Welcome to the Fresno Aviation Thread 2021. Please continue to post your news and your discussion here.

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Fresno Aviation Thread - 2020

FAT reports that passenger counts this week are running at 70% of the numbers seen in the last week of 2019. It is the busiest week since early March.
https://abc30.com/travel/fresno-airport-sees-busiest-week-since-pandemic-began/9241390/

Quite a recovery compared to other airports, I've heard that SFO and LAX are only about 30%-40% of their 2019 holiday traffic.

FATFlyer wrote:

FAT reports that passenger counts this week are running at 70% of the numbers seen in the last week of 2019. It is the busiest week since early March.
https://abc30.com/travel/fresno-airport-sees-busiest-week-since-pandemic-began/9241390/

Quite a recovery compared to other airports, I've heard that SFO and LAX are only about 30%-40% of their 2019 holiday traffic.

It would be interesting to see how Mexico is contributing to the recovery. If anything, late nights seem more crowded than ever. Y4’s new schedule of 12:35 for BJX, MLM, and MEX and 2:12, and 3:40 for GDL is certainly distanced from AM. We can hope for a daytime flight to GDL in 2021.

whatusaid wrote:

It would be interesting to see how Mexico is contributing to the recovery. If anything, late nights seem more crowded than ever. Y4’s new schedule of 12:35 for BJX, MLM, and MEX and 2:12, and 3:40 for GDL is certainly distanced from AM. We can hope for a daytime flight to GDL in 2021.

The most recent numbers I've seen are for October. That month domestic traffic was about 55% of October 2019 but international was about 75% of October 2019.

If Customs started operating a shift for a daytime GDL, I could see someone considering a daytime SJD flight also.

FATFlyer wrote:

If Customs started operating a shift for a daytime GDL, I could see someone considering a daytime SJD flight also.

Any updates on POE status for FAT? Seems like int'l traffic is high enough (definitely on par with some airports that already have POE).

What time does customs start? A round trip to SJD that left around 1pm would return around 8pm.

I wonder if Y4 would ever try operating to vacation markets like SJD. They have traditionally stayed away from that type of flying, but other than maybe AS, they seem like the only candidate until after WN really gets going at FAT. Y4 would definitely need to change how they market, I would imagine GDL and SJD are two mostly different target audiences.

I have not heard anything recently about making a change from User Fee to Landing Rights or International Airport status. Without digging around in regulations, I wonder if there are requirements that still need to be met such as a FIS facilities standard. Maybe we will hear more as the new concourse/FIS project nears completion.

I don't know the Customs schedule, it may be a straight shift or staggered work times. But I would guess that a commercial flight shift staffing would normally end about 2 hours after the last arrival to minimize overtime needs. That would mean an end around 4am based on current schedules. An 8pm arrival from SJD would be feasible assuming an airline has equipment available to make that turn.

Volaris has stayed away from the US to Mexico resort market so far. Their scheduled service at SJD, CUN, etc consists of flights from cities in Mexico. Pursuing general US tourists instead of VFR would require a different approach on US to resort routes.

But 2021 will be an experimenting year for airlines for new routes and revenue. Most SJD flights are from hub/focus cities. But AS, AA, and WN have been operating from non-hubs. F9 is sticking its toe in to SJD. Who knows, maybe SunCountry might even consider a MSP-FAT-SJD-FAT-MSP.

Southwest has update the system map on the media site to show FAT and SBA.
https://www.swamedia.com/pages/southwest-system-map

But as of tonight the consumer site map has not been updated. Probably waiting for the route announcements.
https://www.southwest.com/flight/routemap_dyn.html

AS has a Q400 on PDX this month. Gate 6 finally gets a little use.

I think it's a bit funny that UA has priced their flights to DEN to compete with F9 *only* on the days F9 is operating theirs. Starting March 8th, F9 will be 4X per week to DEN, on Mo We Fr Sa. UA has priced their FAT-DEN flights at $75-$85 one-way, but only on Mo We Fr Sa. If you want to travel any other days of the week, the fare is $240 one-way. This only lasts into April, when UA's fares skyrocket. I'm guessing that will change.

