Albuquerque / Santa Fe Aviation Thread - 2022

BuzzmeSTL · Fri Apr 15, 2022 4:20 pm

kabq737 wrote:
Chuska wrote:
Allegiant has now wiped out their entire schedule at ABQ. AUS has been done since Apr04 and the last flight to LAS will be May02.

Unfortunately I’m not shocked. I’ve never seen those flights with a lot of passengers boarding while at the airport.

Was Allegiant receiving any incentives for starting service? Any chance this ending of service could be tied to incentives ending?

With only 2 destinations, and both served by other airlines...it was just a matter of time.

ginervra · Tue May 03, 2022 9:22 pm

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news ... ed-flights

According to this, KABQ and KSAF may be getting scheduled P2012 service to KLRU starting in 2023.

GeeBeeRacer · Wed May 04, 2022 5:02 pm

ginervra wrote:
https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/114981-uss-bellator-aviation-eyes-scheduled-flights

According to this, KABQ and KSAF may be getting scheduled P2012 service to KLRU starting in 2023.

These flights will be great for in-state travel if they have a morning flight and a return flight in early evening. Driving to Albuquerque for a medical specialist and back to Las Cruces needs an overnight stay. It would be great to make the round-trip in one day. The same goes for doing business in Santa Fe. If the price is less than the price of a tank of gas and hotel room I think Bellator Aviation will be a success.

kabq737 · Wed May 04, 2022 8:53 pm

ginervra wrote:
https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/114981-uss-bellator-aviation-eyes-scheduled-flights

According to this, KABQ and KSAF may be getting scheduled P2012 service to KLRU starting in 2023.

Hmmmm color me skeptical. Purely because so much intra NM service has been attempted over the years and it never seems to work out.

I REALLY hope it does work out but I would be shocked to see if this sticks around long term.

FlyingSicilian · Wed May 04, 2022 9:37 pm

Any realistic chance WN will bring back ELP ABQ?

jplatts · Wed May 04, 2022 11:29 pm

FlyingSicilian wrote:
Any realistic chance WN will bring back ELP ABQ?

WN is unlikely to re-add ABQ-ELP nonstop service, especially with the 1-stop connecting options that are already there to ELP from most of the other WN destinations in the Western U.S. through DEN, LAS, LAX, or PHX on WN.

O&D PDEW's are also significantly below pre-pandemic levels on most of the shorter WN nonstop routes.

ELP-ABQ is only 223 miles, and most of the remaining shorter WN nonstop routes are either (a) routes to/from a WN hub or (b) interisland Hawaii nonstop routes.

ginervra · Thu May 05, 2022 2:55 pm

kabq737 wrote:
ginervra wrote:
https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/114981-uss-bellator-aviation-eyes-scheduled-flights

According to this, KABQ and KSAF may be getting scheduled P2012 service to KLRU starting in 2023.

Hmmmm color me skeptical. Purely because so much intra NM service has been attempted over the years and it never seems to work out.

I REALLY hope it does work out but I would be shocked to see if this sticks around long term.

I'd have to agree, although we've had Boutique Air serving Carlsbad for years, and Advanced Air doing SVC (although granted, those are EAS routes), but they seem to be working to some level. Time will tell.

Also Bellator plans to fly to Dallas and Phoenix as well.

Chuska · Sun May 08, 2022 3:32 am

jplatts wrote:
FlyingSicilian wrote:
Any realistic chance WN will bring back ELP ABQ?

WN is unlikely to re-add ABQ-ELP nonstop service, especially with the 1-stop connecting options that are already there to ELP from most of the other WN destinations in the Western U.S. through DEN, LAS, LAX, or PHX on WN.

O&D PDEW's are also significantly below pre-pandemic levels on most of the shorter WN nonstop routes.

ELP-ABQ is only 223 miles, and most of the remaining shorter WN nonstop routes are either (a) routes to/from a WN hub or (b) interisland Hawaii nonstop routes.

