Alabama Aviation Thread - 2022

SQ22 · Sat Jan 01, 2022 7:47 am

Welcome to the Alabama Aviation Thread 2022. Please continue to post your news and your discussion below.

Link to previous thread:

Alabama Aviation Thread - 2021

Scoots71 · Sun Jan 02, 2022 10:45 pm

Well, I'll go ahead and kick this off.

BHM posted their November statistics on New Year's Day.

233,538 in November 2021. That is a 105% increase over 2020 (for obvious reasons), and 91% of the 2019 number. That is the best month vs. 2019 since the pandemic, which has seen most months since June in the 77-83% range.

November missed out on passing October by only 189 passengers.

gdavis003 · Mon Jan 03, 2022 12:35 am

Scoots71 wrote:
Well, I'll go ahead and kick this off.

BHM posted their November statistics on New Year's Day.

233,538 in November 2021. That is a 105% increase over 2020 (for obvious reasons), and 91% of the 2019 number. That is the best month vs. 2019 since the pandemic, which has seen most months since June in the 77-83% range.

November missed out on passing October by only 189 passengers.

Nice month for BHM. January tends to be somewhat of a slow month, will be really interested to see how the December numbers panned out.

Just looking at schedules for a few routes out of BHM for January for AA. DFW is at 4x daily with 2x on A319s and 2x on E145s. They've really dropped the frequency on this route down quite a bit, which I find interesting. I don't even think that it was as low as 4x at the height of the pandemic. CLT is at 6x daily, all RJs. MIA 2x on the E175, DCA 3x on CRJs, PHL 1x on a CRJ with a 3:45 PM departure for BHM-PHL, ORD 1x on an E145. Really surprising to see PHL down to 1x per day with such a late departure. I fly that route quite often, and it is usually a completely full flight. Not sure if they recently trimmed that down. Good to see DCA at 3x though.

Other frequencies to note: ATL at 8x most days (mix of 717/738/739), LGA at 2x on CRJs, DTW at 1x on CRJ (will resume on 1/12, was not operating over the holidays). IAH is also only at 3x per day (mix of CRJ2, E145, E175).

gdavis003 · Mon Jan 03, 2022 12:48 am

Wanted to also do a summary of the changes for each Alabama airport last year and give some hopes/predictions for the upcoming year.

BHM: (2021) all routes have resumed (except for WN's seasonal BHM-FLL route), year-round mainline service resumed on AA to DFW / (2022) hope to see a new airline at BHM, Breeze/Allegiant/Contour all seem possible, hopefully AA or DL will add BHM-BOS
HSV: (2021) Breeze entered HSV with TPA/MSY/CHS, only TPA is currently operational, planning to resume CHS in March, no other changes / (2022) will Breeze stay at HSV? Southwest seems like a legitimate possibility as well with HSV's major growth
MSL: (2021) Boutique operated flights to BNA for a little while, but those have since ended, leaving only PNS/ATL / (2022) sounds like they are looking to have Contour replace the EAS contract, which would be a huge win for the Shoals area
MGM: (2021) no changes, all routes have resumed / (2022) don't anticipate any changes
MOB/BFM: (2021) no changes at MOB, progress being made in the move to BFM / (2022) hope to see more movement in the shift to BFM and maybe a new airline for the area, Silver seems like it might fit the bill
DHN: (2021) no changes / (2022) don't anticipate any changes
JKA: (2021) opened up the new tower in anticipation of commercial service / (2022) sounds like the goal is to bring in SY or LF this year to start service

Would love to hear predictions from others

jplatts · Mon Jan 03, 2022 1:39 am

gdavis003 wrote:
BHM: (2021) all routes have resumed (except for WN's seasonal BHM-FLL route), year-round mainline service resumed on AA to DFW / (2022) hope to see a new airline at BHM, Breeze/Allegiant/Contour all seem possible, hopefully AA or DL will add BHM-BOS

I had previously mentioned the possibility of AA adding BHM-LGA nonstop service with the lack of nonstop competition that is currently there on the BHM-LGA route with DL currently being the only airline serving NYC nonstop from BHM. I had also recently asked the question regarding possible competitive adds that AA and DL could make out of LGA in a discussion at viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1468387.