Interestingly enough, F9's DEN goes mid-day in April, but only 2X per week. Hopefully business will pick up and they will keep the 4X per week into Summer.

I could see WN possibly adding 1 DEN-FAT when announced... that might help pricing a bit... fingers crossed

flyfresno wrote:

I think it's a bit funny that UA has priced their flights to DEN to compete with F9 *only* on the days F9 is operating theirs. Starting March 8th, F9 will be 4X per week to DEN, on Mo We Fr Sa. UA has priced their FAT-DEN flights at $75-$85 one-way, but only on Mo We Fr Sa. If you want to travel any other days of the week, the fare is $240 one-way. This only lasts into April, when UA's fares skyrocket. I'm guessing that will change.

Interestingly enough, F9's DEN goes mid-day in April, but only 2X per week. Hopefully business will pick up and they will keep the 4X per week into Summer.

WN is starting with 1x DEN and 3x LAS on 4/25.

I would've thought a Bay area airport would've been added for a connection to Hawaii.

pmanni1 wrote:

I would've thought a Bay area airport would've been added for a connection to Hawaii.

I wouldn't discount that in the future when things get better with Covid. They don't even serve PHX from there yet, which was a surprise to me.

I am surprised that there is no OAK, PHX or SAN initially. I would have expected one or more of those also.

Also surprised that SBA starts with a slightly larger schedule. I know they expect some Ventura County pax to switch from BUR. But FAT currently handles 2X the passengers of SBA. I would have thought the schedules would be the same or FAT with 1 or 2 more than SBA.

The April date is also a surprise. I expected a May start given IAH already was an April start date.

FATFlyer wrote:

I am surprised that there is no OAK, PHX or SAN initially. I would have expected one or more of those also.

Also surprised that SBA starts with a slightly larger schedule. I know they expect some Ventura County pax to switch from BUR. But FAT currently handles 2X the passengers of SBA. I would have thought the schedules would be the same or FAT with 1 or 2 more than SBA.

The April date is also a surprise. I expected a May start given IAH already was an April start date.

Agreed on being surprised that SBA starts with more. WN is clearly punting traffic from FAT headed to states boarding the Pacific, including Hawaii, at least for now.

flyfresno wrote:

FATFlyer wrote:

I am surprised that there is no OAK, PHX or SAN initially. I would have expected one or more of those also.

Also surprised that SBA starts with a slightly larger schedule. I know they expect some Ventura County pax to switch from BUR. But FAT currently handles 2X the passengers of SBA. I would have thought the schedules would be the same or FAT with 1 or 2 more than SBA.

The April date is also a surprise. I expected a May start given IAH already was an April start date.

Agreed on being surprised that SBA starts with more. WN is clearly punting traffic from FAT headed to states boarding the Pacific, including Hawaii, at least for now.

Booked my first FAT trips today - ONT and LGB for $76. Three hours isn’t a bad trip time. Considering it’s an every week trip for me, WN just made my life much easier.

I view FAT’s schedule as “safe” whereas, SBA hasn’t done well on O&D to LAS. All things Covid related, it’s a decent launch for both markets.

whatusaid wrote:

flyfresno wrote:

FATFlyer wrote:

I am surprised that there is no OAK, PHX or SAN initially. I would have expected one or more of those also.

Also surprised that SBA starts with a slightly larger schedule. I know they expect some Ventura County pax to switch from BUR. But FAT currently handles 2X the passengers of SBA. I would have thought the schedules would be the same or FAT with 1 or 2 more than SBA.

The April date is also a surprise. I expected a May start given IAH already was an April start date.

Agreed on being surprised that SBA starts with more. WN is clearly punting traffic from FAT headed to states boarding the Pacific, including Hawaii, at least for now.

Booked my first FAT trips today - ONT and LGB for $76. Three hours isn’t a bad trip time. Considering it’s an every week trip for me, WN just made my life much easier.

I view FAT’s schedule as “safe” whereas, SBA hasn’t done well on O&D to LAS. All things Covid related, it’s a decent launch for both markets.

Me too. I am booked on AUS-LAS-FAT for the first arrival on the 25th.

whatusaid wrote:

flyfresno wrote:

FATFlyer wrote:

I am surprised that there is no OAK, PHX or SAN initially. I would have expected one or more of those also.

