Jshank83 wrote:

msycajun wrote:

I'm also curious to see what WN does in its next schedule update. Last I checked, there were plenty of long-served routes still suspended, such as SAN, MCI, STL, DCA, LGA, and SAT. Most of them seem to be returning in the summer, but there will probably be plenty of demand in April and May. NK and F9 could do well if they can add a few of those before WN returns.

STL started Saturday only in March and is thru May. So not "fully" suspended.

My family and I use this route as well to visit. The last time my family ended up just driving it since it was only available on Saturdays.

MSY is showing up on Silver Airways booking options with FLL and JAX as destinations. No flights are available yet. They have attempted MSY previously right?

TYSflyer wrote:

MSY is showing up on Silver Airways booking options with FLL and JAX as destinations. No flights are available yet. They have attempted MSY previously right?

Announced but never served. They actually had employees hired and ticket counter signs up (in the old terminal) but pulled out before they started.

MSY-JAX on the ATR seems like a good route. Maybe it’ll continue to FLL? Anyway, nice to see, and hope they actually start this time.

TYSflyer wrote:

MSY is showing up on Silver Airways booking options with FLL and JAX as destinations. No flights are available yet. They have attempted MSY previously right?

MSY has been showing up since at least Saturday, but no reservations have been available.

Same with PBI. It's only been showing when you select EYW as the origin.

I suppose they're waiting to formally announce them before loading the flights unlike GSP last time.

Here's to hoping Silver Airways starts up this time. MSY is decent jumping off point for further expansion into the South if they choose to go that route. The non-stop to JAX should do well. There is ample demand on that route to decently fill an ATR each day.

Exciting news about Silver. I was actually about to mention them as a possible add. They have a lot of planes coming in and there are a lot of dots they could connect on their route map: CHS, GSP, HSV, and SAV, maybe CAE and TLH. Would be great to see them add some of the old GLO routes - LIT, SHV, and MEM.

UA has loaded SFO non-stop flights starting in May. Good to see UA back to the same number of pre-pandemic non-stop destinations.

December and Annual 2020 domestic load factors and passenger numbers by route have been calculated. There is no international update given the service suspensions associated with COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Annually, as compared to 2019, airport-wide seat count dropped by 47.8%, and pax traffic fell by 61.8% resulting in a 21.6% decrease in load factors to 58.9%. December numbers showed the airport-wide seat count falling by 57.1%, passenger count falling by 66.3%, and the load factor falling by 21.4%.

AA had the smallest passenger decline at 53.3%; UA had the smallest load factor declines at 15.7%; DL had the largest passenger and load factor declines at 68.6% and 25.1% among the 5 largest carriers at MSY (AA, DL, NK, UA, WN) on an annual basis.

December Domestic route seat count(% change), pax count(%change), and load factor(change):

Airline.................Seats..............................Pax............................LF
AA..............102,527(-51.7%)............73,233(-57.6%).........71.4%(-12.1%)
AS................11,036(-64.5%)..............5,145(-80.1%).........46.6%(-36.6%)
B6................11,764(-68.3%)..............5,881(-81.2%)..........50.0%(-40.6%)
DL................99,568(-57.2%)............46,143(-76.5%).........46.3%(-45.1%)
F9...................9,120(-68.1%).............6,440(-73.6%).........70.6%(-17.1%)
G4..................5,460(-59.9%).............2,237(-77.0%)..........41.0%(-42.6%)
NK................93,838(-47.0%)...........61,163(-57.7%)..........65.2%(-20.1%)
UA................76,278(-56.2%)...........53,843(-63.2%)..........70.6%(-15.9%)
WN.............203,553(-60.8%).........143,509(-66.3%)..........70.5%(-14.1%)

Annual Domestic route seat count(% change), pax count(%change), and load factor(change):