Its not very practical to use any of those 1-stop options other than PHX.
I would like to see WN try an OAK-ABQ-ELP-SAT route as they currently operate OAK-ABQ and ELP-SAT. ELP has no direct service to the bay area and ABQ has no direct service to SAT so one-stop, same plane, could work and ABQ-ELP would be covered as well.The big problem is that WN changes their entire schedule around very often and this OAK-SAT routing would have to stay in place. WN is about the only carrier still operating "thru" flights with one or more stops.

kabq737 · Sun May 08, 2022 5:29 am

Chuska wrote:
jplatts wrote:
FlyingSicilian wrote:
Any realistic chance WN will bring back ELP ABQ?

WN is unlikely to re-add ABQ-ELP nonstop service, especially with the 1-stop connecting options that are already there to ELP from most of the other WN destinations in the Western U.S. through DEN, LAS, LAX, or PHX on WN.

O&D PDEW's are also significantly below pre-pandemic levels on most of the shorter WN nonstop routes.

ELP-ABQ is only 223 miles, and most of the remaining shorter WN nonstop routes are either (a) routes to/from a WN hub or (b) interisland Hawaii nonstop routes.

Its not very practical to use any of those 1-stop options other than PHX.
I would like to see WN try an OAK-ABQ-ELP-SAT route as they currently operate OAK-ABQ and ELP-SAT. ELP has no direct service to the bay area and ABQ has no direct service to SAT so one-stop, same plane, could work and ABQ-ELP would be covered as well.The big problem is that WN changes their entire schedule around very often and this OAK-SAT routing would have to stay in place. WN is about the only carrier still operating "thru" flights with one or more stops.

This actually seems a very clever idea. I’d be shocked if they couldn’t keep a 700 full doing this once daily. Generally, I think as New Mexicans we often think we are a bigger market than we actually are. We become overly optimistic about the routes our market could support. But this seems pretty realistic.

jplatts · Sun May 08, 2022 10:04 am

Chuska wrote:
WN is about the only carrier still operating "thru" flights with one or more stops.

MX does operate some "thru" flights within the contiguous U.S. (marketed as Breeze Thru flights) in addition to WN, but WN is in far more markets than MX is currently in. WN has also been serving the ABQ market for more than 42 years, whereas ABQ isn't currently served by MX.

Aliqiout · Sun May 08, 2022 2:00 pm

FlyingSicilian wrote:
Any realistic chance WN will bring back ELP ABQ?

F9 served this too (and others before). Ideally there would be a high speed train link, but realistically I don't expect even a flight between the two.

I used 4B's ELP-CVN-ABQ once when that was an option. Not too bad.

The best exiting option AA ELP-PHX-ABQ or a budget bus line will almost always mean driving.

kabq737 · Sun May 08, 2022 3:01 pm

Aliqiout wrote:
FlyingSicilian wrote:
Any realistic chance WN will bring back ELP ABQ?

F9 served this too (and others before). Ideally there would be a high speed train link, but realistically I don't expect even a flight between the two.

I used 4B's ELP-CVN-ABQ once when that was an option. Not too bad.

The best exiting option AA ELP-PHX-ABQ or a budget bus line will almost always mean driving.

Yeah I agree high speed rail would be great, but after the debacle that the RailRunner has been I don’t see New Mexican tax payers supporting such a thing any time soon.

The beauty on an air link is that all necessary infrastructure is already in place. Gotta wonder if anyone would see success with a Beech 1900 or Saab 340 size airplane on this trip. Then again I don’t know who would operate it so I’m just dreaming.

I think that’s the hardest part of the ABQ-ELP market. It would easily be profitable and full on smaller turboprops but there aren’t really any of those operators in the ABQ region so if we can’t fill a jet we don’t get the route.

Aliqiout · Sun May 08, 2022 4:42 pm

kabq737 wrote:
Aliqiout wrote:
FlyingSicilian wrote:
Any realistic chance WN will bring back ELP ABQ?

