PDX would be great but the local economy has changed allot and AS has what's left of the leisure market covered. SY needs a 1.5 mill plus MSA with an above average median income and demo that travels on a budget 2-3 times a year. And they can coexist with DL in MSP but going against WN, NK or F9 is ...
Jump to postRe: day trip parings vs. multi-day cost savings. The big savings is having the plane at base every night for cleaning and line maintenance. Otherwise these are jobs contracted at out stations and can get costly with little to no quality control.
Jump to postIMHO UAs lack of a southeastern footprint outside of Florida is decades in the making from decisions made by previous management teams. UA HAD a de facto hub in ATL from the early '60s after its acquisition of Capital to deregulation. They walked away from it to let DL & EA brawl it out while UA...
Jump to postI'm bullish on Latin America because of its potential in the energy and mineral sectors. IAH is a perfect gateway in that niche. IMHO this is chatter coming from the C-suite that is looking at potential scenarios if B6, NK and/or F9 collapse or AA becomes mortally wounded by some self inflicted woun...
Jump to postAs understaffed as they are above & below the wing (ESPECIALLY in PHX & DFW) I can't believe they can't find positions for them. Or is it a union thing?
Jump to postI don't get this airlines.net obsession with B6s lack of a mid continent footprint! AS is heavy west of the Rockies and serves the eastern demographic, profitability, without some fantasy mega hub in SBN or ICT. Just because it makes sense on a map doesn't mean it makes sense on a spreadsheet. AS ma...
Jump to postIm fascinated with the turbulent history of the FL intrastate market. It gave birth to scrappy start ups that turned into industry darlings (Air Florida, Marco, PBA South , etc) that all eventually collapsed after a decade or so. Even mainline intrastate ops like Piedmont Shuttle & WN lasted for...
Jump to postIMHO Blues survival is not contingent on JG but the ability to poach some ops experts with proven records to bring B6 up to peer standards and exceed metrics over the long term. I'm hope headhunters are making calls to Ft. Worth, Atlanta, Sea Tac, London, Chicago, Frankfurt, etc. B6 can't blow happy...
Jump to postInteresting point, in the April 1972 and October 1977 timetables, ABQ had a lot of flights. Much like AMA and ICT. What drove this? The Civil Aeronatics Board (CAB). Routes were profered & awared after lengthy government hearings. If it made sense (kind of) you took what you could get. That's w...
Jump to postABQ was a pretty substantial out station during the regulation days. Not a hub by any means but a bit more substantial than an outstation. Maybe the FF base justified keeping one. Remember back then these "lounges" were simply a room with some stuffed chairs and a few bottles of beer, spir...
Jump to postI have a feeling this is a combination of marginal (if not negative) financial performance and staffing. Almost 5 hours block plus ground turn time is allot of time to eat with a limited pilot roster. Especially if the loads were so-so.
Jump to postIt's being reported that there is a five year TA on the table for Flight Attendants. 36% over five years.
https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2023 ... agreement/
Any F9 insiders care to chime in on this? My acquaintances at F9 said they started moving the majority of flying out of LAS & ATL into one day, 4 leg rotations (base-outstation-outstation-base) for almost a year now. It is a love/hate conundrum: most crew who live in base love it and commuters h...
Jump to postIMHO given NWAs debt from Checci and how underwater PA was already the combined entity probably would not have limped into the 21st century. If so, 9/11 would have killed it off. NW made the right choice by putting their eggs into the JV basket with KLM
Jump to postMemphis was enough of a trade & commerce center to support hometown C&S Air Lines in the 1940s and 50s. When Delta acquired them they maintained a significant footprint in MEM through the 80s. As DL retrenched, RC grew as it rationalized the old SO network into something sustainable without ...
Jump to postWas MCI ever a crew domicile or was it staffed by other bases? The limited schedules I can find look like a banked operation with only a few originators that could have been covered by RON crew from other bases. Second thought: does anyone know how much $$$ incentives were thrown at the project? By ...
Jump to postI think the Moonlight hub was IAH and it was thanks to a partnership with a freight expediter that bought belly space on A300s. Eastern was desperate for revenue and figured if we're going to operate the rotations might as well sell seats. Of course since it was a freight operation it was all red-ey...
