Buddys747 From United States of America, joined Jan 2007, 489 posts, RR: 4 Posted (6 years 3 weeks 6 days 4 hours ago) and read 2272 times:
I was just thinking of new routes out of MDT that would work well while I'm waiting hear at PBI to come home to Harrisburg. These are just my opinion, and most probably would never happen, but you can always hope. Theres way too much traffic going to PHL or BWI. MDT is so convienet and such a nice terminal, it needs more utilization. At least most of the current flights going out are full that I've noticed.
AA/AE Miami
CO Houston, Newark
DL Salt Lake City, JFK
NW Memphis
US Orlando, Las Vegas, Phoenix
UA Denver
New carriars
JetBlue PBI, Boston
Airtran Atlanta, Orlando
Sothwest ? Any ideas.
Jcf5002 From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 288 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (6 years 3 weeks 6 days 4 hours ago) and read 2247 times:
You know, I lived right across the street from MDT for 2 years while I took classes as Penn State Harrisburg, and I couldn't figure out, for the life of me, why the new terminal was built when the utilization of that airport was so low. I would love to see those routes to go in and out of there and to see more airlines use the airport, but I see a couple of problems:
1) Harrisburg is not exactly a hot-spot destination, and with Philly and Baltimore so close, there's no reason for people to go there instead.
2) With the aforementioned airports so close by, its cheaper to actually drive there from the Harrisburg area and catch your flight, rather than paying the inflated costs out of MDT. If Hbg. Int'l wants to survive, the ticket costs need to be reduced.
3) I could probably see JetBlue trying to get a foothold in there, but not Southwest. JetBlue doesn't really have any airports in that area (this is from memory, so I could be wrong), but Southwest has 2 MAJOR hubs out of PHL and BWI.
Great ideas for getting more business to such a great airport (many of my pictures on the site are from there...), but I think Philadelphia and Baltimore are the biggest problems for it.
-Jeff
Its always a sunny day above the clouds || CSEL, CMEL, CFI, CFII
Gregarious119 From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 523 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (6 years 3 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 2204 times:
Quoting Buddys747 (Thread starter): CO Houston, Newark
DL Salt Lake City, JFK
NW Memphis
US Orlando, Las Vegas, Phoenix
UA Denver
New carriars
JetBlue PBI, Boston
Airtran Atlanta, Orlando
DL - SLC would be a pretty big stretch. At least a Dash-8 to JFK would be a nice connection. I think they only have ATL and CVG at this point.
NW - gotta get DTW and MSP upgraded to something better than CRJ's before you can add MEM to the list. This would be a great market for the new E170's.
US would have a hard time getting those cities added with PHL being so close.
UA to Denver would be nice. Competition to F9's PHL service.
B6 (JetBlue) to BOS or JFK - I don't understand why B6 isn't in MDT yet. Excellent terminal, little competition, access to the PHL/MDT/RDG/ABE catchment. Enough ranting...
FL to ATL, MDW are great possibilities.
WN - it really would be a hard push with PHL and BWI being so popular. I see them at ABE before I see MDT.
Buddys747 From United States of America, joined Jan 2007, 489 posts, RR: 4 Reply 3, posted (6 years 3 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 2203 times:
I agree with PHL and BWI being farely close. But 9 out of 10 people I talk to from central PA go to PHL or BWI, so if you could just get those people to stay here instead of driving to there, you could the planes.
Quoting Jcf5002 (Reply 1): 2) With the aforementioned airports so close by, its cheaper to actually drive there from the Harrisburg area and catch your flight, rather than paying the inflated costs out of MDT. If Hbg. Int'l wants to survive, the ticket costs need to be reduced.
I think the prices have been good lately. My flight here to PBI roundtrip was $198 on DL, with US and NW being the same also. I flew to DEN on NW for $230 back in March. I guess the key is to book at the right time and shop around with the different airlines depending on where your going. Overall the price, driving time, crowds, etc., its cheaper and more convienet for me to fly out of MDT. Granted I only fly a few times a year to a handfull of destinations, so I'm sure there might be times where it is not.
The big thing I noticed most lately people complaining about it direct flights. That seems to be what everyone wants.