IFlyMGN · Mon Jan 03, 2022 1:49 am

AA’s service to MGM from DFW has suffered badly. Both Mesa and Envoy’s regional service has been extremely poor. It’s a shame that AA couldn’t provide A319 service at least a couple times a day.

gdavis003 · Mon Jan 03, 2022 2:37 am

IFlyMGN wrote:
AA’s service to MGM from DFW has suffered badly. Both Mesa and Envoy’s regional service has been extremely poor. It’s a shame that AA couldn’t provide A319 service at least a couple times a day.

Echoes the same sentiment I have heard from other Montgomery residents. I'll have to fly straight down to MGM in February for a meeting from EWR/PHL, as I split time between BHM and NJ. Will probably end up taking AA with a connection in CLT/DCA in order to avoid the DL CRJ200s. Luckily, I can easily avoid the DFW-MGM mess coming from the northeast. Wish they would at least bring back service on the 900 to ATL.

In other news, Delta has added flights to IND from BHM/HSV for the National Championship. Both flights are on Endeavor and they leave BHM/HSV on the 8th and return on the 11th. Looks like they added an A320 flight out of SAV to IND for the game for Georgia fans and probably some more flights on ATL-IND for the game also. Surprised it's only a CRJ900 for Alabama fans but with such outrageous prices for the flight (over $1,500 RT) and not a terrible driving distance, I guess I see why. Alabama/other team personnel might charter out of BHM this week instead of TCL in order to take a larger aircraft up to IND, but we'll see. Roll Tide!

diverdave · Mon Jan 03, 2022 8:53 pm

Scoots71 wrote:
Well, I'll go ahead and kick this off.

BHM posted their November statistics on New Year's Day.

233,538 in November 2021. That is a 105% increase over 2020 (for obvious reasons), and 91% of the 2019 number. That is the best month vs. 2019 since the pandemic, which has seen most months since June in the 77-83% range.

Well done, BHM!

https://www.flybirmingham.com/about-bhm ... al-report/

Also note that at least for November, Delta reclaimed the leadership in passengers carried in/out of BHM. Also for FY (which I think starts in July) 2022

Huntsville does not publish numbers in the same detail as BHM, and for that matter in a city full of engineers they manage to have bad math.

https://www.flyhuntsville.com/huntsvill ... tatistics/

For example, the YTD 2021 number of 637,182 (through November) is listed as being 67% of the 2020 number. Obviously this is wrong as the number for the full year of 2020 was 559,420. So 11 months of 2021 are already 14% higher than the full year of 2020 and thus could not be only 67% of the full year of 2020. It's just basic math that 637,182 > 559,420.

If December comes in at around 100K total, that would bring the year to being 30% higher than 2020. But since 2020 was 60% reduced from 2019, that would bring 2021 HSV back only to roughly 50% of the 2019 traffic level. Ouch.

HSV is slow to recover from the pandemic, as business travel is still reduced from the pandemic and government travel is greatly reduced. Some of that business and government travel may never come back.

For any sort of growth, HSV will need to reclaim the VFR traffic that leaks to BNA and BHM. That is a tall hill to climb as both have lower fares and both (though especially BNA) have direct flights to more destinations.

http://nonstopfrom.com/nashville-bna/

http://nonstopfrom.com/birmingham-bhm/

David

jplatts · Mon Jan 03, 2022 9:06 pm

gdavis003 wrote:
IFlyMGN wrote:
AA’s service to MGM from DFW has suffered badly. Both Mesa and Envoy’s regional service has been extremely poor. It’s a shame that AA couldn’t provide A319 service at least a couple times a day.

