Please continue your discussion and to post your updates here.

Link to previous thread:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1356677

SQ22 wrote:

Please continue your discussion and to post your updates here.

Link to previous thread:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1356677

Thanks for the new thread and happy new year!

Small request - could we retain "The MSY Thread 2018" as the title. Just my personal preference

Some shots of the DL 744 that arrived today to take the Clemson football team to GSP. This plane will be heading out the desert very soon.

NolaMD88fan wrote:

Some shots of the DL 744 that arrived today to take the Clemson football team to GSP. This plane will be heading out the desert very soon.

when you say the desert is that referring to airplane graveyard?

Yes...that's exactly what I mean.

I was on the Pontchartrain Expressway going over the bridge that crosses Jeff Davis, Tulane, and Carrollton, when out of the corner of my eye I see a plane... with a hump. "What?! A 747? Is that underbelly blue? Is that a Delta 747?!" I should have been more alert about the plane that was bringing Clemson so I could go and get pics and vids, but alas. I did see the 747 rising from New Orleans for what might be the last time.

Latest construction aerial of the new terminal posted. Most of the roof is on now. Structural steel going up quickly on concourse A. Parking garage looks nearly complete. Lots of progress in December.

NolaMD88fan wrote:

Latest construction aerial of the new terminal posted. Most of the roof is on now. Structural steel going up quickly on concourse A. Parking garage looks nearly complete. Lots of progress in December.

whats the planned turnover date for concessions and retail space to the tenants to being their build out?

DJSNOLA wrote:

whats the planned turnover date for concessions and retail space to the tenants to being their build out?

Not sure of that, but would assume sometime in the Fall. It would need to be enough time to get staff hired and trained after the build out is complete.

Also, the airport published both October and November stats.

http://www.flymsy.com/Files/Press/Octob ... istics.pdf
http://www.flymsy.com/Files/Press/Novem ... istics.pdf

Both months had very strong growth of 6.4% and 10.1% respectively. It was the first time November has ever recorded more than 1 million passengers. Overall, the year to date growth through November was 7.3%, and the total number of passengers was 10,972,181. The airport will likely come very close to the 12 million passenger mark for 2017. Through October, the airport ranked 38th busiest in the nation. It was positioned between SJC and RDU. November stats are not out for enough airports to calculate a rank yet.

Airport...........October..............YTD
SJC.............1,133,867.......10,233,794
MSY............1,082,031.........9,889,559
RDU............1,060,865........9,643,340

http://www.flysanjose.com/financial-reports
https://www.rdu.com/airport-authority/statistics/

NolaMD88fan wrote:

DJSNOLA wrote:

whats the planned turnover date for concessions and retail space to the tenants to being their build out?

Not sure of that, but would assume sometime in the Fall. It would need to be enough time to get staff hired and trained after the build out is complete.

Though, IINM, won't several venders not *be* going to the new terminal, because their handling organization didn't win the concessions contracts?

LAX772LR wrote:

NolaMD88fan wrote:

DJSNOLA wrote:

whats the planned turnover date for concessions and retail space to the tenants to being their build out?

Not sure of that, but would assume sometime in the Fall. It would need to be enough time to get staff hired and trained after the build out is complete.

Though, IINM, won't several venders not *be* going to the new terminal, because their handling organization didn't win the concessions contracts?

Correct. Completely new concessions and retail contracts for the new terminal. Thus, there will have to be time to hire and train all of the new staff once the build out is complete.

AA 772 on the way to MSY (Carolina Panthers)

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL ... /KCLT/KMSY

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

MCI got nonstop service to KEF. Thoughts anybody?

Congrats to MCI. We have year round TATL service to LHR, and Summer seasonal service to FRA. No need to dilute the market any further at this point.

Very happy/content with LHR and FRA service.
KEF is a great connecting hub for Midwest markets that can be reached with narrow bodies. Happy for MCI. Great city.
I'd rather see the airport continue to pursue MEX and perhaps another Central American destination. COPA has been killing it, lately. Full, full, full.

SunsetLimited wrote:

Very happy/content with LHR and FRA service.
KEF is a great connecting hub for for Midwest markets that can be reached with narrow bodies.
I'd rather see the airport continue to pursue MEX and perhaps another Central American destination. COPA has been killing it, lately. Full, full, full.