Jump to postI don't understand why they are throwing the hat into LCC/WN territory like the p2p LAS stuff and AUS-MCO. I'm sure they did the math and know what they are doing. Wonder if they smell blood in the water coming from WN?
Jump to postAlso interesting seeing extra flights/destinations from Spirit. Doesn't seem like they'd cater to the kind of crowd that would travel to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby. Have you seen the infield? :lol: HAHAHA.... Admission to the worst part of the infield with no view is running $80 pp and the b...
Jump to postI'm.old enough to remember when airport "amenities" involved a Dobbs House restaurant where you could get a greasy cheeseburger or greasier ham & cheese. A bar that had that dive vibe before the scene became ironic or entertainment that involved watching 30 min of local TV for a quarte...
Jump to postI think it also has to do with airport authorities having to rely on rent and concession revenue to prevent pricing themselves out of the market. Especially with medium size non-hub markets. For a city to loose a carrier that is experiencing marginal returns in a small/ medium market (because their ...
Jump to postIt also makes me wonder how far behind they are in payments and other airports. I'd hate to see another independent regional bite the dust. Any insider Intel here??
Jump to postAirwaysmag.com is reporting that Silver (3M) is facing eviction for non-payment of fees dating back to 2021. A decision is expected by the 18th of the month. Can Silver afford to loose their base at FLL??
https://airwaysmag.com/silver-airways-f ... on-at-fll/
Apparently a WN pilot (No idea which seat) what's ill enough to have to leave the cockpit this morning. A non rev from another airline stepped in to fill radio duties so the PF could focus. Bravo!! https://viewfromthewing.com/another-airlines-pilot-stepped-in-on-southwest-flight-when-member-of-cockp...
Jump to postHere's a cool slideshow on 727s through the years starting from AL to the Shuttle years:
https://youtu.be/uDupt3I6zBw
Looks like it happened in the middle of the first service. The pics are ugly...be careful out there. Next few days are going to be a rollercoaster ride in North America. https://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/7-hospitalized-after-lufthansa-flight-from-austin-to-germany-diverted-due-to-turbulence-air...
Jump to postWOW! Some of those ZW CR2 parings are insane. I can see a rotations to smaller cities within Illinois, Western Michigan, Wisconsin and eastern Iowa making sense but ORD-MSP/YYZ/YUL/SDF/CVG/MEM/ DTW/DSM and a few others are like a shot in the foot. Even if not mainline they are sustainable for 2 clas...
Jump to postThe part of the story that confuses me is how was she vetted after her CJO AND passed training before someone noticed this??
Jump to postIs this just an opportunity to bridge equipment from the east to west (and visa versa)? I wonder if the bean counters see opportunity (somehow) on the MCO-BRO segment and need to rotate the assets to cover west coast flying. Might as well make it saleable to BUR with a 20% LF vs. repo the plane a 0%...
Jump to postA talking head on one of the US Sunday morning news talk shows said that while a few were definitely spy balloons there is also something called "air junk". Universities, research organizations and government agencies launch and loose unmanned vehicles all the time. Until recently the FAA ...
Jump to postThe JFK transcons survived on corporate travel and we all know it's half of what it was 3 years ago. Conventional wisdom from analysts and even CEOs is that it will recover to 70% of 2019 levels....at best. Seems that deploying assets in more sustainable markets and letting AA,DL & B6 brawl it o...
Jump to postIt's an intriguing idea. Given the tightness and expense of accommodation inventory ranging from $500 to $1600 (USD) a night I would love to know where they plan on putting all these extra people. It's not like Pitkin county hands up building permits like Halloween candy.
Jump to postAs much as I'd love to see YYZ come back....again...I just don't see it. They couldn't make it work on a B1900 the last time. Transferring at Pearson from the "US wing" to anywhere is a PITA. I'd rather transfer terminals @ JFK. Given Euro/ME/ African /Indian accessibility over other hubs ...