Echoes the same sentiment I have heard from other Montgomery residents. I'll have to fly straight down to MGM in February for a meeting from EWR/PHL, as I split time between BHM and NJ. Will probably end up taking AA with a connection in CLT/DCA in order to avoid the DL CRJ200s. Luckily, I can easily avoid the DFW-MGM mess coming from the northeast. Wish they would at least bring back service on the 900 to ATL.

AA still has fewer narrowbody planes in its mainline fleet than it did 3 years ago with AA having already retired its MD-80's, E190's, and 757's.

diverdave · Tue Jan 04, 2022 6:09 pm

gdavis003 wrote:
Echoes the same sentiment I have heard from other Montgomery residents. I'll have to fly straight down to MGM in February for a meeting from EWR/PHL, as I split time between BHM and NJ. Will probably end up taking AA with a connection in CLT/DCA in order to avoid the DL CRJ200s. Luckily, I can easily avoid the DFW-MGM mess coming from the northeast. Wish they would at least bring back service on the 900 to ATL.

MGM statistics seem to be hard to come by, but I found a figure of 165K enplanements in 2020.

That's less than 500 passengers a day, so pretty hard to support mainline service with those numbers.

David

Scoots71 · Fri Jan 07, 2022 11:34 pm

gdavis003 wrote:
Wanted to also do a summary of the changes for each Alabama airport last year and give some hopes/predictions for the upcoming year.

BHM: (2021) all routes have resumed (except for WN's seasonal BHM-FLL route), year-round mainline service resumed on AA to DFW / (2022) hope to see a new airline at BHM, Breeze/Allegiant/Contour all seem possible, hopefully AA or DL will add BHM-BOS
HSV: (2021) Breeze entered HSV with TPA/MSY/CHS, only TPA is currently operational, planning to resume CHS in March, no other changes / (2022) will Breeze stay at HSV? Southwest seems like a legitimate possibility as well with HSV's major growth.
MSL: (2021) Boutique operated flights to BNA for a little while, but those have since ended, leaving only PNS/ATL / (2022) sounds like they are looking to have Contour replace the EAS contract, which would be a huge win for the Shoals area
MGM: (2021) no changes, all routes have resumed / (2022) don't anticipate any changes
MOB/BFM: (2021) no changes at MOB, progress being made in the move to BFM / (2022) hope to see more movement in the shift to BFM and maybe a new airline for the area, Silver seems like it might fit the bill
DHN: (2021) no changes / (2022) don't anticipate any changes
JKA: (2021) opened up the new tower in anticipation of commercial service / (2022) sounds like the goal is to bring in SY or LF this year to start service

Would love to hear predictions from others

Not as much predictions, but more of a wishlist:

BHM: Breeze enter and treat BHM as a focus city. MSY, CHS, PIT, SAT, ISP, and PVD would all be great routes. Otherwise, have AA/B6 partnership bring in BOS (or DL get BOS), and either JFK or EWR. Another is for DL to add SLC, though that doesn't stand a chance until SLC finishes more stages of their expansion and gains back more slots. Last wish list item would be for WN to add PHX. Frankly, BHM needs some positive action, or I will have further lost faith in the Board and CEO.

MGM: Just hold on to what they've got. Any added frequency is bonus.

HSV: Somehow find a way for Breeze to be successful. That will be a win in 2022.

MOB/BFM: Some solid action in move to BFM. Don't think anything else substantial can happen until that move proves successful.

gdavis003 · Mon Jan 10, 2022 10:19 pm

Was at BHM earlier today, and it was quite weird to see gates A1, A3, and A5 all with aircraft at the gates. GlobalX A320 at A1, AA CRJ at A3, and iAero 737-400 at A5 with GlobalX and iAero being charters to IND for the game tonight (both were handled on the ground by Atlantic, it looked like). Don't see those gates active too often, especially all at the same time. Hope they are used this year by a new carrier.

The Tide should be returning on a DL A330-300 tomorrow morning to BHM, so I will hopefully try to make it out there for that. Expect there will be some other folks there as well, win or lose. Roll Tide!

