evanbu From United States of America, joined Mar 2009, 376 posts, RR: 0 Posted (11 months 3 weeks 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 2688 times:
Is this an error? I see that on 7/1, UA is operating DSM-IAH on an A-319 for flight 530. If this is true, that would be the first time that I can recall that mainline has EVER operated DSM-IAH. Is this just a one time deal or is it something seasonal?
FlyASAGuy2005 From United States of America, joined Sep 2007, 6540 posts, RR: 11 Reply 1, posted (11 months 3 weeks 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 2659 times:
Quoting evanbu (Thread starter): Is this an error? I see that on 7/1, UA is operating DSM-IAH on an A-319 for flight 530. If this is true, that would be the first time that I can recall that mainline has EVER operated DSM-IAH. Is this just a one time deal or is it something seasonal?
Traffic has really picked up at DSM. Last year saw the return of DL mainline using the 88. Was 1x daily during the summer then was suspended briefly for a few months then came back. This summer, came it's 2x daily MD88 and 1x CR9.
I can see UA beefing up capacity to match.
CAM2:"Lightning coming out of that one." CAM1: "What?"
Thomas_Jaeger From Switzerland, joined Apr 2002, 2278 posts, RR: 31 Reply 2, posted (11 months 3 weeks 3 days ago) and read 2501 times:
I just checked our schedules at ch-aviation and this seems to be the only flight for the entire future scheduled with an A319-100. All other flights right now are scheduled with Expressjet ERJ-145s and then from October 4 onwards the flight that night stops in DSM with a Skywest CRJ-200.
Swiss aviation news junkie living all over the place
drerx7 From United States of America, joined Jun 2000, 4916 posts, RR: 8 Reply 3, posted (11 months 3 weeks 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 2213 times:
I've noticed a few of these odd 1 time mainline flights in and out of IAH. It got to be repositioning of some sort, getting a 319 into IAH or repositioning from a charter or something. There was the 1 time IAH-MCI 763 a couple of months ago.
CIDFlyer From United States of America, joined Apr 2005, 2008 posts, RR: 3 Reply 4, posted (11 months 3 weeks 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 2055 times:
what's driving the mainline upgrades in DSM these days? AA to DFW has mainline now as well as DL to ATL. Is this pre-emptive for WN entering the market?
amccann From United States of America, joined Mar 2008, 171 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (11 months 3 weeks 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 2000 times:
Quoting CIDFlyer (Reply 4): what's driving the mainline upgrades in DSM these days? AA to DFW has mainline now as well as DL to ATL. Is this pre-emptive for WN entering the market?
I would imagine it is a combination of events causing mainline upgrades.
1/ Southwest Airlines entering the market causes the existing carriers to scramble and ensure it's customers remain loyal by offering better/more frequencies or better/larger airplanes.
2/ Des Moines is a relatively healthy business market. Since retiring the F100 American Airlines has not flown a single first class seat in to the Des Moines market and may be attempting to regain first class passengers with the MD-80.
3/ Since retiring the 737-300/-500 United Airlines has dramatically reduced it's mainline presence at Des Moines. It used to be rather common to see both a 737-300/-500 and a 757-200 at the gates. Des Moines has not, as far as I'm aware, decreased the number of annual passengers but the decrease in mainline service without increasing regional frequency to make up for the loss of seats has meant Des Moines has been under served for a number of years now.
What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. - Ronald Reagan
CompensateMe From United States of America, joined Jan 2009, 870 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (11 months 3 weeks 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 1946 times:
Quoting FlyASAGuy2005 (Reply 1):
Traffic has really picked up at DSM. Last year saw the return of DL mainline using the 88. Was 1x daily during the summer then was suspended briefly for a few months then came back. This summer, came it's 2x daily MD88 and 1x CR9.
I can see UA beefing up capacity to match.
Says you! ( )
The upgauging of DSM/ATL is an example of DL leveraging traditional NW traffic flows via ATL. In other words, it’s not necessarily an illustration of a strengthening DSM market, but rather re-allocation of capacity.
planespotting From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 3440 posts, RR: 5 Reply 8, posted (11 months 3 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 1225 times:
I also saw this flight over the weekend, but it seems like just a one-off/repositioning flight. I counted seats avail. on this flight via United.com and it looked like it was only going out about 50 percent full (I know that's not the best way to determine exact load factor, but there were plenty of seats avail at 5 p.m. the night before).
Quoting evanbu (Reply 7): How have the loads been on these mainline DL & AA flights?
Anecdotal evidence suggests they've been awesome (not sure about yields).
At work, not a week goes by by that I don't hear multiple people complaining about how incredibly long the security line is between 5 and 8 a.m., which is the timeframe that A319 (DEN or ORD), MD-82 (DFW) and an MD-88 (ATL) depart, along with a number of CRJ/7/9 and a few 170/190s, depending on the time of year.
DSM is also adding a third security line that will be ready in the next week or two.
FlyASAGuy2005 From United States of America, joined Sep 2007, 6540 posts, RR: 11 Reply 10, posted (11 months 3 weeks 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 861 times:
Sponsor Message: 
From United States of America, joined Mar 2009, 376 posts, 
From Switzerland, joined Apr 2002, 2278 posts, 
)
Printer friendly format 