Also surprised that SBA starts with a slightly larger schedule. I know they expect some Ventura County pax to switch from BUR. But FAT currently handles 2X the passengers of SBA. I would have thought the schedules would be the same or FAT with 1 or 2 more than SBA.

The April date is also a surprise. I expected a May start given IAH already was an April start date.

Agreed on being surprised that SBA starts with more. WN is clearly punting traffic from FAT headed to states boarding the Pacific, including Hawaii, at least for now.

Booked my first FAT trips today - ONT and LGB for $76. Three hours isn’t a bad trip time. Considering it’s an every week trip for me, WN just made my life much easier.

I view FAT’s schedule as “safe” whereas, SBA hasn’t done well on O&D to LAS. All things Covid related, it’s a decent launch for both markets.

Unlike since the days of when America West had a HUB in LAS most recent LAS service was solely reliant on Just the SBA-LAS or FAT-LAS point to point feed without any connections on Allegiant. Southwest along with the Daily DEN flights feeds 50 additional connections via LAS from SBA. So it's going to be a huge part of traffic feed for
Both SBA and FAT.

Flyguy

flyfresno wrote:

Agreed on being surprised that SBA starts with more. WN is clearly punting traffic from FAT headed to states boarding the Pacific, including Hawaii, at least for now.

I can understand WN adding SBA-OAK but not FAT-OAK with SBA-OAK being 263 miles compared to FAT-OAK being only 153 miles. There are also some WN nonstop routes shorter than SBA-OAK that had a significant amount of O&D traffic prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, including DAL-AUS/HOU/SAT and LAS-BUR/LAX/ONT/SNA/PHX. PDEW's and O&D demand are also significantly down on shorter distance routes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Demand to Hawaii is also significantly down during the COVID-19 pandemic.

AS also still serves both SEA and PDX nonstop from FAT, and many of those traveling to FAT from Greater Seattle or Greater Portland would choose AS nonstop flights over connecting options through the San Francisco Bay Area.

iflykpdx wrote:

WN732 wrote:

Me too. I am booked on AUS-LAS-FAT for the first arrival on the 25th.

Did you have to do this with a Multi-City itinerary or did it allow for a connection?

Allows for straight forward connections. The first departures to Fresno don't leave until almost mid morning.

whatusaid wrote:

flyfresno wrote:

FATFlyer wrote:

I am surprised that there is no OAK, PHX or SAN initially. I would have expected one or more of those also.

Also surprised that SBA starts with a slightly larger schedule. I know they expect some Ventura County pax to switch from BUR. But FAT currently handles 2X the passengers of SBA. I would have thought the schedules would be the same or FAT with 1 or 2 more than SBA.

The April date is also a surprise. I expected a May start given IAH already was an April start date.

Agreed on being surprised that SBA starts with more. WN is clearly punting traffic from FAT headed to states boarding the Pacific, including Hawaii, at least for now.

Booked my first FAT trips today - ONT and LGB for $76. Three hours isn’t a bad trip time. Considering it’s an every week trip for me, WN just made my life much easier.

I view FAT’s schedule as “safe” whereas, SBA hasn’t done well on O&D to LAS. All things Covid related, it’s a decent launch for both markets.

Booked a FAT-LAS-FAT roundtrip on the 25th to see what all the WN hype is about! Excited to be on the first outbound flight from FAT.

I just tried booking FAT-MEM roundtrip. The FAT-MEM is bookable only on Saturdays with zero MEM-FAT flights available. I can piecemeal it with a MEM/HOU/DEN then DEN/LAS/FAT with roughly 2 hours in both HOU and LAS and 50 minutes in DEN. Hopeful there will be a better schedule once things get going. Right now its easier to just make the drive to LAX and take the nonstop G4 LAX-MEM because of the frequent $49 fares

Take it for what's it worth but sounds like Both FAT and SBA may be getting an additional DEN flight in the Summertime.
Sound like because of the covid Spike impacting All of Californian right now. WN made it the last minute decision to scale down the spring start up schedule.

Flyguy

A day later, it appears that WN's fares have been matched on both DEN and LAS. G4 has some $33 deals, but not on Thur/Fri.