Yea, I'm not concerned about KEF.

Glad to see COPA is doing well, I was worried on LFs for that (yes, yields could be great). I would like to see some domestic adds, and MEX. Also another Central American destination as well.

Does anyone know how Frontier is doing on the ISP-MSY Route? Could we see it being upgraded to a A320 in the future?

While I do agree that there are still some major North American routes to pursue, particularly PDX, MEX, SAP, and YUL, I don't think that's a good reason to not pursue European growth as well. I would disagree that we have "enough" service to Europe because now almost all of our peer airports will have about as much service to Europe as MSY and most of them have far less European traffic. AUS and PIT seem to be doing fine with three carriers to Europe. It seems to be a typically New Orleans attitude to rest on one's laurels after a big achievement like BA and watch other cities pass us by.

Certainly BA and DE is preferable to an Icelandic carrier, but there should still be room for growth without harming the existing carriers. There is no lower cost option during our peak months of October, November, April and most of May - definitely room for stimulation there. I like Condor and hope they can expand, but their flights don't show up on a lot of booking engines for whatever reason. I think the 2 weekly frequency is pretty limiting as well - the Icelandic carriers are all doing 3-5 weekly to most of their markets. Maybe MT adding MAN would be a nice compromise to grow without diluting traffic too much.

msycajun wrote:

While I do agree that there are still some major North American routes to pursue, particularly PDX, MEX, SAP, and YUL, I don't think that's a good reason to not pursue European growth as well. I would disagree that we have "enough" service to Europe because now almost all of our peer airports will have about as much service to Europe as MSY and most of them have far less European traffic. AUS and PIT seem to be doing fine with three carriers to Europe. It seems to be a typically New Orleans attitude to rest on one's laurels after a big achievement like BA and watch other cities pass us by.

Certainly BA and DE is preferable to an Icelandic carrier, but there should still be room for growth without harming the existing carriers. There is no lower cost option during our peak months of October, November, April and most of May - definitely room for stimulation there. I like Condor and hope they can expand, but their flights don't show up on a lot of booking engines for whatever reason. I think the 2 weekly frequency is pretty limiting as well - the Icelandic carriers are all doing 3-5 weekly to most of their markets. Maybe MT adding MAN would be a nice compromise to grow without diluting traffic too much.

Have you taken a look at the economies of AUS and PIT? They might be peer airports, but they are anything but peer cities. Both of those places have a lot of demand for business travel. Most of MSY travel is leisure-based. Now, is our economy diversifying and improving? Yes, of course. The BA flights especially will allow us to increase the region's business ties to Europe. But that takes times. I want to see LHR and FRA mature and grow before another Euro carrier comes to town.

DE could have added a third weekly frequency this year if they were super successful - instead, PIT got it. AUS, too, or am I thinking of someplace else? Those are markets that likely have more OUTBOUND demand to Europe due to a larger and more affluent regional population to draw from. Not a knock on MSY or a typical "New Orleans attitude". I'm proud of the success we've had, I'm proud of the city, but we're still growing the nonstop Europe segment, and before a third carrier comes in, regardless of who it is, I want to see us make sure what we have already sticks around and grows. That's all.

SunsetLimited wrote:

DL: 3x LGA and 3x JFK
B6: 2-3X JFK depending on the month
UA: 3-4X EWR depending on the month
NK: 1X EWR

So at its peak, MSY-NYC sees 14 daily departures. Largest a/c is B6 A321 (seasonally). UA runs the gauntlet, every type of 737 and Airbus, varies by day of the week. Seasonally they run E-jets on one of the flights...again it varies by specific day. NK is a daily 319. DL, again, eqpt varies seasonally, sometimes all 6 flights are mainline, sometimes only 2 are. Right now a 739 has been doing one of the JFK-MSY-JFK turns.

Considering the number of connecting passengers flying AA between MSY and NYC, the volume is there. It's just a question of if they want to overfly three of their hubs along the way. PHL, for example, is seeing increased service this year with larger aircraft and CLT will be seeing 738's soon.

I was told that WN was looking at a direct LGA-MSY this year. Take it with a grain of salt.