Airline.................Seats..............................Pax............................LF
AA...........1,486,204(-41.6%)..........964,421(-53.3%).........64.9%(-16.2%)
AS..............166,108(-45.7%)............92,723(-63.4%).........55.8%(-27.0%)
B6..............207,466(-58.3%)...........111,639(-72.3%).........53.8%(-27.2%)
DL...........1,203,427(-55.2%)..........710,151(-68.6%).........59.0%(-25.1%)
F9..............171,424(-58.2%)...........110,077(-67.5%).........64.2%(-18.2%)
G4................78,732(-47.4%)............40,848(-63.0%).........51.9%(-22.0%)
NK...........1,110,921(-47.3%)..........697,426(-58.4%).........62.8%(-16.7%)
SY................18,270(-61.1%)............10,418(-67.5%).........57.0%(-11.1%)
UA..............912,870(-55.2%)..........603,407(-63.8%).........66.1%(-15.7%)
WN..........3,532,940(-43.4%).......1,890,968(-61.4%).........53.5%(-25.0%)

Domestic
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1e36A_kk0WshqQL2vurxQXa5pE9oJ2UV7zPuA1B2s7gQ/edit?usp=sharing

NolaMD88fan wrote:

December and Annual 2020 domestic load factors and passenger numbers by route have been calculated. There is no international update given the service suspensions associated with COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Annually, as compared to 2019, airport-wide seat count dropped by 47.8%, and pax traffic fell by 61.8% resulting in a 21.6% decrease in load factors to 58.9%. December numbers showed the airport-wide seat count falling by 57.1%, passenger count falling by 66.3%, and the load factor falling by 21.4%.

AA had the smallest passenger decline at 53.3%; UA had the smallest load factor declines at 15.7%; DL had the largest passenger and load factor declines at 68.6% and 25.1% among the 5 largest carriers at MSY (AA, DL, NK, UA, WN) on an annual basis.

December Domestic route seat count(% change), pax count(%change), and load factor(change):

Airline.................Seats..............................Pax............................LF
AA..............102,527(-51.7%)............73,233(-57.6%).........71.4%(-12.1%)
AS................11,036(-64.5%)..............5,145(-80.1%).........46.6%(-36.6%)
B6................11,764(-68.3%)..............5,881(-81.2%)..........50.0%(-40.6%)
DL................99,568(-57.2%)............46,143(-76.5%).........46.3%(-45.1%)
F9...................9,120(-68.1%).............6,440(-73.6%).........70.6%(-17.1%)
G4..................5,460(-59.9%).............2,237(-77.0%)..........41.0%(-42.6%)
NK................93,838(-47.0%)...........61,163(-57.7%)..........65.2%(-20.1%)
UA................76,278(-56.2%)...........53,843(-63.2%)..........70.6%(-15.9%)
WN.............203,553(-60.8%).........143,509(-66.3%)..........70.5%(-14.1%)

Annual Domestic route seat count(% change), pax count(%change), and load factor(change):

Airline.................Seats..............................Pax............................LF
AA...........1,486,204(-41.6%)..........964,421(-53.3%).........64.9%(-16.2%)
AS..............166,108(-45.7%)............92,723(-63.4%).........55.8%(-27.0%)
B6..............207,466(-58.3%)...........111,639(-72.3%).........53.8%(-27.2%)
DL...........1,203,427(-55.2%)..........710,151(-68.6%).........59.0%(-25.1%)
F9..............171,424(-58.2%)...........110,077(-67.5%).........64.2%(-18.2%)
G4................78,732(-47.4%)............40,848(-63.0%).........51.9%(-22.0%)
NK...........1,110,921(-47.3%)..........697,426(-58.4%).........62.8%(-16.7%)
SY................18,270(-61.1%)............10,418(-67.5%).........57.0%(-11.1%)
UA..............912,870(-55.2%)..........603,407(-63.8%).........66.1%(-15.7%)
WN..........3,532,940(-43.4%).......1,890,968(-61.4%).........53.5%(-25.0%)

Domestic
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1e36A_kk0WshqQL2vurxQXa5pE9oJ2UV7zPuA1B2s7gQ/edit?usp=sharing

Thanks for the stats! Readers should always keep in mind that these kinds of stats can be distorted when considering the number of seats being flown by each carrier in these metrics — especially when accounting for the disparity in volume between carriers pre-Covid.

NolaMD88fan wrote:

UA has loaded SFO non-stop flights starting in May. Good to see UA back to the same number of pre-pandemic non-stop destinations.