Looking back at Oct numbers from the DOT report, FAT had a pretty healthy month, with a 67.9% LF on all flights (AS to LAX is a dog though). I'd assume we are continuing to bounce back at a pace well above most California airports. Again, in October, F9 was at 71% and G4 at 76%. But, can that continue? F9 hasn't posted their Spring or Summer schedule, unless that 2X a week is true. Hard to be competitive at that frequency. And, while maybe Thur/Friday will support 700+ seats to LAS, I doubt that to be true most days. I'd expected F9 to open LAS, but now, what's left for them? As to G4, people remember back in the Mad-dog days when nothing was on-time and how they screwed up HNL. This is going to be interesting and perhaps not as positive for the other carriers as FAT management is promoting. My guess is that F9 blinks first and G4 will simply adjust their schedule to meet their financial model. UA - doubt they will move on anything as it's pretty hard to not fill up a 50 pax CRJ when you're that established in the market.

whatusaid wrote:

A day later, it appears that WN's fares have been matched on both DEN and LAS. G4 has some $33 deals, but not on Thur/Fri.

Looking back at Oct numbers from the DOT report, FAT had a pretty healthy month, with a 67.9% LF on all flights (AS to LAX is a dog though). I'd assume we are continuing to bounce back at a pace well above most California airports. Again, in October, F9 was at 71% and G4 at 76%. But, can that continue? F9 hasn't posted their Spring or Summer schedule, unless that 2X a week is true. Hard to be competitive at that frequency. And, while maybe Thur/Friday will support 700+ seats to LAS, I doubt that to be true most days. I'd expected F9 to open LAS, but now, what's left for them? As to G4, people remember back in the Mad-dog days when nothing was on-time and how they screwed up HNL. This is going to be interesting and perhaps not as positive for the other carriers as FAT management is promoting. My guess is that F9 blinks first and G4 will simply adjust their schedule to meet their financial model. UA - doubt they will move on anything as it's pretty hard to not fill up a 50 pax CRJ when you're that established in the market.

I would tend to agree with you. I would not be surprised to see G4 permanently go to just 2-3X per week in the slower periods, and 4X in the busy periods. I also would not be surprised to see F9 bow out completely. United, on the other hand, might be tempted into more capacity, maybe a return to mainline. We will see...

tzfalax wrote:

I just tried booking FAT-MEM roundtrip. The FAT-MEM is bookable only on Saturdays with zero MEM-FAT flights available. I can piecemeal it with a MEM/HOU/DEN then DEN/LAS/FAT with roughly 2 hours in both HOU and LAS and 50 minutes in DEN. Hopeful there will be a better schedule once things get going. Right now its easier to just make the drive to LAX and take the nonstop G4 LAX-MEM because of the frequent $49 fares

Getting to and from many of WN's midsized and smaller stations in the Midwest and East from FAT is fairly inconvenient right now. Quite a few only have one option (FLL and MSP are just two examples of that). Hopefully that improves (Could they offer more two-stop options? Will a second DEN flight improve connections?)

flyfresno wrote:

tzfalax wrote:

I just tried booking FAT-MEM roundtrip. The FAT-MEM is bookable only on Saturdays with zero MEM-FAT flights available. I can piecemeal it with a MEM/HOU/DEN then DEN/LAS/FAT with roughly 2 hours in both HOU and LAS and 50 minutes in DEN. Hopeful there will be a better schedule once things get going. Right now its easier to just make the drive to LAX and take the nonstop G4 LAX-MEM because of the frequent $49 fares

Getting to and from many of WN's midsized and smaller stations in the Midwest and East from FAT is fairly inconvenient right now. Quite a few only have one option (FLL and MSP are just two examples of that). Hopefully that improves (Could they offer more two-stop options? Will a second DEN flight improve connections?)

Yes absolutely, an early AM DEN flight in addition to the noonish flight would open up a bunch of options out east. Plus a lot more would be available if there was a late arrival from DEN. That would require two aircraft to RON though.

