HAJflyer From Switzerland, joined Sep 2005, 1466 posts, RR: 10 Posted (2 years 1 month 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 2721 times:
Great Lakes Airlines has recently made some substantial changes to their network in the west (CA, NV, AZ), e.g. by
Abandoning ONT and shifting flights to VIS (Visalia), MCE (Merced) and PRC (Prescott) to LAX
Serving ELY (Ely, NV) from LAS instead of DEN
Serving KGM (Kingman) from PHX instead of LAS
Serving PGA (Page) from both LAS and PHX
Are these changes working out for them? Are the bookings and load factors up?
FATFlyer From United States of America, joined May 2001, 5674 posts, RR: 17 Reply 1, posted (2 years 1 month 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 2570 times:
The actual flight shift from ONT to LAX for VIS and MCE just happened yesterday (May 15). I haven't heard how bookings were going yet. But VIS-LAX operated by Skywest on Brasilias saw as many as 25,000 to 30,000 annual passengers before it ended vs the roughly 6,000 VIS-ONT had last year. There should be better potential with the shift.
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." - Mark Twain
USXguy From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 845 posts, RR: 6 Reply 3, posted (2 years 1 month 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 2330 times:
well their systemwide numbers are all looking better, considering they've dumped all the "under bid until all the other airlines have died" syndrome of MKE, STL, and MCI flying.
One of my friends flew some of the STL markets (used to be a Regions Air pilot) and said he'd fly 6 segments a day and sometimes carry only 3 people.
FATFlyer From United States of America, joined May 2001, 5674 posts, RR: 17 Reply 4, posted (2 years 1 month 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 2298 times:
Quoting HAJflyer (Reply 2): That is quite an impressive number given the proximity of VIS to FAT and BFL. Did this former Skywest service operate as "United Express"?
Yes it was UAX service. After 9/11 the service was changed from VIS-LAX non-stop to instead operate VIS-FAT-LAX. The VIS flights were also retimed to operate 2 flights only 2 or 3 hours apart in the middle of the day with the FAT stop, I believe something like 1PM and 3PM departures from VIS.
Those changes basically reduced VIS demand since passengers chose to just drive to FAT or BFL, especially if they wanted morning or late afternoon connections at LAX.
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." - Mark Twain
USXguy From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 845 posts, RR: 6 Reply 6, posted (2 years 1 month 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 2117 times:
another problem with Modesto & Visalia is the morning & evening fog... that's why Skywest moved to afternoon flights. It doesn't help if you try to do a morning flight and cancel 50 to 75% of the time..
FATFlyer From United States of America, joined May 2001, 5674 posts, RR: 17 Reply 7, posted (2 years 1 month 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 2036 times:
Quoting USXguy (Reply 6): another problem with Modesto & Visalia is the morning & evening fog... that's why Skywest moved to afternoon flights. It doesn't help if you try to do a morning flight and cancel 50 to 75% of the time..
The fog season at VIS is a few months in the winter and roughly something like 30-40 days per year have visibility problems.
It does not explain having flights 2 hours apart in the middle of the afternoon the rest of the year.
VIS always had morning and late afternoon flights from any carrier that served it except for the last couple of years of Skywest.
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." - Mark Twain
HAJflyer From Switzerland, joined Sep 2005, 1466 posts, RR: 10 Reply 8, posted (2 years 1 month 4 days 14 hours ago) and read 1833 times:
Quoting FATFlyer (Reply 7): IMHO, everything probably should go through one hub LAS or LAX for operational efficiency
I personally think their current set up with four "focus cities" (LAX, LAS, PHX, ABQ) makes more sense than many of the previous route structures they have had out west in the recent past.
If one of these cities had to go, LAS would be the prime candidate to get the axe IMHO as only one destination (ELY) currently served from LAS could not be served successfully from another "focus city" (I am aware that they served ELY from DEN via CNY (Moab, Canyonlands) until recently, but in terms of load factors that route was not exactly a huge success.)
Quoting USXguy (Reply 6): another problem with Modesto & Visalia is the morning & evening fog
Doesn't the fog affect BFL and FAT as well or are VIS and MCE less well equipped in term of the ILS thus requiring higher minimum visibilities?
HAJflyer From Switzerland, joined Sep 2005, 1466 posts, RR: 10 Reply 10, posted (2 years 1 month 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 1456 times:
Quoting The777Man (Reply 9): UA code-shares on the LAX-VIS-MCE route for connections beyond LAX eg no local traffic LAX-VIS-MCE on UA flight number.
It will be interesting to see to what extent the mix between local "point to point" and connecting passengers will be affected by shifting the VIS and MCE flights from ONT to a focus city of their code share partner.
cbphoto From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 1512 posts, RR: 6 Reply 11, posted (2 years 1 month 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 1342 times:
Yeah, it is way to early to tell if it will have significant impact on the pax loads or not. I did operate the flights from MCE and VIS to LAX on Tuesday/Wednesday, and the loads to/from LAX were ok. Most I had was about 6 pax, but there were a few empty leggers. Believe it or not, I am actually hearing complaints from people who were liking and accustomed to our ONT flights, especially people terminating in the LA area. Hopefully through our codeshare agreement with UA, the loads will pick up with more pax connecting through LAX, providing our flights are priced right!
FATFlyer From United States of America, joined May 2001, 5674 posts, RR: 17 Reply 12, posted (2 years 1 month 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 1269 times:
Quoting cbphoto (Reply 11): Believe it or not, I am actually hearing complaints from people who were liking and accustomed to our ONT flights, especially people terminating in the LA area.
I know there were some Fresno based business travellers who were using the ONT flights since there is no FAT-ONT.
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." - Mark Twain
cbphoto From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 1512 posts, RR: 6 Reply 16, posted (2 years 1 month 14 hours ago) and read 1017 times:
Quoting FATFlyer (Reply 12): I know there were some Fresno based business travellers who were using the ONT flights since there is no FAT-ONT.
Yeah, ONT did serve a nice niche for travelers not wanting to go through LAX, especially from other parts of California. Talking to some of the gate agents, they actually said the loads were beginning to increase to ONT, only to have it switched to LAX. Ohh well, let's see what happens.
[0quote=93Sierra,reply=13]Will phx ever be a domicile again?[/quote]
As far a crew domicile, that's a million dollar question. Crews would love to have it as a domicile over Farmington any day, but FMN is a maintenance base, so odds are they will keep FMN as a crew base. With the shift in flying further west, we might just see another base opening up, in either LAS or PHX. With the addition of DEN-CNY-PGA-LAS flights, FMN is slowly loosing its strategic position for the flying out west, as more DEN crews are operating the west flying. Either way, we will see what happens!
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