The United schedule has only been updated to May 14. Everything after that is the dummy schedule and may or may not happen. I hope to see the flight back soon though. I miss a Bay Area nonstop.

msycajun wrote:

Exciting news about Silver.

I'd temper that if I were you; this would be the third time they've announced MSY in the post-Katrina era... and as mentioned above, they went as far as to establish infrastructure and employees, only to pull out.

Might not want to get excited until you see a plane parked at the gate.

NolaMD88fan wrote:

DL had the largest passenger and load factor declines at 68.6% and 25.1% among the 5 largest carriers at MSY (AA, DL, NK, UA, WN) on an annual basis.

I'm assuming DL's seat numbers don't account for blocked middle seats. If so, 59% LF for the year is not so bad if full capacity is only 66%.

Silver has MSY-JAX loaded now:
JAX-MSY 11:35a-1:05p
MSY-JAX 1:45p-5:10p
Thursday and Sundays starting June 3

ATR 72-600

msycajun wrote:

Silver has MSY-JAX loaded now:
JAX-MSY 11:35a-1:05p
MSY-JAX 1:45p-5:10p
Thursday and Sundays starting June 3

ATR 72-600

We'll see if it actually happens this time. As stated before, when the plane is at the gate it will be time to celebrate. Fingers crossed.

I've always thought the route has a lot of potential if served with the right aircraft and frequency. 2 weekly seems low to me, but the ATR is a big improvement over the Saabs and is more spacious than most airlines' economy seating, except maybe B6. Hopefully the timing of the launch works out with a big upswing in domestic travel and other airlines being slower to add capacity.

Do they still codeshare with United?

msycajun wrote:

Silver has MSY-JAX loaded now:
JAX-MSY 11:35a-1:05p
MSY-JAX 1:45p-5:10p
Thursday and Sundays starting June 3

ATR 72-600

No way that they're going to open a whole new station for just 2 flights per week, no? It'll be interesting to see an official announcement, as I'm sure they'll announce something else.

That said, this is Silver, so let's see if they ACTUALLY do anything at all.

LAX772LR wrote:

Do they still codeshare with United?

msycajun wrote:

Silver has MSY-JAX loaded now:
JAX-MSY 11:35a-1:05p
MSY-JAX 1:45p-5:10p
Thursday and Sundays starting June 3

ATR 72-600

No way that they're going to open a whole new station for just 2 flights per week, no? It'll be interesting to see an official announcement, as I'm sure they'll announce something else.

That said, this is Silver, so let's see if they ACTUALLY do anything at all.

Press release: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/ ... al-Airport

Only JAX-MSY.

Would love to see MSY-EYW on 3M in the future. WN averaged 72% LF on its former nonstop service. I’d even open up MEM, have same plane service MEM-MSY-EYW. Just thinking outside the box here a bit.

Good to see a new airline at MSY! JAX was a key missing nonstop link. Talk about a long monotonous drive on I-10!

Ishrion wrote:

Only JAX-MSY.

Is it though? Looks like they added FLL-MSY to their map too, and it's still up as of writing this.

Also, Boutique Air just announced New Orleans to ..... Greenville, MS.

On their website, on their routemap, and airport's Twitter just tweeted it out.

Boutique Air should be going out of Lakefront.

QB504 wrote:

Boutique Air should be going out of Lakefront.

If indeed their goal is E.A.S., then it makes sense that they chose MSY, so they can interline their pax with UA to IAH, NYC, WAS, etc.

Agreed on adding Key West. That flight would be popular. Hoping they expand to the previously served GLO destinations.

Boutique is a nice unexpected add.

EYW is probably out of the range of the ATR - 130 miles longer than JAX, which is already 2h25. At 3+ hours it's almost slower than connecting in FLL or MIA. If it needed to hug the coast that could be pushing 700 miles. I'd love to see it, but it needs a jet. Maybe UA would try it, since they've been adding some leisure RJ routes, G4, or who knows maybe WN will give it another try.

The Boutique add is interesting. I wonder if they could make something like SHV or MLU work without subsidies. With 8 or 9 seats, they could offer multiple daily to suit a business schedule.

NolaMD88fan wrote:

Agreed on adding Key West. That flight would be popular.

What were the loads on WN's previous attempt (anyone?)