ATLgaUSA · Tue Jan 11, 2022 9:40 pm

Scoots71 wrote:
gdavis003 wrote:
Wanted to also do a summary of the changes for each Alabama airport last year and give some hopes/predictions for the upcoming year.

BHM: (2021) all routes have resumed (except for WN's seasonal BHM-FLL route), year-round mainline service resumed on AA to DFW / (2022) hope to see a new airline at BHM, Breeze/Allegiant/Contour all seem possible, hopefully AA or DL will add BHM-BOS
HSV: (2021) Breeze entered HSV with TPA/MSY/CHS, only TPA is currently operational, planning to resume CHS in March, no other changes / (2022) will Breeze stay at HSV? Southwest seems like a legitimate possibility as well with HSV's major growth.
MSL: (2021) Boutique operated flights to BNA for a little while, but those have since ended, leaving only PNS/ATL / (2022) sounds like they are looking to have Contour replace the EAS contract, which would be a huge win for the Shoals area
MGM: (2021) no changes, all routes have resumed / (2022) don't anticipate any changes
MOB/BFM: (2021) no changes at MOB, progress being made in the move to BFM / (2022) hope to see more movement in the shift to BFM and maybe a new airline for the area, Silver seems like it might fit the bill
DHN: (2021) no changes / (2022) don't anticipate any changes
JKA: (2021) opened up the new tower in anticipation of commercial service / (2022) sounds like the goal is to bring in SY or LF this year to start service

Would love to hear predictions from others

Not as much predictions, but more of a wishlist:

BHM: Breeze enter and treat BHM as a focus city. MSY, CHS, PIT, SAT, ISP, and PVD would all be great routes. Otherwise, have AA/B6 partnership bring in BOS (or DL get BOS), and either JFK or EWR. Another is for DL to add SLC, though that doesn't stand a chance until SLC finishes more stages of their expansion and gains back more slots. Last wish list item would be for WN to add PHX. Frankly, BHM needs some positive action, or I will have further lost faith in the Board and CEO.

MGM: Just hold on to what they've got. Any added frequency is bonus.

HSV: Somehow find a way for Breeze to be successful. That will be a win in 2022.

MOB/BFM: Some solid action in move to BFM. Don't think anything else substantial can happen until that move proves successful.

I'll address BHM, because I think you're spot on with the rest.

I don't think ISP or PVD would work from BHM. By the time you fly to ISP to head to NYC or PVD to head to BOS and get from those airports to the respective destinations, you might as well just take the connection through CLT, ATL, DCA, PHL, or LGA (or take one of the nonstops to LGA). It's much less hassle.

I'll add that I think Allegiant or Spirit are possibilities. BHM is about the only 1m+ sized city Allegiant does not serve east of the Mississippi that is not a fortress hub for a major airline. As for Spirit, they've been adding service to many similar sized markets over the past year. I doubt either actually happen because I don't think the Airport Authority is actively recruiting additional service, but in the even a new airline enters the market, I think it'll be Allegiant, Breeze, or Spirit.

diverdave · Thu Jan 13, 2022 6:00 pm

Scoots71 wrote:
HSV: Somehow find a way for Breeze to be successful. That will be a win in 2022.

In general, Breeze has been dropping and cutting out of most markets, and is struggling overall. So HSV is the rule and not the exception in this case.

It looks like HSV-CHS is still planned to return in a couple of months. The frequencies for both TPA and CHS show at 2x per week through the end of the schedule.

I think Breeze needs something outside of the box to make it big in Huntsville, like HSV-LAX as postulated in the Breeze thread. But that would require an A220 which I expect Breeze will use more profitably elsewhere. Not to mention can Breeze get gate space at LAX. I think Breeze's future in Huntsville will be whatever they can make work with the E-jets. The A220s will go to bigger markets, maybe BHM.

Don't forget about Frontier. They are still operating their service HSV-MCO which even bumps up to 3-4 times per week in a couple of months. It would be great for Frontier to think outside of the box also. Perhaps they have enough of a customer base here to try something like HSV-LAS. Frontier is the master of entering and dropping markets, so maybe they would give it a try.....