F9 served this too (and others before). Ideally there would be a high speed train link, but realistically I don't expect even a flight between the two.

I used 4B's ELP-CVN-ABQ once when that was an option. Not too bad.

The best exiting option AA ELP-PHX-ABQ or a budget bus line will almost always mean driving.

Yeah I agree high speed rail would be great, but after the debacle that the RailRunner has been I don’t see New Mexican tax payers supporting such a thing any time soon.

The beauty on an air link is that all necessary infrastructure is already in place. Gotta wonder if anyone would see success with a Beech 1900 or Saab 340 size airplane on this trip. Then again I don’t know who would operate it so I’m just dreaming.

I think that’s the hardest part of the ABQ-ELP market. It would easily be profitable and full on smaller turboprops but there aren’t really any of those operators in the ABQ region so if we can’t fill a jet we don’t get the route.

I disagree with roadrunner being a debacle, but this isn't the place to discuss that. I agree that a Saab 340 soze plane would do the trick, if they had a few flights throughout the day. To bad we don't have an independent Mesa anymore.

High-speed rail is defintly out of reach, but I would be satisfied with normal speed rail at this point.

MDGLongBeach · Mon May 23, 2022 6:23 pm

I didn't know where else to put this, but it appears that Advanced Air will be starting Gallup (GUP) service in the near future with their King Air 350s. Initially, they'll be flying to Phoenix, but I'd assume ABQ is next on the list if the route does well.
https://www.gallupsun.com/index.php?opt ... Itemid=600

FlyingSicilian · Mon May 23, 2022 6:30 pm

I have not been able to come out to NM for several years [covid, work, nonxocid injury] but am finally working a trip to show the kids and judging by prices into Santa Fe that must be doing very well. I am doing ABQ as I got the UA upgrade even on the 175s thankfully. Prices into ABQ on UA were heftier than I recall for sure so I presume some upgauges are in order for IAH. I did not look at WN so not sure how that is doing.

kabq737 · Wed May 25, 2022 1:50 am

MDGLongBeach wrote:
I didn't know where else to put this, but it appears that Advanced Air will be starting Gallup (GUP) service in the near future with their King Air 350s. Initially, they'll be flying to Phoenix, but I'd assume ABQ is next on the list if the route does well.
https://www.gallupsun.com/index.php?opt ... Itemid=600

Just came here to post that! Good news for GUP.

I wonder if this is an EAS route. I tried to do some research into that but I haven’t been able to find anything. Anyone aware?

sprxUSA · Wed May 25, 2022 2:19 am

GUP can't get back on the EAS program. Seemingly it is the city itself that is paying for the service to commence. Says 2 years, but not sure if that is set in stone or AN can be it at any time.
Must say I never imagined I'd see sched service at Gallup again.
Too bad Farmington can't get things going up there.

kabq737 · Wed May 25, 2022 5:07 am

sprxUSA wrote:
GUP can't get back on the EAS program. Seemingly it is the city itself that is paying for the service to commence. Says 2 years, but not sure if that is set in stone or AN can be it at any time.
Must say I never imagined I'd see sched service at Gallup again.
Too bad Farmington can't get things going up there.

I’m kind of shocked they haven’t been able to honestly.

Seems like with all of the energy money up there we would see demand for some PC12 flying. Maybe the demand is there but there are bigger fish to fry.

Then again commercial service may be a harder sell in FMN when DRO has quite a few options a relatively short drive away.

Chuska · Wed May 25, 2022 10:31 am

MDGLongBeach wrote:
I didn't know where else to put this, but it appears that Advanced Air will be starting Gallup (GUP) service in the near future with their King Air 350s. Initially, they'll be flying to Phoenix, but I'd assume ABQ is next on the list if the route does well.
https://www.gallupsun.com/index.php?opt ... Itemid=600

Yes, this is the right place to post. I try to cover all of NM in this thread and asked a.net to change the title to New Mexico Aviation Thread. Great news for GUP!