Obviously, the yields weren't there, sufficiently to counter the opportunity cost for that airline; but then again, they didn't exactly have optimal EQP for it either.

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

"Boutique Air will begin flight operations from Greenville, MS - Greenville Mid-Delta Regional Airport to New Orleans, LA -Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on Thursday, April 22, 2021. The new route will offer one daily round-trip on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Greenville, MS Mayor Erick Simmons is proud to announce this new service for our residents as “We have diligently worked with Boutique Air to launch this service to New Orleans. We believe this is the right route at the right time for our citizens in the Mississippi Delta. Additionally, we believe it will provide a continued pathway to help us with our economic development needs.”

Sam Washington, the Greenville Airport Manager has much to say about this New Orleans service as well,“I am very pleased that Boutique Air has chosen to begin limited service from Greenville, MS to New Orleans, LA. This is a route that I have requested to add since early in my tenure as Airport Director and I am grateful that Boutique Air was willing to work with the City of Greenville to make this a reality for the citizens of the Mississippi Delta.”

Brian Kondrad, Vice President of Business Operations for Boutique Air, added “We are very proud to offer New Orleans to our Greenville passengers. Whether it’s for business or pleasure, we’re happy to provide dedicated service to this exciting new destination,” Kondrad stated.

Boutique Air is a full codeshare partner with United Airlines and has an interline agreement with American Airlines.

“Passengers booking through United Airlines and American Airlines will enjoy seamless connections and baggage transfers when booking on either website of United Airlines or American Airlines,” said Kondrad.

"We are pleased to welcome our newest airline, Boutique Air, to New Orleans," said Kevin Dolliole, Director of Aviation for the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. "Greenville is our first nonstop destination in Mississippi, and we look forward to connecting the rich history of each of our regions."

Fares will start at $79 per person. For the current schedule and to book directly with Boutique Air, please go to www.boutiqueair.com.

i can already book Boutique on United.com and it offers connections onward to Houston and points beyond.

the SIlver Airways route map show MSY-FLL nonstop as well so maybe they are going to add that later. It could augment B6's current service to connect to existing B6 and then their partners such as AD and UA and possibly others

LAX772LR wrote:

NolaMD88fan wrote:

Agreed on adding Key West. That flight would be popular.

What were the loads on WN's previous attempt (anyone?)

Obviously, the yields weren't there, sufficiently to counter the opportunity cost for that airline; but then again, they didn't exactly have optimal EQP for it either.

66% for the entire lifetime of the flight. I believe there was seat blocking occurring due to the short runway length, so that would have made the loads somewhat higher.

RJNUT wrote:

It could augment B6's current service

Seems they only have an FFP relationship with B6.

...I remember they used to codeshare with UA, but do they still. Based on their website, it seems like they're only FFP participants with them now as well. Interline?

LAX772LR wrote:

RJNUT wrote:

It could augment B6's current service

Seems they only have an FFP relationship with B6.

...I remember they used to codeshare with UA, but do they still. Based on their website, it seems like they're only FFP participants with them now as well. Interline?

probably just reduced to interline only , it appears, these days on both B6 and UA but still significant connectivity, esp. to Bahamas

3M adding MSY-FLL/TPA seems possible, but they'd also have a lot of competition. If 3M wanted to go outside of Florida from MSY, routes like MSY-BHM/MEM/JAN/LIT could be on the table. If 3M were to return to RSW, MSY-RSW seems like it could have potential.

N292UX wrote:

3M adding MSY-FLL/TPA seems possible, but they'd also have a lot of competition. If 3M wanted to go outside of Florida from MSY, routes like MSY-BHM/MEM/JAN/LIT could be on the table. If 3M were to return to RSW, MSY-RSW seems like it could have potential.

Where is the best source to view PDEW between MSY>RSW?

bretonrlong wrote:

N292UX wrote:

3M adding MSY-FLL/TPA seems possible, but they'd also have a lot of competition. If 3M wanted to go outside of Florida from MSY, routes like MSY-BHM/MEM/JAN/LIT could be on the table. If 3M were to return to RSW, MSY-RSW seems like it could have potential.

Where is the best source to view PDEW between MSY>RSW?