Quoting Jcf5002 (Reply 1): 3) I could probably see JetBlue trying to get a foothold in there, but not Southwest. JetBlue doesn't really have any airports in that area (this is from memory, so I could be wrong), but Southwest has 2 MAJOR hubs out of PHL and BWI.
Great ideas for getting more business to such a great airport (many of my pictures on the site are from there...), but I think Philadelphia and Baltimore are the biggest problems for it.
Gregarious119 From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 523 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (6 years 3 weeks 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 2175 times:
DeltAirlines From United States of America, joined May 1999, 8770 posts, RR: 13 Reply 5, posted (6 years 3 weeks 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 2162 times:
I'd think the only routes mentioned above that have any chance of happening are CO to EWR and DL to JFK. DL could use a Dash 8 up to JFK a few times a day; CO could have a Dash 8-400 (when they come onboard) once or twice a day, maybe to connect to the European bank.
As for new carriers, I'd think Allegiant with 4-5x weekly service to SFB and PIE would make sense. I could see that happening a lot more than FL or WN entering the market. B6 is a possibility a few years down the road (maybe around 2012 or so) with a couple of JFK flights and maybe 1 flight to MCO and FLL each (if FLL gate space ever opens up).
PSU.DTW.SCE From United States of America, joined Jan 2002, 6867 posts, RR: 29 Reply 6, posted (6 years 3 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 2109 times:
AA/AE Miami - possible but AA doesn't have enough RJ's available to go around. There are a number of other cities on the list for RJ service to MIA, but yes MDT is included on this list
CO Houston, Newark - EWR likely to happen at some point, Houston is not likely, since its pushing the range of the ERJ and a long/thin route. However, AA's recent success on MDT-DFW shows that the demand to that that part of the country and a western hub shows its possible
DL Salt Lake City, JFK - JFK Dash-8 service, yes. SLC - no
NW Memphis - no. You still have a DC-9 on one of the DTW flights, I would expect that some of the other frequencies will see CR9's before too long.
US Orlando, Las Vegas, Phoenix - US may return with MCO (I thought they were still flying this?) LAS/PHX no.
UA Denver - no
New carriars
JetBlue PBI, Boston - possible at some point, but there are others higher on their list currently
Airtran Atlanta, Orlando - fairly likely
Southwest ? Any ideas. - not likely to occur anytime soon with the build-up at PHL and the fact they already get all the drive-aways down at BWI. MDT service would basically be poaching from their existing stations.
------
Personally, I like MDT. I've been using it a lot more lately since I can't stand PHL. Considering I'm usually going to the Westchester/Exton/Downingtown area, the time difference is minimal, and at least I don't have to worry about the rediculous delays like at PHL.
While the new terminal is nice, the terminal that is replaced wasn't bad and still had a lot of life left in it considering the amount of air service into MDT. I think they had a little bit of "if you build it, they will come" mentality, which we all know almost is never true when building a terminal expansion. Hopefully, the increased debt load and fees are a detractor for new air service at MDT.
The other big issue for getting new service is the lack of suitable aircraft at specific airlines to access these additional hub sites. Many of these are at the limit or beyond the range of 50 seat RJs, which would have the right capacity, but lack the range and/or economics to make these flights work. With the limited number of 70-seaters (E-Jets), flying them to MDT is not a high priority. Plus, another consideration is that what does this additional service really bring to the table. For example, unless there is a reasonable amount of O&D on MDT-SLC or to small DL markets that can only be accessed through SLC, then what is the point of flying a long/thin route over 1,500 miles when people can make most of the connections through CVG or ATL. Say, MDT-ATL-LAX for example.
Gregarious119 From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 523 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (6 years 3 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 2096 times:
Quoting DeltAirlines (Reply 5): As for new carriers, I'd think Allegiant with 4-5x weekly service to SFB and PIE would make sense. I could see that happening a lot more than FL or WN entering the market. B6 is a possibility a few years down the road (maybe around 2012 or so) with a couple of JFK flights and maybe 1 flight to MCO and FLL each (if FLL gate space ever opens up).
G4 already has significant service going out of ABE - I wonder if they'd add another station so close.