I remember GUP was taken off EAS in the early 2000's when passenger loads dropped too much. At the time they only had service to ABQ which is a fairly easy two-hour drive on I-40. They previously had service to PHX on Mesa as America West Express which seemed to do much better. I do wonder why GUP didn't get a SCASDP grant.

Chuska · Wed May 25, 2022 10:49 am

kabq737 wrote:
sprxUSA wrote:
GUP can't get back on the EAS program. Seemingly it is the city itself that is paying for the service to commence. Says 2 years, but not sure if that is set in stone or AN can be it at any time.
Must say I never imagined I'd see sched service at Gallup again.
Too bad Farmington can't get things going up there.

I’m kind of shocked they haven’t been able to honestly.

Seems like with all of the energy money up there we would see demand for some PC12 flying. Maybe the demand is there but there are bigger fish to fry.

Then again commercial service may be a harder sell in FMN when DRO has quite a few options a relatively short drive away.

FMN was all set to get OO/UA* to DEN two years ago but that caved with covid and now the OO pilot shortage. Hopefully FMN can work out something else, possibly Advanced to ABQ? I'd like to see DAC to DEN but I think DAC is now spread rather thin covering OO/UA* EAS routes (ALS, CEZ, ???)

Chuska · Sun Jun 05, 2022 1:45 pm

June 2022 Service throughout New Mexico:

ABQ:
AA has upgraded the ORD flight to mainline.
Alaska is now flying 737-9 MAX jets
Allegiant has disconitnued all service.
Frontier has added service to LAS but dropped service to DEN.

AA: DFW-6, ORD-1,PHX-1. AA*: AUS-1, LAX-3, PHX-3.
AS: SEA-1, PDX-1
DL: ATL-3. DL*: LAX-3, SLC-3.
UA: DEN-3, IAH-1, SFO-1. UA*: IAH-3, ORD-1.
WN: AUS-1, BUR-1, MDW-1, DAL-4, DEN-4, HOU-2, LAS-3, LAX-1, OAK-1, PHX-3, SAN-1. Saturday only: BWI-1, SAT-1.
B6: JFK-1
F9: LAS-2/7 (Thursdays and Sundays only)
4B: CNM-2
AN: SVC-2 3/7

SAF:
AA* DFW-4, PHX-2
UA* DEN-2

CNM: 4B: ABQ-2, DFW-1
CVN: KG: DFW- 1, DEN-1
HOB: UA*: IAH-1, DEN-3/7
ROW: AA*: DFW-3, PHX-1
SVC: AN: ABQ-2, PHX-1
TSM: (Service will run from June 30 thru Sep26) Taos Air: AUS 2/7, CLD 2/7, DAL 2/7, HHR 2/7.

ginervra · Fri Jun 17, 2022 10:11 pm

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/ ... -Southwest

Not a big change, but KABQ now has another carrier serving it (albeit on the behalf of FedEx) using N828FE (formerly owned by Baron Aviation Services). It is called AirDialog, and operates the Cessna C208B Super Cargomaster between Albuquerque and Gallup. It should be noted that AirDialog has actually moved their hub to KABQ.

Chuska · Mon Jun 20, 2022 4:27 pm

ginervra wrote:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220607005589/en/New-FedEx-Cargo-Feeder-Airline-Launches-Inaugural-Flight-in-the-Southwest

Not a big change, but KABQ now has another carrier serving it (albeit on the behalf of FedEx) using N828FE (formerly owned by Baron Aviation Services). It is called AirDialog, and operates the Cessna C208B Super Cargomaster between Albuquerque and Gallup. It should be noted that AirDialog has actually moved their hub to KABQ.

Good catch! Empire has been doing the FedEx Feeder runs from ABQ to GUP, FMN, and DRO. Wonder if AirDialog will eventually take over FMN and DRO as well.

kabq737 · Mon Jun 20, 2022 8:19 pm

That’s interesting regarding another Fed Ex Feeder operator here!