Was out of town the last few days seeing family (first flights this year), so sorry for the delay. RSW averaged 40 PDEW in 2019. It is the 67th largest market out of MSY.

LAX772LR wrote:

Ishrion wrote:

Only JAX-MSY.

Is it though? Looks like they added FLL-MSY to their map too, and it's still up as of writing this.

They've removed it. They've also opened reservations for MSY-JAX-FLL.

N292UX wrote:

3M adding MSY-FLL/TPA seems possible, but they'd also have a lot of competition. If 3M wanted to go outside of Florida from MSY, routes like MSY-BHM/MEM/JAN/LIT could be on the table. If 3M were to return to RSW, MSY-RSW seems like it could have potential.

The drive from New Orleans to Jackson is 2 hours and 40 minutes. I can’t imagine any commercial flight would grab much of the local market.

Propeller service between New Orleans and Jackson will offer absolutely no advantage over driving. Once you take into consideration the time it takes to get from the exit off of I-10 to the actual seat in the plane, the flight time to Jackson, and the time it takes to put yourself in the seat of a rental car, you will have paid more, and gotten there later than if you had just driven there directly from the greater New Orleans Area. A regional jet might have made sense from a time POV, but, I don't think that it would have been cost competitive and would only shave about 30 minutes at best from the trip.

ATLgaUSA wrote:

N292UX wrote:

3M adding MSY-FLL/TPA seems possible, but they'd also have a lot of competition. If 3M wanted to go outside of Florida from MSY, routes like MSY-BHM/MEM/JAN/LIT could be on the table. If 3M were to return to RSW, MSY-RSW seems like it could have potential.

The drive from New Orleans to Jackson is 2 hours and 40 minutes. I can’t imagine any commercial flight would grab much of the local market.

Yeah, most everyone drives that, very easy
... and those who don’t take Amtrak.

MEM/BHM are probably getting to the distance where people would rather fly if there was a decently priced nonstop option. Cities like JAN, PNS, LFT etc are just too close.

SunsetLimited wrote:

ATLgaUSA wrote:

N292UX wrote:

3M adding MSY-FLL/TPA seems possible, but they'd also have a lot of competition. If 3M wanted to go outside of Florida from MSY, routes like MSY-BHM/MEM/JAN/LIT could be on the table. If 3M were to return to RSW, MSY-RSW seems like it could have potential.

The drive from New Orleans to Jackson is 2 hours and 40 minutes. I can’t imagine any commercial flight would grab much of the local market.

Yeah, most everyone drives that, very easy
... and those who don’t take Amtrak.

MEM/BHM are probably getting to the distance where people would rather fly if there was a decently priced nonstop option. Cities like JAN, PNS, LFT etc are just too close.

Given the number of flights WN used to operate on BHM-MSY, I'm shocked there isn't anyone in the market with at least two daily flights. Silver announced it, but never showed up.

ATLgaUSA wrote:

Given the number of flights WN used to operate on BHM-MSY, I'm shocked there isn't anyone in the market with at least two daily flights. Silver announced it, but never showed up.

While there was some O&D traffic on WN BHM-MSY flights prior to WN dropping BHM-MSY nonstop service, there is less need for WN to serve MSY nonstop from BHM with
(a) the repeal of the Wright Amendment,
(b) demand being significantly down due to the COVID-19 pandemic (and not solely due to the significant drop in demand subsequent to WN dropping BHM-MSY nonstop service),
(c) WN recently adding BHM-DEN nonstop service, and
(d) WN being able to connect passengers from BHM through MDW, DAL, DEN, HOU, or LAS.

ATLgaUSA wrote:

Given the number of flights WN used to operate on BHM-MSY,

That was mostly attributable to the Wright Amendment, same for MSY-JAX on them.

jplatts wrote:

ATLgaUSA wrote:

Given the number of flights WN used to operate on BHM-MSY, I'm shocked there isn't anyone in the market with at least two daily flights. Silver announced it, but never showed up.