I dont have the slightest clue why AA doesn’t offer a non-stop, but I’ve found my self traveling down once or twice a month now and surprised at the amount of options available. I’m usually on the non-stop, but 45 min in ATL is more than manageable.

Slot availability could also play a factor. Considering that there is hourly shuttle service from LGA to ORD, PHL, and DCA along with roughly hourly flights to CLT from both airports there maybe no incentive to allocate them. DL and UA are also pushing connections through the three major NYC airports that AA may prefer to send through ORD.

It also may be worth considering that of the total volume of domestic pax handled by JFK/LGA/EWR only around 20% is flown via AA. The rest is split evenly with DL taking 40% into JFK/LGA and UA taking the other 40% into EWR. Even B6 moves more passengers into NYC than AA. Also, there’s a large chance that NY originating business traffic is using DL and B6.

SunsetLimited wrote:

Have you taken a look at the economies of AUS and PIT? They might be peer airports, but they are anything but peer cities. Both of those places have a lot of demand for business travel. Most of MSY travel is leisure-based. Now, is our economy diversifying and improving? Yes, of course. The BA flights especially will allow us to increase the region's business ties to Europe. But that takes times. I want to see LHR and FRA mature and grow before another Euro carrier comes to town.

DE could have added a third weekly frequency this year if they were super successful - instead, PIT got it. AUS, too, or am I thinking of someplace else? Those are markets that likely have more OUTBOUND demand to Europe due to a larger and more affluent regional population to draw from. Not a knock on MSY or a typical "New Orleans attitude". I'm proud of the success we've had, I'm proud of the city, but we're still growing the nonstop Europe segment, and before a third carrier comes in, regardless of who it is, I want to see us make sure what we have already sticks around and grows. That's all.

Exactly, DE had subpar loads compared to the other markets they served last Summer. I would rather see them strengthen their position this year, and then add a 3rd weekly flight in 2019. Additionally, the interline with LH is far more valuable than anything DY or WW could offer at this point in time. You can pretty much connect to anywhere in Europe from FRA. Of course, LH would be great instead, but they don't have the right aircraft for a market of our size.

BA has been doing well, and that needs to continue. We should see daily service or a change in aircraft to a more premium model if loads remain strong through the winter months. BA offers good connectivity to the larger markets in Europe, Africa, and Asia. That's big for rapidly growing startup companies here at MSY like Lucid and Zlein who have offices in London, Cairo, and Delhi. I'm more than certain it also assisted in landing the DXC Tech office since they will be flying people in from around the world to this facility for training purposes.

Also, concerning PIT, DL only flies seasonally to CDG. DE is also only seasonal, and WW is not to the same level as a legacy carrier when it comes to onboard service or connecting opportunities. I consider the year round BA flight to be far more valuable for business recruitment and retention than a year round WW flight.

AUS is an entirely different market with very strong year round business demand, and a much larger catchment population due to the proximity of San Antonio. No surprise they have a 3rd carrier flying there this Summer.

No resting on our laurels here, just wanting to nurture our existing service into a success. I think YUL, YYC, and MEX should be the primary international markets for MSY to chase after this year.

So will the new terminal have enough gates to start or is expansion in the cards?

Balloonchaser wrote:

Does anyone know how Frontier is doing on the ISP-MSY Route? Could we see it being upgraded to a A320 in the future?

Unknown at this time. Will have to wait on BTS data to come in later this month.

OzarkD9S wrote:

So will the new terminal have enough gates to start or is expansion in the cards?

Yes, with the addition of Concourse A there will be enough gates now.

The DOTD has three alternatives for the I-10 interchange redesign. The final design (Diverging Diamond with flyover ramps for New Orleans inbound/outbound traffic) is the one I like the best. It would require the least amount of land procurement which should save on cost. I've seen these interchanges in action, and they can move an amazing amount of traffic.

http://wwwapps.dotd.la.gov/administrati ... e_Show.pdf

msycajun wrote:

While I do agree that there are still some major North American routes to pursue, particularly PDX, MEX, SAP, and YUL, I don't think that's a good reason to not pursue European growth as well.

msycajun wrote:

AUS and PIT seem to be doing fine with three carriers to Europe.