In addition has anyone else noticed the nightly Prime Air Silver Airways ATR ABQ is seeing now? Looks like a fairly long flight for the ATR.

Chuska · Sun Jun 26, 2022 2:47 am

kabq737 wrote:
That’s interesting regarding another Fed Ex Feeder operator here!

In addition has anyone else noticed the nightly Prime Air Silver Airways ATR ABQ is seeing now? Looks like a fairly long flight for the ATR.

That actually started back in November. As it comes thru between 1am and 5am each day, I didn't know that I could ever get a photo of it. However, a few weeks ago they had an extra aircraft spend the day here and I finally snapped it.

Chuska · Wed Jun 29, 2022 3:57 am

Looks like JetBlue will now be suspending ABQ-JFK from Oct 30 thru Mar 25 2023.

Chuska · Fri Jul 08, 2022 10:44 pm

July 2022 Service throughout New Mexico:

DL returns the ABQ-MSP flight on Jul 14 but only 4 days per week.
Spirit set to begin ABQ-LAS with one daily on Aug 3.
Advanced Air set to begin GUP-PHX with one daily on Aug 1.
Taos Air is now serving Austin from Taos thru the Austin Executive Airport, EDC.

ABQ:
AA: DFW-6, ORD-1,PHX-1. AA*: AUS-1, LAX-3, PHX-3.
AS: SEA-1, PDX-4/7
DL: ATL-3, MSP-4/7. DL*: LAX-3, SLC-3.
UA: DEN-3, IAH-1, SFO-1. UA*: IAH-3, ORD-1.
WN: AUS-1, BUR-1, MDW-1, DAL-4, DEN-4, HOU-2, LAS-3, LAX-1, OAK-1, PHX-3, SAN-1. Saturday only: BWI-1, SAT-1.
B6: JFK-1
F9: LAS-2/7 (Thursdays and Sundays only)
NK: LAS-1 (Begins Aug 3)
4B: CNM-2
AN: SVC-2 3/7

SAF:
AA* DFW-4, PHX-2
UA* DEN-2

CNM: 4B: ABQ-2, DFW-1
CVN: KG: DFW-1, DEN-1
GUP: AN: PHX-1 (Begins Aug 1)
HOB: UA*: IAH-1, DEN-3/7
ROW: AA*: DFW-3, PHX-1
SVC: AN: ABQ-2, PHX-1
TSM: Taos Air: EDC (Austin Executive Airport) 2/7, CLD 2/7, DAL 2/7, HHR 2/7.

RespectedPath · Sun Jul 10, 2022 4:43 pm

Any particular reason why there is nothing bookable on NK past Jan 10 for the ABQ-LAS route? Was it supposed to be temporary? NK already given up on the route even before it begins? Or has NK not hammered out the schedule that far in advance yet?

Aliqiout · Sun Jul 10, 2022 9:05 pm

RespectedPath wrote:
Any particular reason why there is nothing bookable on NK past Jan 10 for the ABQ-LAS route? Was it supposed to be temporary? NK already given up on the route even before it begins? Or has NK not hammered out the schedule that far in advance yet?

NK and the other LCC don't publish schedules as far in advance as the full service carriers. They aren't selling anything past Jan 10 yet.

RespectedPath · Sun Jul 10, 2022 10:02 pm

Aliqiout wrote:
RespectedPath wrote:
Any particular reason why there is nothing bookable on NK past Jan 10 for the ABQ-LAS route? Was it supposed to be temporary? NK already given up on the route even before it begins? Or has NK not hammered out the schedule that far in advance yet?

NK and the other LCC don't publish schedules as far in advance as the full service carriers. They aren't selling anything past Jan 10 yet.

I could have swore NK posted 330 days out like the legacies but, I guess not.