While there was some O&D traffic on WN BHM-MSY flights prior to WN dropping BHM-MSY nonstop service, there is less need for WN to serve MSY nonstop from BHM with
(a) the repeal of the Wright Amendment,
(b) demand being significantly down due to the COVID-19 pandemic (and not solely due to the significant drop in demand subsequent to WN dropping BHM-MSY nonstop service),
(c) WN recently adding BHM-DEN nonstop service, and
(d) WN being able to connect passengers from BHM through MDW, DAL, DEN, HOU, or LAS.

He didn't say WN needs to serve MSY-BHM. He said "anyone" - meaning Silver, etc.

BHM-MSY on WN doesn't seem super likely. Silver seems much more appropriate for the route with ATRs as they could probably get 2x, maybe 3x daily flights versus WN who would likely have 1 daily flight at best. Same goes for MSY-MEM, as ATRs are probably much better suited for those routes.

DL updated its June schedule. MSY-ATL will see 7 757s. And the morning LAX flt gets an A321. Overall they’ll be at 19/day, which is a few more than what they are running now. It will be great to see the 757s return.

Good to see all of the airlines adding back capacity for the Summer.

I’m shocked DL is back up to 5x daily SEA-JFK, including an A339.

Actually a lot of widebodies going into SEA. 2x HNL, 3x ATL.

New York airports finally posted data, so here is a listing of the 50 busiest airports in the lower 48 states in 2020. Despite the pandemic, MSY maintained it's position in the 37th spot. RSW was the best performer with a 41.5% drop in passenger traffic. LGA was the worst performer with a 73.48% drop in traffic.

AA's big hubs at CLT and DFW both did relatively well compared to other legacy hubs with declines below 50%. This makes sense as AA was the most aggressive airline in terms of capacity last year.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HrnkCbB6R-FfCiciYiKQ7ElFyLZwhKYcmG3BNK23G4E/edit?usp=sharing

Good to see upgauging - it's no surprise there's strong demand to LAX with domestic travel and the local film industry picking up. UA should seize the opportunity to get back into the MSY-LAX market now that AA is gone and DL is only 2 daily. Even NK is adding a second flight 4x weekly. But I know they don't like overflying hubs...

It will be interesting to see how WN's network evolves in the next year or so. I was surprised to see that MSY passed OAK in 2019 passengers and is closing in on HOU. They seem to be planning on 55 or so departures this summer and fall, compared to 60-65 right before the pandemic. There are still some missing routes such as SAN and OAK that a more nimble airline could probably make some money on. With WN adding IAH and reducing HOU, it will be interesting to see if NK and others can find an opening to serve more international and west coast routes nonstop.

msycajun wrote:

It will be interesting to see how WN's network evolves in the next year or so. I was surprised to see that MSY passed OAK in 2019 passengers and is closing in on HOU. They seem to be planning on 55 or so departures this summer and fall, compared to 60-65 right before the pandemic. There are still some missing routes such as SAN and OAK that a more nimble airline could probably make some money on. With WN adding IAH and reducing HOU, it will be interesting to see if NK and others can find an opening to serve more international and west coast routes nonstop.

WN could add extra daily nonstops to LAS and PHX from MSY once demand recovers with the connections that WN would be able to offer to LAS and PHX.

I had also previously mentioned WN adding MSY-MIA nonstop service being a possibility with MSY being one of the top destinations traveled to from FLL on WN prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

I agree that NK adding MSY-OAK/SAN nonstop service are possibilities. There are also a few more adds to domestic destinations not on the West Coast that could be made by NK out of MSY such as MSY-CLT/IND/MKE.

I had also mentioned NK adding MSY-LGA nonstop service as a possibility if NK acquires extra slots at LGA.

NolaMD88fan wrote:

New York airports finally posted data, so here is a listing of the 50 busiest airports in the lower 48 states in 2020. Despite the pandemic, MSY maintained it's position in the 37th spot. RSW was the best performer with a 41.5% drop in passenger traffic. LGA was the worst performer with a 73.48% drop in traffic.

AA's big hubs at CLT and DFW both did relatively well compared to other legacy hubs with declines below 50%. This makes sense as AA was the most aggressive airline in terms of capacity last year.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HrnkCbB6R-FfCiciYiKQ7ElFyLZwhKYcmG3BNK23G4E/edit?usp=sharing

I didn't expect the Florida airports to have such a big drop. It seems like leisure travel to Florida was the one shining spot in the industry.