Sure, though in addition to the points mentioned above, keep in mind that they've had 4 and 6 years (respectively) to develop those services since gaining them.... MSY's had its regained TATL service for only 9months at this point.

As for KEF, two points:

First off, all of this expansion is incredible!!

For those who might not be familiar, it's not a physically large airport by any stretch of the imagination.
MSY's new northside terminal dwarfs it by a factor of three, in terms of gates, and probably even more in terms of overall area.

There are expansion plans (as you can see in the pic), but it's still tough to imagine where all these new pax are going to fit!





Second, one thing that we still have yet to see, is a European carrier connect to the cruise market here.
BA doesn't. DE doesn't seem to either.

It's worth noting that FI doesn't fly to MIA nor FLL. Granted, it has service to MCO (Port Canaveral) and TPA; but that leaves a fair opportunity for MSY service to capitalize on its Eastern/Western Caribbean cruises, if FI could be convinced to use it for a Gulf cruise base.

Just a thought. I wonder if anyone's pursuing it?

LAX772LR wrote:

Second, one thing that we still have yet to see, is a European carrier connect to the cruise market here.
BA doesn't. DE doesn't seem to either.

It's worth noting that FI doesn't fly to MIA nor FLL. Granted, it has service to MCO (Port Canaveral) and TPA; but that leaves a fair opportunity for MSY service to capitalize on its Eastern/Western Caribbean cruises, if FI could be convinced to use it for a Gulf cruise base.

Just a thought. I wonder if anyone's pursuing it?

I've been surprised DE doesn't actually. Perhaps Thomson, TUI, etc. takes a look. Don't they run a few charters each year anyways?

IIRC the latest numbers showed that MSY's traffic is more than 50% local originating. I think that speaks to the strength of the broad catchment area from Lake Charles to Mobile and north to Jackson. If more routes are offered or lower fare carriers start TATL here you will get more people willing to drive to MSY to fly. It also suggests that air traffic is not as dependent on tourism as one would think and that there is room to grow, especially since there is no European LCC during peak cruise and tourism seasons.

It seems like that would be low hanging fruit. For example MCI is getting a summer seasonal KEF flight and there are many other summer seasonal flights across the county. Why not pitch MSY for the rest of the year when there is slack in the fleet?

The main difference with the service to the Midwest markets and here is length of haul. WOW and FI can fly narrowbody aircraft to those markets, but a widebody aircraft is required to fly here. FI has a grand total of 4 767-300 aircraft, and they are pretty much fully utilized year round on business heavy markets like LHR, JFK, SEA, and AMS. WW has 3 A330-300 aircraft in the fleet, but those are committed to flying to LAX, SFO, and some European markets. At this point, the Icelandic carriers don't have the aircraft to fly here.

DY is our best bet for a new entrant to Europe. They have been increasing service to existing US markets recently, but some new destinations may be announced later this year.

NolaMD88fan wrote:

The DOTD has three alternatives for the I-10 interchange redesign. The final design (Diverging Diamond with flyover ramps for New Orleans inbound/outbound traffic) is the one I like the best. It would require the least amount of land procurement which should save on cost. I've seen these interchanges in action, and they can move an amazing amount of traffic.

http://wwwapps.dotd.la.gov/administrati ... e_Show.pdf

Hybrid I looks to be the cheapest and fastest solution.

A shame the new Terminal complex is going to loose the hyw 61/310 connection.

NolaMD88fan wrote:

WOW and FI can fly narrowbody aircraft to those markets, but a widebody aircraft is required to fly here.

No it isn't.

FI already does KEF-DFW, which is longer than MSY, with a 752 and no blocked seats.

LAX772LR wrote:

NolaMD88fan wrote:

WOW and FI can fly narrowbody aircraft to those markets, but a widebody aircraft is required to fly here.

No it isn't.

FI already does KEF-DFW, which is longer than MSY, with a 752 and no blocked seats.

Well...there goes that entire working theory. Send that FI 752 our way from October to April.

If the numbers work, I'm sure we'll get a third Euro carrier eventually.
Until then, I would much rather see, by a wide margin, service to MEX and another Canadian destination.