BuzzmeSTL · Tue Jul 12, 2022 8:42 pm

RespectedPath wrote:
Aliqiout wrote:
RespectedPath wrote:
Any particular reason
why there is nothing bookable on NK past Jan 10 for the ABQ-LAS route? Was it supposed to be temporary? NK already given up on the route even before it begins? Or has NK not hammered out the schedule that far in advance yet?

NK and the other LCC don't publish schedules as far in advance as the full service carriers. They aren't selling anything past Jan 10 yet.

I could have swore NK posted 330 days out like the legacies but, I guess not.

Experience with the STL NK schedule has been that they'll post out to a certain date and then slowly add or alter things.

ginervra · Wed Jul 13, 2022 3:21 am

https://fireaviation.com/2022/06/10/alb ... r-tankers/
New project at the Sunport, giving it a VLAT base.

Chuska · Wed Jul 13, 2022 11:46 am

ginervra wrote:
https://fireaviation.com/2022/06/10/albuquerque-tanker-base-to-be-upgraded-to-support-very-large-air-tankers/
New project at the Sunport, giving it a VLAT base.

Good thing after we just had the two largest wildfires in the history of the State of New Mexico. It was pretty much nonstop aerial fire fighting activity at ABQ from mid-April thru mid-June.

ginervra · Thu Jul 14, 2022 9:47 pm

Chuska wrote:
ginervra wrote:
https://fireaviation.com/2022/06/10/albuquerque-tanker-base-to-be-upgraded-to-support-very-large-air-tankers/
New project at the Sunport, giving it a VLAT base.

Good thing after we just had the two largest wildfires in the history of the State of New Mexico. It was pretty much nonstop aerial fire fighting activity at ABQ from mid-April thru mid-June.

That's true, the Sunport got basically everything thats not based in California-Coulson, Bridger, Aero-Flite, 10 Tanker, Neptune, etc.

But also this means that 10 Tanker can actually use the fire base at the Sunport, and any other large tankers that emerge.

Chuska · Wed Jul 27, 2022 2:20 am

Update on contruction at SAF: As of July 22, a slab has been poured for the terminal expansion on the northeast side. Not much has been happening with the new parking lots. Infact, progress appears to have stalled as there are large weeds growing in the tilled earth. Construction was supposed to start in Dec 2021 and be complete by Jan 2023 but didn't start until late Feb 2022 with a new targeted completion in March 2023.

Western727 · Wed Jul 27, 2022 8:35 pm

Being a regular AUS-ABQ flier to visit my uncle and aunt in ABQ, I was pleasantly surprised to see in WN's recent schedule extension not the current one, but two n/s flights on the route on a dummy itinerary I made for late February.

AntonioMartin · Wed Jul 27, 2022 9:11 pm

I think New Mexico's air transportation problem is it's nested between Arizona, Colorado and Texas..three major tourist and business attractions. Then a bit further they have Nevada and California to compete with. And if its hard for Arizona, even with our decent growth in the last 40 years or so, to attract new airline service......

That said, I always thought Santa Fe at least, has the potential to attract one new airline or two...maybe even seasonal Boeing or Airbus service from one of the nearby states? A lot of people do want to see a place with so much Western history after all (the Santa Fe train, Billy the Kid if Im correct about him, etc..)

beefstew25 · Thu Jul 28, 2022 2:46 am

Billy the Kid was way south. Started high school in SVC (but never finished). Then was in southeastern NM when Pat Garrett took him out.

kabq737 · Thu Jul 28, 2022 4:43 am

AntonioMartin wrote:
I think New Mexico's air transportation problem is it's nested between Arizona, Colorado and Texas..three major tourist and business attractions. Then a bit further they have Nevada and California to compete with. And if its hard for Arizona, even with our decent growth in the last 40 years or so, to attract new airline service......

That said, I always thought Santa Fe at least, has the potential to attract one new airline or two...maybe even seasonal Boeing or Airbus service from one of the nearby states? A lot of people do want to see a place with so much Western history after all (the Santa Fe train, Billy the Kid if Im correct about him, etc..)