David

Fixinthe757 · Fri Jan 14, 2022 11:47 am

I work at BFM, not really seeing anything going on whatsoever with the terminal or anything else. Very typical. Only work going on is redoing portions of the taxi way which would eventually lead to the horrible location of the terminal. Going to be quite some time before this move takes place sadly. Really hoping for Breeze and Allegiant to start service here when it all opens up.
War Eagle!!

DanielsBrawley · Fri Jan 14, 2022 3:22 pm

There's more business traffic at BHM than one would think. Our operation uses an FBO there and we're in/out regularly. Ive been surprised with the number of execs and general business traffic from this seemingly out of the way location. The pilot facilities are top notch, staff is great and never disappointed with having to overnight or spend long layovers at BHM. The only downside is hotel accommodations near the airport. You have to travel some distance to get decent rooms because those in close proximity are in rundown neighborhoods.

gdavis003 · Mon Jan 17, 2022 2:01 am

Important news out of MSL. Looks like MSL-CLT is now bookable on Contour’s website. I haven’t taken the time to parse through the website to see when it begins or how frequently it operates, but it would have to comply with the EAS rules for how many times it operates. A huge win for the Shoals area. I’m sure they would probably prefer Contour to ATL rather than CLT, but CLT is certainly preferable to BNA/PNS service on Boutique

DL201 JNB-ATL also diverted into BHM this morning and parked at A1 after a missed approach in ATL due to the snow. They were quite low on fuel, as one would expect, and stopped into BHM shortly to refuel before conditions improved in ATL.

sprxUSA · Mon Jan 17, 2022 3:18 am

gdavis003 wrote:
Important news out of MSL. Looks like MSL-CLT is now bookable on Contour’s website. I haven’t taken the time to parse through the website to see when it begins or how frequently it operates, but it would have to comply with the EAS rules for how many times it operates. A huge win for the Shoals area. I’m sure they would probably prefer Contour to ATL rather than CLT, but CLT is certainly preferable to BNA/PNS service on Boutique

DL201 JNB-ATL also diverted into BHM this morning and parked at A1 after a missed approach in ATL due to the snow. They were quite low on fuel, as one would expect, and stopped into BHM shortly to refuel before conditions improved in ATL.

Google flights shows Contour on March 1st, and fares (MSL-CLT) go from $150 one way range to $46 ow on the 1st, so I'm assuming they begin then.

RJNUT · Mon Jan 17, 2022 9:10 pm

MSL service is also bookable on AA.com when booking connections beyond CLT!

Scoots71 · Wed Jan 19, 2022 7:31 pm

Looks like Breeze is supposedly going to use the A220 in HSV.

https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2022/01/ ... ville.html

gdavis003 · Wed Jan 19, 2022 8:18 pm

Scoots71 wrote:
Looks like Breeze is supposedly going to use the A220 in HSV.

https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2022/01/ ... ville.html

Good news, hope they bring the A220 to BHM this year and enter the market there. Flew into HSV last night for the first time, since the last IAH-BHM flight of the day was canceled. Rerouted thru ORD and flew into HSV and rode back to BHM with a friend, it's a nice airport. Lots of room for growth, that's for sure. Still surprised that IAH-BHM was only operating twice per day, and the last flight of the day was a 4:00 PM departure from IAH. I can't remember the last time there were such terrible frequencies on that route. Didn't want to spend the night in Houston, so I figured that it would be best to go into HSV

diverdave · Thu Jan 20, 2022 12:08 am

Scoots71 wrote:
Looks like Breeze is supposedly going to use the A220 in HSV.

https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2022/01/ ... ville.html

I looked at some sample bookings and it's not as rosy as al.com paints it.

At a quick look, it it seems the A220 service to Tampa lasts for about a month before reverting to the E-Jets for the remainder of the schedule. About the same for Charleston.