There's significant slack in the FI schedule outside of peak season... TPA, for example, runs for ten months -except- peak EU summer season. I suspect there are a lot of variables behind this (TPA demands a lot of aircraft downtime, and peak summer is... peak; TPA may skew EU origin demand and is best for winter escapes, etc).

Which begs the question: do folks see evidence that MSY is popular with European visitors outside of the Northern travel season? (As a Gulf Coast native living in Europe, I couldn't imagine visiting MSY outside of the winter/spring these days ).

LAX772LR wrote:

As for KEF, two points:

First off, all of this expansion is incredible!!

For those who might not be familiar, it's not a physically large airport by any stretch of the imagination.
MSY's new northside terminal dwarfs it by a factor of three, in terms of gates, and probably even more in terms of overall area.

There are expansion plans (as you can see in the pic), but it's still tough to imagine where all these new pax are going to fit!





Second, one thing that we still have yet to see, is a European carrier connect to the cruise market here.
BA doesn't. DE doesn't seem to either.

It's worth noting that FI doesn't fly to MIA nor FLL. Granted, it has service to MCO (Port Canaveral) and TPA; but that leaves a fair opportunity for MSY service to capitalize on its Eastern/Western Caribbean cruises, if FI could be convinced to use it for a Gulf cruise base.

Just a thought. I wonder if anyone's pursuing it?

Not go off subject, but this is the fast growing WOW hub in Iceland?

SunsetLimited wrote:

If the numbers work, I'm sure we'll get a third Euro carrier eventually.
Until then, I would much rather see, by a wide margin, service to MEX and another Canadian destination.

Agreed on all points. PDX, MEX and YUL are what I would love to see this year. KEF would be nice, but not as needed as those three in my opinion.

Concerning Euro visitors, I think the peak would be from Mardi Gras to Jazzfest in the winter/spring period.

william wrote:

Not go off subject, but this is the fast growing WOW hub in Iceland?

Yup.

People have this impression that KEF is some kind of mini-DXB.... but the entirety of that airport is like 12 gates and 7million annual pax.

It's not a large airport by any means; and it won't be, even when all phases of its current expansion plan are in place. It's a tiny airport that (impressively) punches way above its weight.

LAX772LR wrote:

william wrote:

Not go off subject, but this is the fast growing WOW hub in Iceland?

Yup.

People have this impression that KEF is some kind of mini-DXB.... but the entirety of that airport is like 12 gates and 7million annual pax.

It's not a large airport by any means; and it won't be, even when all phases of its current expansion plan are in place. It's a tiny airport that (impressively) punches way above its weight.

its very much important for that country to continute growing their tourism by offering many nonstop destinations.. also basically all the destinations are international. that said i would love to see a wow flight added from here.



What do people think the chances of a Montreal flight would be? Always seemed like a place NOLA should have stronger ties with?

DJSNOLA wrote:

i would love to see a wow flight added from here.

They don't have the fleet for it, currently.

MSY is too far for an A32X/NEO and their A330s are way too big.
Heck, they couldn't even fill them from SFO.

If MSY gets a nonstop to KEF any time soon, it'll likely be FI.

DJSNOLA wrote:

What do people think the chances of a Montreal flight would be? Always seemed like a place NOLA should have stronger ties with?

I think the odds are pretty decent. In 2016 MSY-YUL had 32 PDEW. It was the 4th largest unserved market at YUL. HNL, SAN, and SEA were the unserved markets ahead of us

NolaMD88fan wrote:

DJSNOLA wrote:

What do people think the chances of a Montreal flight would be? Always seemed like a place NOLA should have stronger ties with?

I think the odds are pretty decent. In 2016 MSY-YUL had 32 PDEW. It was the 4th largest unserved market at YUL. HNL, SAN, and SEA were the unserved markets ahead of us

According to what?

Statistics Canada. http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a03?la ... 9,401-0040

NolaMD88fan wrote:

Statistics Canada. http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a03?la ... 9,401-0040

thats interesting to note.. I would think either a seasonal flight or twice weekly would help increase the the total a bit too... whats the PDEW to Vancouver from nola?

The PDEW on MSY-YVR was 28 in 2016. There were 5 markets ahead of MSY with no non-stop service, FLL, MIA, PHL, AUS, and TPA. That PDEW number is way too low to warrant non-stop service. YUL is the best bet for additional Canadian service at this point, since it can be flown with a regional jet.