I think before SAF gets mainline service they’ll get year round 70 seater service to the LA metro area. This might be a good way for Delta to get in on SAF. I could see 1x or 2x daily OO E170 service with Delta connection from LAX working.

There are huge amounts of people moving to SAF area from California. This combined with the booming movie industry here in NM makes a LAX-SAF flight make a ton of sense.

SLCaviation · Thu Jul 28, 2022 4:54 am

kabq737 wrote:
AntonioMartin wrote:
I think New Mexico's air transportation problem is it's nested between Arizona, Colorado and Texas..three major tourist and business attractions. Then a bit further they have Nevada and California to compete with. And if its hard for Arizona, even with our decent growth in the last 40 years or so, to attract new airline service......

That said, I always thought Santa Fe at least, has the potential to attract one new airline or two...maybe even seasonal Boeing or Airbus service from one of the nearby states? A lot of people do want to see a place with so much Western history after all (the Santa Fe train, Billy the Kid if Im correct about him, etc..)

I think before SAF gets mainline service they’ll get year round 70 seater service to the LA metro area. This might be a good way for Delta to get in on SAF. I could see 1x or 2x daily OO E170 service with Delta connection from LAX working.

There are huge amounts of people moving to SAF area from California. This combined with the booming movie industry here in NM makes a LAX-SAF flight make a ton of sense.

If DL goes in on LAX, they would go in on SLC. A 1x daily rj7 would work for both. SAF needs to get LAX and SLC and other bigger cities like SFO and IAH before Mainline is in the question.

Chuska · Thu Jul 28, 2022 12:53 pm

Western727 wrote:
Being a regular AUS-ABQ flier to visit my uncle and aunt in ABQ, I was pleasantly surprised to see in WN's recent schedule extension not the current one, but two n/s flights on the route on a dummy itinerary I made for late February.

Yes, WN is planning a second ABQ-AUS nonstop effective Sep 6. They are also planning a fifth DEN trip, a fifth DAL, and fourth PHX for a total of 26 per day. This was all supposed to happen on the current summer schedule but was cut back and I've been hesitant to report it until it actually does happen. But keep your fingers crossed.

southwest1675 · Thu Jul 28, 2022 2:56 pm

Still hope to see WN add BNA-ABQ

Alias1024 · Thu Jul 28, 2022 4:45 pm

AntonioMartin wrote:
I think New Mexico's air transportation problem is it's nested between Arizona, Colorado and Texas..three major tourist and business attractions. Then a bit further they have Nevada and California to compete with. And if its hard for Arizona, even with our decent growth in the last 40 years or so, to attract new airline service......

I think it’s problem is anemic population growth and the second largest population center being two hours closer to an out of state airport than ABQ. If you are an airline manager, why invest limited resources in New Mexico when every state around it is growing more quickly?

The Wright amendment and then range limitations of 737 classics kept ABQ a useful connecting point for WN, and now neither are a factor.

AntonioMartin · Fri Jul 29, 2022 2:54 am

Alias1024 wrote:
AntonioMartin wrote:
I think New Mexico's air transportation problem is it's nested between Arizona, Colorado and Texas..three major tourist and business attractions. Then a bit further they have Nevada and California to compete with. And if its hard for Arizona, even with our decent growth in the last 40 years or so, to attract new airline service......

I think it’s problem is anemic population growth and the second largest population center being two hours closer to an out of state airport than ABQ. If you are an airline manager, why invest limited resources in New Mexico when every state around it is growing more quickly?

The Wright amendment and then range limitations of 737 classics kept ABQ a useful connecting point for WN, and now neither are a factor.

All very true, very true...

AntonioMartin · Fri Jul 29, 2022 2:55 am

beefstew25 wrote:
Billy the Kid was way south. Started high school in SVC (but never finished). Then was in southeastern NM when Pat Garrett took him out.

Gotcha!

