The Table posted Wed Jan 21 2004 07:09:36 by FA4UA
Airlines Losing Money On 3 Class Equipment posted Mon Oct 21 2002 12:57:26 by Airbus Lover
US Airways RJ Orders On The Way posted Tue Aug 24 1999 14:47:25 by Douglas Racer
Who Of The US Airlines Is Making The Money? posted Thu Mar 10 2005 01:11:10 by FokkerVII