Steeler83 From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 8802 posts, RR: 19 Reply 8, posted (6 years 3 weeks 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 2059 times:
If Republic were to put a freed up E70 on PIT-MDT-PIT, should one be freed up when more E75s are put on PIT-PHL, and if the fares come down even further, like 100 bucks round trip instead of one way. That will get me flying out of MDT...
Do not bring stranger girt into your room. The stranger girt is dangerous, it will hurt your life.
MAH4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31106 posts, RR: 74 Reply 10, posted (6 years 3 weeks 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 2035 times:
A daily RJ to Harrisburg has been on AA's short list to start from MIA for a while, but AA does not have the RJs to do it. I think you'll see it when planes are freed up. It is within the range of the ERJ-140 (same length as MIA-XNA - 1013mi).
That would be a great addition. MDT really could use service to MCO. TransMeridian did very well when it flew MDT-SFB prior to going out of business. Since then there has been no scheduled nonstop flights to the Orlando area. The only we have right now is an occasional Southwest charter to MCO.
Steeler83 From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 8802 posts, RR: 19 Reply 13, posted (6 years 3 weeks 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 1978 times:
Quoting BatonOps (Reply 12): TransMeridian did very well when it flew MDT-SFB prior to going out of business.
What equipment was used at the time?
Do not bring stranger girt into your room. The stranger girt is dangerous, it will hurt your life.
If I remember correctly they started with 727-200's...then went to MD-80's. Once in a while a 757 made the run. It was always nice to see a 757 at the new terminal.
Steeler83 From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 8802 posts, RR: 19 Reply 15, posted (6 years 3 weeks 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 1935 times:
Quoting BatonOps (Reply 14): If I remember correctly they started with 727-200's...then went to MD-80's.
Wow. There really wasn't any change in capacity really I don't think with that kind of a change.
Quoting BatonOps (Reply 14): Once in a while a 757 made the run. It was always nice to see a 757 at the new terminal.
Ohh, I bet! PIT doesn't even see too much of them anymore. I would like for MDT to have at least E70 service between PIT and MDT. Didn't US run 733s and/or DC9s between PIT and MDT at US' zenith? DEN, SLC, LAX... any western city I think would do quite well from MDT, and I am sure you would not argue otherwise
Of course, some would argue otherwise on here...
Do not bring stranger girt into your room. The stranger girt is dangerous, it will hurt your life.
Jcf5002 From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 288 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (6 years 3 weeks 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 1899 times:
Quoting BatonOps (Reply 14): If I remember correctly they started with 727-200's...then went to MD-80's. Once in a while a 757 made the run. It was always nice to see a 757 at the new terminal.
Oh you do remember correctly... I was wondering when you'd post! I have some pics (poor quality) of them bringing in all of those a/c in. I even remember them once bringing in a 727-100... It was a stubby little guy!
I remember that being a very successful route for them, usually a decently full flight, took a lot of fuel. Maybe someone else should pick up that route.
-Jeff
Its always a sunny day above the clouds || CSEL, CMEL, CFI, CFII
Steeler83 From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 8802 posts, RR: 19 Reply 17, posted (6 years 3 weeks 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 1894 times:
Quoting Jcf5002 (Reply 16): I remember that being a very successful route for them, usually a decently full flight, took a lot of fuel. Maybe someone else should pick up that route.
Hell, I think it can be done! How long ago did this route operate. Given that it came to the new terminal, it couldn't have been all too long ago... How about B6 coming to town with the E90?
Do not bring stranger girt into your room. The stranger girt is dangerous, it will hurt your life.
Steeler83 From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 8802 posts, RR: 19 Reply 19, posted (6 years 3 weeks 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 1867 times:
Runway-wise, yes most likely. MDT has a very big runway for a regional airport. But it would be a shame to fly a 747 from MDT to HKG with more crew members than pax onboard.
Steeler83 From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 8802 posts, RR: 19 Reply 21, posted (6 years 3 weeks 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 1846 times:
Quoting Tornado82 (Reply 20): Runway-wise, yes most likely. MDT has a very big runway for a regional airport. But it would be a shame to fly a 747 from MDT to HKG with more crew members than pax onboard.
Yeah, bingo on that!
So that would be what... like 5 people on that thing then??? As in, 5 non-crew members??
Do not bring stranger girt into your room. The stranger girt is dangerous, it will hurt your life.