DJSNOLA wrote:

thats interesting to note.. I would think either a seasonal flight or twice weekly would help increase the the total a bit too... whats the PDEW to Vancouver from nola?

I do wonder if they're concerned about what yields would look like:
YUL-MSY's PDEW has grown nearly 50% over the last decade... yet instead of adding a seasonal or x-weekly YUL, they instead added a second YYZ.

Considering that YUL is also a hub, covering most of the major Canadian and European cnnx that YYZ does and even some unique ones, I'm guessing that yield concern has to be their reason. Especially with the insane prices that they charge to YYZ, relative to the competition.

LAX772LR wrote:

DJSNOLA wrote:

thats interesting to note.. I would think either a seasonal flight or twice weekly would help increase the the total a bit too... whats the PDEW to Vancouver from nola?

I do wonder if they're concerned about what yields would look like:
YUL-MSY's PDEW has grown nearly 50% over the last decade... yet instead of adding a seasonal or x-weekly YUL, they instead added a second YYZ.

Considering that YUL is also a hub, covering most of the major Canadian and European cnnx that YYZ does and even some unique ones, I'm guessing that yield concern has to be their reason. Especially with the insane prices that they charge to YYZ, relative to the competition.

wonder why they wouldnt run a flight that stopped in toronto on way to montreal then.. granted the montreal people would have to go to customs first so i guess that would make it impossible to do since people on montreal to toronto wouldnt have to

MSY-YYZ was just under 70 PDEW for the year, so it's not surprise that with connections there is room for a seasonal second daily service. YUL has been growing nicely though and I've been hoping that a Mobile C-Series FAL might provide enough of a bump in traffic to get something like a 4 weekly service. It's a long flight, but AC runs regional jets on YUL-IAH, so apparently not too long for them.

January Air Service Update Posted:
http://www.flymsy.com/Images/Interior/air_service/january%202018%20air%20service%20update.pdf

It's interesting that NK is running 2 daily to BWI, BOS, DTW, and MCO for part of January. They seem to go back to one daily after January. I wouldn't be surprised to see increased service around Mardi Gras or spring break season, but mid/late January is usually pretty slow.

October Domestic and July International Load Factors.

On the domestic side, the overall October load factor was 83.4%, and the year to date load factor was 81.3%. WN's MSY-LAX route had the highest load factor at 93%, and the lowest load factor was on G4's MSY-LCK route at 63.2%. F9 started service to AUS, SAT, PVD, and ISP. AUS and SAT did well with 84.1% and 75.8% load factors. PVD and ISP saw poorer loads of 64.9% and 63.7% in October.

International data is for July. The overall international load factor in July was 83.9%, and year to date was 80.7%. BA had a load factor of 76.9%, DE was at 77.7%, and CM was at 90.1%.

(Domestic)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19PfjR6hYCFDPcv6qhpAqs8JpN3_RRF85c2xiYRv3g98/edit?usp=sharing

(International)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yepoGdibyiVsViWrjIcouvFnmdUNzhYuBiOo9bBPV8Y/edit?usp=sharing

NolaMD88fan wrote:

October Domestic and July International Load Factors.

On the domestic side, the overall October load factor was 83.4%, and the year to date load factor was 81.3%. WN's MSY-LAX route had the highest load factor at 93%, and the lowest load factor was on G4's MSY-LCK route at 63.2%. F9 started service to AUS, SAT, PVD, and ISP. AUS and SAT did well with 84.1% and 75.8% load factors. PVD and ISP saw poorer loads of 64.9% and 63.7% in October.

International data is for July. The overall international load factor in July was 83.9%, and year to date was 80.7%. BA had a load factor of 76.9%, DE was at 77.7%, and CM was at 90.1%.

(Domestic)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19PfjR6hYCFDPcv6qhpAqs8JpN3_RRF85c2xiYRv3g98/edit?usp=sharing

(International)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yepoGdibyiVsViWrjIcouvFnmdUNzhYuBiOo9bBPV8Y/edit?usp=sharing

I surely didn't expect CM to start doing so well lately. Maybe they finally found their footing?