I was hoping they would pick Houston. Brand new destination that is currently unserved, offering o&d and connections. Maybe it was too far and too risky.

wnflyguy wrote:

Take it for what's it worth but sounds like Both FAT and SBA may be getting an additional DEN flight in the Summertime.
Sound like because of the covid Spike impacting All of Californian right now. WN made it the last minute decision to scale down the spring start up schedule.

Flyguy

Very possible. During the virtual media conference, both the Fresno Director of Aviation and the Fresno Mayor emphasized that this was an "initial" schedule. It didn't sound like they were talking about frequencies/routes added in a couple years. More like it was something they were already expecting soon.

whatusaid wrote:

A day later, it appears that WN's fares have been matched on both DEN and LAS. G4 has some $33 deals, but not on Thur/Fri.

Looking back at Oct numbers from the DOT report, FAT had a pretty healthy month, with a 67.9% LF on all flights (AS to LAX is a dog though). I'd assume we are continuing to bounce back at a pace well above most California airports. Again, in October, F9 was at 71% and G4 at 76%. But, can that continue? F9 hasn't posted their Spring or Summer schedule, unless that 2X a week is true. Hard to be competitive at that frequency. And, while maybe Thur/Friday will support 700+ seats to LAS, I doubt that to be true most days. I'd expected F9 to open LAS, but now, what's left for them? As to G4, people remember back in the Mad-dog days when nothing was on-time and how they screwed up HNL. This is going to be interesting and perhaps not as positive for the other carriers as FAT management is promoting. My guess is that F9 blinks first and G4 will simply adjust their schedule to meet their financial model. UA - doubt they will move on anything as it's pretty hard to not fill up a 50 pax CRJ when you're that established in the market.

The airport indicates that December 2020 was about 60% of December 2019. The December numbers I have been seeing out of SMF, ONT, etc. so far have been 40% or lower of the December 2019 numbers. If the Fresno numbers I am hearing are accurate then FAT is still recovering faster than others in California.

I expect G4 will simply cut frequencies down to what makes sense to them on the numbers side. I do not expect them to fully pull out. I know they have some locals invested in their travel credit card and that should keep some traffic loyal.

Frontier is the unknown. If anyone pulled out it might be them. On the other hand, with the planned fleet growth maybe they would look at shifting to a different route. Maybe a FAT-SJD-DEN to give the FAT-SJD route many want. Even the Mayor mentioned SJD as a route locals want during the virtual media conference this week.

I laughed at the "Bernie under FAT's sequoia trees" meme.
https://twitter.com/FresnoAirport/status/1352785915802865664

I've said before, the FAT social media presence the last few years is much improved. Kudos to the marketing team.

It looks like Fresno Chandler (FCH) might be renamed. I always liked the simplicity of "Fresno Executive Airport" or even "Fresno Downtown Executive Airport."

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/ar ... 62580.html

flyfresno wrote:

It looks like Fresno Chandler (FCH) might be renamed. I always liked the simplicity of "Fresno Executive Airport" or even "Fresno Downtown Executive Airport."

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/ar ... 62580.html

It is a downtown airport and the name is appropriate. I remember back in the Air 21 era that their route planning guy, Ed Barth, was throwing out the idea of flying out of Chandler instead of FAT. (I could make a comment here as to why Air 21 failed)...

The terminal is worth a stop just to imagine boarding a Tri-motor or DC3....

whatusaid wrote:

flyfresno wrote:

It looks like Fresno Chandler (FCH) might be renamed. I always liked the simplicity of "Fresno Executive Airport" or even "Fresno Downtown Executive Airport."

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/ar ... 62580.html

It is a downtown airport and the name is appropriate. I remember back in the Air 21 era that their route planning guy, Ed Barth, was throwing out the idea of flying out of Chandler instead of FAT. (I could make a comment here as to why Air 21 failed)...

The terminal is worth a stop just to imagine boarding a Tri-motor or DC3....

A few years back I did just that very thing at Chandler.

whatusaid wrote:

flyfresno wrote:

It looks like Fresno Chandler (FCH) might be renamed. I always liked the simplicity of "Fresno Executive Airport" or even "Fresno Downtown Executive Airport."

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/ar ... 62580.html

It is a downtown airport and the name is appropriate. I remember back in the Air 21 era that their route planning guy, Ed Barth, was throwing out the idea of flying out of Chandler instead of FAT. (I could make a comment here as to why Air 21 failed)...

