nomorerjs From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 320 posts, RR: 0 Posted (5 months 3 weeks 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 1458 times:
Any chances of Icelandair back to ORD or starting DFW? ORD has pleanty of EU flights which probably hinders them in the market (they were there for ages with pleanty of military connections at KEF). DFW is almost as tough to the EU as ORD. Just thoughts.
SCQ83 From United States of America, joined Oct 2012, 461 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (5 months 3 weeks 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 1430 times:
ORD seems more logic to me (I am surprised they actually don't serve Chicago, but as you say, it is probably due to competition).
FI's destinations seem to be a) those popular for European tourists (and certainly Chicago is one of the top urban destinations in the US for Europeans; I wouldn't be surprised if it is second to NYC... which is not the case for Dallas at all), and b) those with a large potential overseas travel leisure market from the US, and my gut is that Chicagoans are more likely (and they are more) to take leisure trips to Europe than people from Dallas... and probably Texans taking holidays in Europe are less money-conscious to do a long detour via KEF.
And on top of that, KEF-ORD is a much shorter flight than KEF-DFW.
simairlinenet From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 815 posts, RR: 2 Reply 5, posted (5 months 3 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 1308 times:
Quoting SCQ83 (Reply 1): (and certainly Chicago is one of the top urban destinations in the US for Europeans; I wouldn't be surprised if it is second to NYC
Is it? I read an article in the Chicago Herald-Tribune right before the NATO summit earlier this year talking about the city's attempt to boost international tourists, which were punching well below the city's weight. While it didn't break out inbound tourism by region, I'd expect Europeans to be the leading origin.
I'd expect Washington or possibly Miami to be second for European tourists.
LAXdude1023 From Lebanon, joined Sep 2006, 6780 posts, RR: 25 Reply 6, posted (5 months 3 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 1287 times:
I don't think it would fly at DFW. Icelandair is more of a backpackers airline and DFW isn't really a European backpacker destination nor is there a lot of tourism. It's a large international business market mostly.
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FI642 From Monaco, joined Mar 2005, 1056 posts, RR: 2 Reply 8, posted (5 months 3 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 1108 times:
The reason FI does not serve ORD any longer? Truth? They hired a marketing firm who told them there was no growth potential from ORD. Because every flight every day was full....... so they pulled out ........ don't get me started.
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SCQ83 From United States of America, joined Oct 2012, 461 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (5 months 3 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 1051 times:
Quoting simairlinenet (Reply 5): Is it? I read an article in the Chicago Herald-Tribune right before the NATO summit earlier this year talking about the city's attempt to boost international tourists, which were punching well below the city's weight. While it didn't break out inbound tourism by region, I'd expect Europeans to be the leading origin.
I'd expect Washington or possibly Miami to be second for European tourists.
I don't really know, but I would say that Chicago is on the top-place-to-visit-when-in-the-US after NYC for the average European. I also feel that the type of tourism that Chicago might draw from Europe (mainly urban, cultural, young/mid-age tourism) fits pretty well within Icelandair's target. MIA maybe has more European tourists but it is a big detour via KEF and it is not necessarily the same kind of person that goes to Chicago.
Maybe the issue with Chicago is that comparatively to other major American cities, they don't receive much tourism from emerging markets (such as Latin Americans or Russians in Miami or Asians in the major West coast cities, and anyone and their mom in NYC), who nowadays tend to splurge more than cash-strapped European or Americans.
Quoting LAXdude1023 (Reply 6): I don't think it would fly at DFW. Icelandair is more of a backpackers airline and DFW isn't really a European backpacker destination nor is there a lot of tourism. It's a large international business market mostly.
Totally agree, I can't see the Iceland-Texas connection here to say something.
jcwr56 From United States of America, joined Jul 2012, 221 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (5 months 3 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 803 times:
Quoting FI642 (Reply 8): The reason FI does not serve ORD any longer? Truth? They hired a marketing firm who told them there was no growth potential from ORD. Because every flight every day was full....... so they pulled out ........ don't get me started.
Was this about 2-3 years ago when FI was looking to restart to ORD?
sfoa380 From United States of America, joined Aug 2010, 104 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (5 months 3 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 635 times:
Quoting SCQ83 (Reply 9): I don't really know, but I would say that Chicago is on the top-place-to-visit-when-in-the-US after NYC for the average European.
From the US Department of Commerce, here are the 2011 full-year statistics on in-bound travel from Europe:
This includes all segments of travel--business, pleasure, etc...
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