Buddys747 From United States of America, joined Jan 2007, 489 posts, RR: 4 Reply 22, posted (6 years 3 weeks 4 days 15 hours ago) and read 1778 times:
Quoting PSU.DTW.SCE (Reply 6): The other big issue for getting new service is the lack of suitable aircraft at specific airlines to access these additional hub sites. Many of these are at the limit or beyond the range of 50 seat RJs, which would have the right capacity, but lack the range and/or economics to make these flights work. With the limited number of 70-seaters (E-Jets), flying them to MDT is not a high priority. Plus, another consideration is that what does this additional service really bring to the table. For example, unless there is a reasonable amount of O&D on MDT-SLC or to small DL markets that can only be accessed through SLC, then what is the point of flying a long/thin route over 1,500 miles when people can make most of the connections through CVG or ATL. Say, MDT-ATL-LAX for example
I'm not sure I agree totally with the capacity issues. If I remember correctly, there is an average of around 80 people a day that connect to DEN out of MDT. Take those people and the people from here that go to PHL or BWI, and I think you could easliy fill a smaller mainline (73x, 32x). SLC i'm not sure of, but I would say at least seasonal, there are a lot of skiers that go out west to ski from here, myself being one of them. I think you could fill the plane a few times a week.
New service out of MDT has proven well in the past, look at when Transmeridian was here. They had very good success going to Orlando, and the new DFW service on AE is doing quite well.
I realize a lot of these routes would probably never happen, but I really think if they would be here they would be able to fill mainline aircraft, not just 50 seaters.That was my intention with this tread. There are more people than I can imagine that skip right by here and go elsewhere.I'm sure most of the people that were using Trans Meridian to Orlando are probably going to another airport now.
Quoting PSU.DTW.SCE (Reply 6): Personally, I like MDT. I've been using it a lot more lately since I can't stand PHL. Considering I'm usually going to the Westchester/Exton/Downingtown area, the time difference is minimal, and at least I don't have to worry about the rediculous delays like at PHL.
Steeler83 From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 8802 posts, RR: 19 Reply 23, posted (6 years 3 weeks 4 days 15 hours ago) and read 1761 times:
Quoting Buddys747 (Reply 22): Quoting PSU.DTW.SCE (Reply 6):
Personally, I like MDT. I've been using it a lot more lately since I can't stand PHL. Considering I'm usually going to the Westchester/Exton/Downingtown area, the time difference is minimal, and at least I don't have to worry about the rediculous delays like at PHL.
Hey! We're all local!!! I live in Lancaster, and commute to WCU!
I do all of my traveling back to PIT to see family and friends mostly. As I establish myself out here (a good payin job and what have you), I may travel more and to other cities...
Do not bring stranger girt into your room. The stranger girt is dangerous, it will hurt your life.
Burnsie28 From United States of America, joined Aug 2004, 7411 posts, RR: 9 Reply 24, posted (6 years 3 weeks 4 days 13 hours ago) and read 1746 times:
I used to fly to MDT all the time, and it used to always be nothing but DC-9's now, unfortunately, every once and a while DC-9's show up on the schedule. MSP won't likely ever go bigger then CRJ, currently there is one DC-9 to MDT.
"Some People Just Know How To Fly"- Best slogan ever, RIP NW 1926-2009
25 SaabFA71: Here's my wish list for new routes out of MDT. Take it for what it's worth: AirTran (ATL, MCO, TPA), Jet Blue (JFK, BOS, MCO), Southwest (MDW, MCO, PI
26 Tornado82: Southwest coming to Harrisburg would be a big mistake for them. Much of Harrisburg's bleed to the other airports is going to Southwest as it is, so wh
27 Gregarious119: I think most of us around here would agree with you - Southwest's presence at MDT wouldn't fit all that well with the buildup at PHL and the already
28 Buddys747: Totally agree. I wonder how much home work the SARAA is really doing to bring in a low cost carrier. Has anyone ever gone to there meetings? LCC's ha
29 Tornado82: Methinks Allentown would be a better hope for B6 than Harrisburg. Better access to PHL.
30 Gregarious119: Yeah I hadn't looked that closely at a map to see that you're probably right. It's a shame that both of those roads (76 from MDT and 476 from ABE) ar
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