The terminal is worth a stop just to imagine boarding a Tri-motor or DC3....

It's sort of a bummer that they have not prioritized extending the runway to 4,000 feet. There's the obvious issue of the homes off of the 30 approach end (related to increased noise), but there's plenty of room off of the 12 end to go to 4,000 (it might also be nice to have an approach with lower minimums...FCH will probably never have an ILS, but reducing the RNAV 12 minimums to 1/2 mile would be a nice improvement). Doing so would make the runway safer for some small jets, which could in turn help the airport keep an FBO (they have had issues over the years with FBO stability). If growth continues at FAT, moving as much light aircraft traffic over to FCH as possible and keeping FAT for airlines, cargo, military, fire fighting, and larger biz jets seems like a good plan.

Also, the terminal, like you all said, is pretty nice.

From last night's AS March 18 schedule load: FAT adds a second to LAX (QX 175). PDX goes to a Q. SAN remains 1X and not 4X as planned. And, we've lost mainline for another month, SEA remains 3X 175s. In the end, seven flights a day for three gates. Hard to understand why LAX gets an add.

whatusaid wrote:

From last night's AS March 18 schedule load: FAT adds a second to LAX (QX 175). PDX goes to a Q. SAN remains 1X and not 4X as planned. And, we've lost mainline for another month, SEA remains 3X 175s. In the end, seven flights a day for three gates. Hard to understand why LAX gets an add.

FAT-PDX has actually been operated by a QX dash-8 since January 6th: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/QXE ... /KFAT/KPDX

FAT-PDX, SMF-PDX and BIL-PDX are currently AS's longest QX dash-8 routes.

AC4500 wrote:

FAT-PDX, SMF-PDX and BIL-PDX are currently AS's longest QX dash-8 routes.

Haha every time SMF thinks it has gotten rid of the Dash to PDX, back it comes!

flyfresno wrote:

AC4500 wrote:

FAT-PDX, SMF-PDX and BIL-PDX are currently AS's longest QX dash-8 routes.

Haha every time SMF thinks it has gotten rid of the Dash to PDX, back it comes!

The Q400 was also recently flown SEA-SMF once or twice a day. I was booked on one but canceled the trip.

whatusaid wrote:

From last night's AS March 18 schedule load: FAT adds a second to LAX (QX 175). PDX goes to a Q. SAN remains 1X and not 4X as planned. And, we've lost mainline for another month, SEA remains 3X 175s. In the end, seven flights a day for three gates. Hard to understand why LAX gets an add.

Yeah, I'm sorry to see that SAN is not regaining ground (yet) and am stumped as to why LAX earned another r/t.

I'll breath a big sigh of relief when a 2nd SAN-FAT trip appears on the schedule.

bb

Didn't think I would be seeing the DH4 stick in FAT, but I guess that with QX now flying the E7W out of ANC and other OO/QX E7Ws doing more normally mainline routes, it'll be like this for a while until AS mainline starts bringing back airplanes. That being said, at least AS's traffic mix in FAT is a little bit more diverse now.

I think AS had originally intended FAT-LAX to be 2x daily and now they're starting that after postponing it for the earlier reduction in travel.

Today's OAG thread shows Allegiant returning to its 12X weekly schedule on FAT-LAS (2X most days).

G4 FAT-LAS MAR 0.8>1.7[0.8] APR 1.2>1.6[1.8] MAY 1.1>1.7[1.7] JUN 1.2>1.7[0] JUL 1.3>1.7[0.8] AUG 0.5>0.9[1.6]

It looks like their current choice is to stay at their normal full schedule and compete with WN.

Looking at FAT-LAS fares this morning, WN currently ranges from $50 to $149 ow depending upon the day. Allegiant is currently showing base fares of $33 to $52 ow before fees.

jonair8 wrote:

Didn't think I would be seeing the DH4 stick in FAT, but I guess that with QX now flying the E7W out of ANC and other OO/QX E7Ws doing more normally mainline routes, it'll be like this for a while until AS mainline starts bringing back airplanes. That being said, at least AS's traffic mix in FAT is a little bit more diverse now.