Jump to postI would LOVE to see DL get into the retro bandwagon but they are so brand-sensative I doubt it would happen. Think about a Widget A350 or Western beer can 321. Maybe Herman the Goose and blue Southern worms on a couple 737s. I doubt they would paint a Red Tail because it's too soon. One can dream ....
Jump to postOk armchair CEOs, COOs, route planners & other's. Let's see what you all think about '23. Granted, no one can foresee black swan events like wars, pandemics or natural disasters. But based on the trajectory of this year let's throw out some fun conjecture of what awaits in the new year. I'll sta...
Jump to postDosent change that they had a WEEK to prepare for this event. Adjust operations accordingly. I've worked in ops and dispatch and while it's complicated it's not insurmountable. WN has multiple focus cities that could handle transfer traffic leaving the hardest hit places to deal with mainly O&D....
Jump to postAMS (and several other airports in Europe, Asia, the ME & Latin America) have separate facilities to handle crew. Multiple computer system stations, briefing rooms and back office support for last minute issues. We clear security there before heading to the sterile areas. I'm not going to get in...
Jump to postView from the Wing (yea, I know) reports WN is in meltdown mode in DEN due to lack of ramp staff. Oh & their phone system went down.
https://viewfromthewing.com/southwest-t ... showed-up/
Does anyone know if the Republic 175 crew base at SDF supports Eagle, Express or DLCx flying?
Jump to postUnfortunately it looks like the mAAinline boom for SDF is short lived. I pulled up 5/8 to see what their post Mesa skds would look like and everything reverts back to Eagle (Envoy, Republic or PSA) with the exception of a midday 319 to DFW and a 319 morning MIA. At least the Eagle ops are all 175s w...
Jump to postIf Mesa ends up flying only for United, I hope it works out better for them than it did for ExpressJet. All their eggs in one basket. With a marketing partner not exactly known for their loyalty to regional providers. Ask Stockholm Syndrome Air Wis for more information. Like many above, I'm looking...
Jump to postRDU, SAN & MCI seem more up Breezes alley than any of the others. Also I'm not sure JFK is on DLs radar as they seem content funneling Euro connections thru DTW or even down to ATL. SLC would be intriguing but most of those destinations can be reached via MSP. SEA is the wildcard. If MX started ...
Jump to postIIRC One of the stipulations of flying to Cuba is that you can't engage in a commercial contract with a Cuban company. In other words we can fly there we just can't spend US dollars there. Therefore every US carrier ferries in their own ground support staff to turn planes and crew layovers are forbi...
Jump to postIIRC AA pulled out of SDF because of the hangover from the PATCO strike, severe recession & the resulting hemorrhaging of cash. Shortly thereafter Crandall came in and convinced and shareholders and investors that you can't shrink to profitability. I think there were several other markets that h...
Jump to postIf the pandemic taught corporate America anything it's that remote work is possible and, in some cases, optimal to traditional on site model. Modern crew bases don't need large amounts of real estate with computers, briefing rooms & layers of management. Flight & cabin crew have access to al...
Jump to postPersonally, I hope whatever new program they put in place simply results in a dedicated airline employee lane at the checkpoint. Realistically, it doesn't take a big difference in time comparing KCM to putting your bags on the belt... Back when I was a MSP-based FA, we had an employee-only checkpoi...
Jump to postI figured it was too good to last and sure enough, a few bad apples ruined it for the rest of us. Who knows what fresh hell TSA will implement in 2023 but I guess I'll be leaving an extra hour early for my trips.
https://simpleflying.com/tsa-take-over- ... creenings/
I agree that an Ozark Airbus would be sexy. I don't they can do the Eastern thing given that Eastern is a "currently operating" concern (ROTFL).
Jump to postI can see Colombia, Bolivia, Perú and maybe northern Brazil VFR tolerating the "product" due to price sensitivity. As BB said in the interview; it's NK markets they are looking to poach after post merger B6NK prices themselves out of the market for a significant demographic. Even then, Avi...
Jump to postWow, I am old, I remember Mesa being a scrappy commuter flying Beechcraft 1300s and code sharing for America West out of PHX. My, how times have changed. And IM old enough to remember when they were literally a mom & pop operation out of Farmington NM whose business model was connecting tiny to...
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