Chuska · Fri Jul 29, 2022 10:37 pm

SLCaviation wrote:
kabq737 wrote:
AntonioMartin wrote:
I think New Mexico's air transportation problem is it's nested between Arizona, Colorado and Texas..three major tourist and business attractions. Then a bit further they have Nevada and California to compete with. And if its hard for Arizona, even with our decent growth in the last 40 years or so, to attract new airline service......

That said, I always thought Santa Fe at least, has the potential to attract one new airline or two...maybe even seasonal Boeing or Airbus service from one of the nearby states? A lot of people do want to see a place with so much Western history after all (the Santa Fe train, Billy the Kid if Im correct about him, etc..)

I think before SAF gets mainline service they’ll get year round 70 seater service to the LA metro area. This might be a good way for Delta to get in on SAF. I could see 1x or 2x daily OO E170 service with Delta connection from LAX working.

There are huge amounts of people moving to SAF area from California. This combined with the booming movie industry here in NM makes a LAX-SAF flight make a ton of sense.

If DL goes in on LAX, they would go in on SLC. A 1x daily rj7 would work for both. SAF needs to get LAX and SLC and other bigger cities like SFO and IAH before Mainline is in the question.

DL actually had announced SAF service back in Dec., 2007 with E-145 flights to LAX and SLC. Their service (as well as AA* service) was first delayed due to a noise issue at SAF (even though private and fractional jets fly there all the time). AA finally began DFW flights in June, 2009 but DL never started. I think SAF-LAX and SLC would still work now more than ever. Not sure how well the E-175 will perform at SAF though.

Chuska · Mon Aug 01, 2022 9:11 pm

August 2022 Service throughout New Mexico:

Spirit begins ABQ-LAS with one daily on Aug 3.
Advanced Air began GUP-PHX with one daily on Aug 1.

ABQ:
AA: DFW-6, ORD-1,PHX-1. AA*: AUS-1, LAX-3, PHX-3.
AS: SEA-1, PDX-4/7
DL: ATL-3, MSP-4/7. DL*: LAX-3, SLC-3.
UA: DEN-3, IAH-1, SFO-1. UA*: IAH-2, ORD-1.
WN: AUS-1, BUR-1, MDW-1, DAL-4, DEN-4, HOU-2, LAS-3, LAX-1, OAK-1, PHX-3, SAN-1. Saturday only: BWI-1, SAT-1.
B6: JFK-1
F9: LAS-2/7 (Thursdays and Sundays only)
NK: LAS-1 (Begins Aug 3)
4B: CNM-2
AN: SVC-2 3/7

SAF:
AA* DFW-4, PHX-2
UA* DEN-2

CNM: 4B: ABQ-2, DFW-1
CVN: KG: DFW-1, DEN-1
GUP: AN: PHX-1
HOB: UA*: IAH-1, DEN-3/7
ROW: AA*: DFW-3, PHX-1
SVC: AN: ABQ-2, PHX-1
TSM: Taos Air: EDC (Austin Executive Airport) 2/7, CLD 2/7, DAL 2/7, HHR 2/7.

BuzzmeSTL · Wed Aug 10, 2022 3:26 pm

Breeze Airways - What's the likelihood they'll consider ABQ an underserved market as they expand? Is there room for them at Sunport?

Chuska · Fri Aug 12, 2022 2:16 am

BuzzmeSTL wrote:
Breeze Airways - What's the likelihood they'll consider ABQ an underserved market as they expand? Is there room for them at Sunport?

There's plenty of room at the Sunport. I could see Breeze flying ftom ABQ to BNA, MCO, OKC, TUL, and SAT.

kabq737 · Mon Aug 15, 2022 3:54 am

Looks like there’s a Delta 753 at sunport right now. Diverted yesterday and was set to fly back to ATL today as DL9964 but it looks like it canceled. Any idea why it diverted? It appears to have been operating Delta 824 when it diverted.

Regardless it’s a unique bird here in ABQ!

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