I think AS had originally intended FAT-LAX to be 2x daily and now they're starting that after postponing it for the earlier reduction in travel.

You might be seeing more DH4s in FAT due to maintance on the E175 with at least a couple rotating through Nashville for heavy maintenance. There is probably more slack in the DH4 fleet, even with a couple rotating through Sault Ste. Marie for maintenance than in the 175 fleet.

FATFlyer wrote:

Today's OAG thread shows Allegiant returning to its 12X weekly schedule on FAT-LAS (2X most days).

G4 FAT-LAS MAR 0.8>1.7[0.8] APR 1.2>1.6[1.8] MAY 1.1>1.7[1.7] JUN 1.2>1.7[0] JUL 1.3>1.7[0.8] AUG 0.5>0.9[1.6]

It looks like their current choice is to stay at their normal full schedule and compete with WN.

Looking at FAT-LAS fares this morning, WN currently ranges from $50 to $149 ow depending upon the day. Allegiant is currently showing base fares of $33 to $52 ow before fees.

Looks like we are about to find out:

1) Are people really so fed up with Allegiant that a significant portion of the LAS traffic will swap to WN?
-and-
2) Will people see through Allegiant's "ULC" business model and add in the price of bags (and any other extras they plan to take advantage of on WN) to G4's fares to be able to compare apples to apples?

Of course, the massive difference in connecting passengers (0% compared to probably 50%) between the two complicates that...

FAT is receiving some nice coverage in a new article publishing this week in a national online business magazine.
https://businessviewmagazine.com/fresno-yosemite-international-airport-expanding-forward-faster/

Some quotes from the article:

Since coming out of the Great Recession in 2010, the airport has grown 67 percent. What’s more, every time the aviation industry suffers a setback, Fresno Yosemite International bounces back before its peers. After Sept. 11, 2001, the airport recovered back to its pre-9/11 activity level twice as fast as the national average. After the Great Recession, the airport again recovered twice as fast as the national average.

Activity fell off when the pandemic hit in late March and early April 2020 but started coming back in May. That growth has continued and the airport is once again recovering twice as fast as the national average. Meikle reports, “We’re hitting days where we’re over 70 percent of what we were last year at the same time. Where some other airports are still down at 20, and 25 and 30 percent, for some reason this region of California seems to have bounced back

people will drive in from quite a distance that you wouldn’t normally take an Uber or Lyft on. And so the parking rate at this airport hovers around 50 percent, meaning 50 percent of the passengers who fly out of our airport use the parking lot. Normally for an airport our size, it’s about 37 or 38 percent use the parking lot

Now, the airport consistently hovers at about number three in the U.S. for passengers heading to the Guadalajara/western Mexico region.

With AA announcing RNO-CLT (in an A319), I wonder if FAT might be in store for that route in the next few years as well. RNO has a bit more service than FAT on AA (notably ORD, up to 3X daily), but RNO-DFW and RNO-PHX is nearly identical to FAT-DFW and FAT-PHX, and with all the growth at CLT, could FAT be on AA's "radar" during the next few rounds of CLT expansion?

flyfresno wrote:

With AA announcing RNO-CLT (in an A319), I wonder if FAT might be in store for that route in the next few years as well. RNO has a bit more service than FAT on AA (notably ORD, up to 3X daily), but RNO-DFW and RNO-PHX is nearly identical to FAT-DFW and FAT-PHX, and with all the growth at CLT, could FAT be on AA's "radar" during the next few rounds of CLT expansion?

Possible. I do think FAT will gain another route to east of the Rockies soon. But I wonder if AA would decide to start FAT-CLT before DL starts FAT-ATL. I believe Fresno is the largest or second largest US airport not served by DL from ATL. AA still has a number of larger airports not served from CLT.

The airport posted pictures on Facebook last week of the parking garage construction progress.
http://www.facebook.com/FresnoYosemiteI ... 9335473039

If I am reading the construction contract project schedule correctly, they are weeks ahead of schedule. The contract presented to the Council said Level 2 construction would be between February 24 and March 14. Most of the Level 2 floor is already poured.

One good benefit to this winter's low rainfall total so far.