XFSUgimpLB41X From United States of America, joined Aug 2000, 3952 posts, RR: 36 Posted (1 year 2 months 3 weeks 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 2227 times:
Is there any chance of future airline service to Wilmington, DE (ILG)? Seems like it'd be a good alternative to congested PHL. Maybe Allegiant?
anamericanin From Moldova, joined Aug 2010, 43 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (1 year 2 months 3 weeks 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 1945 times:
I flew on S5 ILG-TTN-BUF years ago when it was still an independent carrier and flying out of ILG was a painless experience. The load factor on my particular flights were good as I recall (granted that's a very small sample size). Seems like G4 could make a go of it. It's roughly the same distance from PHL than AZA is from PHX (24 mi vice 22 mi as the crow flies) and depending on how you define the catchment area, ILG's could be seen as bigger. After years of disappointing pullouts, I hope that ILG can get some stable service again, Delaware is after all the only state without scheduled air service.
727LOVER From United States of America, joined Oct 2001, 5717 posts, RR: 20 Reply 2, posted (1 year 2 months 3 weeks 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 1916 times:
HarleyDriver From United States of America, joined May 2010, 71 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (1 year 2 months 3 weeks 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 1684 times:
Were the ticket prices competitive? I live just south of Trenton, NJ and drive to Philly and I would have no problem whatsoever drving the extra 20 to 30 minutes or so to fly out of Wilmington if the prices were competitive. I would prefer to fly out of ACY instead of Philly if I can fly at similar prices as the drive is pretty close to the same and nothing beats flying out of smaller regional airports. You just lose out on direct flights to your destination that might be available from a major airport and to a lot of people thats the deal breaker. I don't recall there being much emphasis on advertising that service, not like as you approach EWR on I-95 from the south there is a billboard advertising ACY.
727LOVER From United States of America, joined Oct 2001, 5717 posts, RR: 20 Reply 6, posted (1 year 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1471 times:
I think there are abunch of smaller airports with a crowded major airport nearby that could support a carrier with a base of operations....Chicago/Gary, Trenton and Wilmingto, DE come to mind.
What's wrong with a carrier flying 733/734 from ILG to ORD/MDW, BOS, BDL, DTW, ATL, MCO, TPA, FLL
Don't a lot of companies file bankruptcy in Wilmington anyway? There's some biz traffic !!
point2point From United States of America, joined Mar 2010, 1959 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (1 year 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 1448 times:
phlwok From United States of America, joined May 2007, 374 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (1 year 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 1344 times:
There's really no reason to build up much of a presence at ILG. While it has a small passenger terminal, it wouldn't scale well if someone wanted to build it up, and in spite of its penchant for delays, PHL has massively more options and is much closer to the center of the area's population, and is less than a half hour in most traffic conditions up 95. I live equidistant from each airport, and barring a lot of compelling nonstop options from ILG, I'd still go with PHL to maximize nonstops.
DL tried ILG recently with CRJs to ATL, but it didn't last long. It's just too close to PHL. Yes, there's financial industry traffic to northern Delaware, but they either use PHL, come in on Amtrak (Wilmington is usually around the 10th busiest Amtrak station in the US and is an easy ride from DC and NYC), or they can come in on private plane to ILG or PHL.
apodino From United States of America, joined Apr 2005, 3635 posts, RR: 6 Reply 9, posted (1 year 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 1268 times:
ILG is a very short drive from PHL, almost to the point where ILG would make sense as a reliever airport for PHL. But the problem with using it as such is most people would have to drive past PHL to get to ILG from downtown Philly, so it doesn't really work that well.
Someone suggested ILG as an Allegiant city. That would make the most sense, as they could serve SFB and PIE from ILG and pick up some O and D vacation traffic.
But given there is a airport that is about a half hour drive with non stops to just about anywhere in the country. (Actually, ILG is almost as close to PHL as IAD is to DCA for comparison) I don't see ILG gaining anything, and it would be very hard to make ILG work.
point2point From United States of America, joined Mar 2010, 1959 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (1 year 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 1257 times:
Quoting apodino (Reply 9): But the problem with using it as such is most people would have to drive past PHL to get to ILG from downtown Philly, so it doesn't really work that well.
This is so logical, and tells such a simple story of the situation, and then I don' know why, but as I read it I started just laughing........
anamericanin From Moldova, joined Aug 2010, 43 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (1 year 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 1243 times:
Quoting phlwok (Reply 8): DL tried ILG recently with CRJs to ATL, but it didn't last long. It's just too close to PHL. Yes, there's financial industry traffic to northern Delaware, but they either use PHL, come in on Amtrak (Wilmington is usually around the 10th busiest Amtrak station in the US and is an easy ride from DC and NYC), or they can come in on private plane to ILG or PHL.
I don't think anyone is suggesting yet another attempt at legacy carrier service. It's been tried with Delta, USAir, Allegheny, and even Eastern back in the day.
Quoting apodino (Reply 9):
ILG is a very short drive from PHL, almost to the point where ILG would make sense as a reliever airport for PHL. But the problem with using it as such is most people would have to drive past PHL to get to ILG from downtown Philly, so it doesn't really work that well.
Yes people in downtown Philly would drive past PHL to get to ILG, but people in other parts of the metropolitan area wouldn't necessarily, and given the right set of price, timing and destination, O&D vacationers might even actually choose ILG.
Quoting apodino (Reply 9):
Someone suggested ILG as an Allegiant city. That would make the most sense, as they could serve SFB and PIE from ILG and pick up some O and D vacation traffic.
I don't think that service to ILG is likely anytime soon, but I don't think it should be dismissed out of hand either... given the right fit, I think there's someone who could make it work. Clearly not a mainline, clearly not a fly-by-night like Skybus, but someone. Time will tell, I suppose.
SurfandSnow From United States of America, joined Jan 2009, 2588 posts, RR: 31 Reply 13, posted (1 year 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 1178 times:
I think the case for ILG is becoming much stronger thanks to the rising costs at nearby PHL, an inherent side effect of their ambitious Capacity Enhancement Program. Philadelphia is the most populous U.S. market with just one commercial service airport - the nearest alternatives being ABE and ACY. ILG is much closer than those two airports, and is of course very convenient for those living in Delaware or visiting the state for VFR, business, or leisure. Lest we not forget that (in spite of a relatively small population) Delaware is home to many a corporation, and hosts its fair share of popular beaches and historical sites.
Then again, PHL is by far the most convenient option for Philadelphia and most of its suburbs. Obviously, it is preferred by the all-important business travelers, and offers inherent advantages like public transit links and connecting feed. All of the major legacy and LCC players will continue to use the airport for those reasons. These airlines have served the Wilmington/Northern Delaware market via PHL and/or BWI for years, and have no need to cannibalize those existing services with a risky new venture from ILG. As such, the best hope for ILG is landing an airline like SX that seeks to serve "Philadelphia" through a low cost, hassle free gateway. Perhaps NK or G4 could offer some service to Florida. That would probably be the only truly plausible/sustainable service for the time being.
Flying in the middle seat of coach is much better than not flying at all!
ReadyJetGo From United States of America, joined Jun 2011, 18 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (1 year 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 1123 times:
Having lived in Wilmington for many years, I have always considered the airport a missed opportunity for scheduled service. I think that in a lot of cases (pertaining to legacy carriers), service was unsuccessful due to lack of frequency. For example, ASA's short-lived service to ATL offered only two round-trips per day. Years before that, United offered two r/t's per day as well. One to IAD, one to ORD at the end of its run. And when you consider the service that Allegheny and Eastern offered way back when, it was literally one or two services a day to DCA or New York. The only truly successful services in the past were the flights that commuters operated to cities where DuPont has or had major facilities such as ILG-RIC and ILG-PKB.
I think if ASA had offered four or five to ATL, there would've been an exponential increase in traffic. A few colleagues mentioned that they would've tried the service, but the schedules were just too limited. I flew these services several times, and often ended up with some sort of delay or cancellation. In these cases, the limited schedule of just two flights was ugly - and forced you to either wait all day (or night) for the next flight to ILG, or reroute to PHL defeating the purpose of the convenience of ILG. I recall talking to a couple of passengers on these flights, and they weren't just locals - there were people coming from the far reaches of southern New Jersey, the Eastern Shore, and other distant places taking advantage of the easier drive and hassle-free terminal versus those of PHL and BWI. I think there is some hidden potential, but it would take a lot of marketing, money, and patience on behalf of an airline to make it work.
As far as Allegiant or Spirit offering service, I think there is definitely a great potential for success. The terminal was slightly improved several years ago, could handle a couple weekly flights. Again, it would take a lot of marketing dollars to get the service noticed, but I could see Disney-bound families really appreciating the close-in convenience.
Having said all this, it doesn't help that the authority responsible for the airport - DRBA - does not see any worth in promoting the airport to potential airlines and would seemingly rather maintain a mostly vacant terminal. Several years ago, they declared the airport unviable for commercial service and instead decided to focus their resources on general aviation instead. Despite that, Delta still came in. Even after Delta had announced their new service, it took the DRBA a couple of months to update the airport website, and even longer to create a sub-website to help market the new service. To make it even more challenging, if you were flying out of ILG and leaving your car overnight you had to fill out a small form at check-in providing your car's plate number and make and model. Sort of went against of the grain of 'convenient' but at least they kept the parking free of charge.
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