Though the schedule changes may not be complete yet. When looking at flights to Charleston in July, the booking page shows two flights per day which I cannot believe is correct. One flight on A220, and one flight on EJet.

Breeze is getting a lot of publicity from the announcement, so I guess that part at least is mission accomplished.

Scoots71 · Fri Jan 21, 2022 3:03 pm

Scoots71 wrote:
Well, I'll go ahead and kick this off.

BHM posted their November statistics on New Year's Day.

233,538 in November 2021. That is a 105% increase over 2020 (for obvious reasons), and 91% of the 2019 number. That is the best month vs. 2019 since the pandemic, which has seen most months since June in the 77-83% range.

November missed out on passing October by only 189 passengers.

December 2021 data is out.

214,521 in December 2021. That is a 92% increase over 2020 (obviously), and 84% of the 2019 number. From June-December, when traffic really seemed to bounce back, BHM held firm at 82% of the 2019 numbers for the same stretch.

To put the October-December numbers into perspective, they were very similar to the 2016 passenger traffic for the same months.

Birmingham Business Journal also cites the airline share. WN at 32%, AA at 30%, DL at 29%, then UA all the way down at 9%.

https://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/ ... t-100.html

ATLgaUSA · Fri Jan 21, 2022 5:11 pm

Scoots71 wrote:
Scoots71 wrote:
Well, I'll go ahead and kick this off.

BHM posted their November statistics on New Year's Day.

233,538 in November 2021. That is a 105% increase over 2020 (for obvious reasons), and 91% of the 2019 number. That is the best month vs. 2019 since the pandemic, which has seen most months since June in the 77-83% range.

November missed out on passing October by only 189 passengers.

December 2021 data is out.

214,521 in December 2021. That is a 92% increase over 2020 (obviously), and 84% of the 2019 number. From June-December, when traffic really seemed to bounce back, BHM held firm at 82% of the 2019 numbers for the same stretch.

To put the October-December numbers into perspective, they were very similar to the 2016 passenger traffic for the same months.

Birmingham Business Journal also cites the airline share. WN at 32%, AA at 30%, DL at 29%, then UA all the way down at 9%.

https://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/ ... t-100.html

Interestingly, over the past year, AA, DL, and WN have had months in which they captured the highest market share of BHM passengers. It would be nice if one of them would make a move to solidify themselves as the dominant carrier in the market.

Scoots71 · Fri Jan 21, 2022 7:01 pm

ATLgaUSA wrote:
Scoots71 wrote:
December 2021 data is out.

214,521 in December 2021. That is a 92% increase over 2020 (obviously), and 84% of the 2019 number. From June-December, when traffic really seemed to bounce back, BHM held firm at 82% of the 2019 numbers for the same stretch.

To put the October-December numbers into perspective, they were very similar to the 2016 passenger traffic for the same months.

Birmingham Business Journal also cites the airline share. WN at 32%, AA at 30%, DL at 29%, then UA all the way down at 9%.

https://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/ ... t-100.html

Interestingly, over the past year, AA, DL, and WN have had months in which they captured the highest market share of BHM passengers. It would be nice if one of them would make a move to solidify themselves as the dominant carrier in the market.

They all definitely have their own strengths and weaknesses, and some overlapping points where they could take an edge.

DL and AA both have an opportunity by whichever could hit on BOS first in the recovery. AA could also hit back at DL with a JFK option. AA's strength over DL right now is the variety of markets, but DL has the quick connection in ATL. AA is definitely stronger to the West through DFW, but DL has an opportunity if they choose to add a SLC route on something like an A220 as more slots become available there.

WN's strength is the target toward more leisure and affordability. They have a weakness on inter-SE travel, but beyond that they are strong, also with room to grow. A new ULCC (ahem Breeze) would likely affect WN more or force them to react.

Scoots71 · Fri Jan 21, 2022 7:39 pm

Additionally, Q3 PDEW data is available. Q3 is probably the most important since 2019 since it was the quarter when air travel out of BHM started averaging over 80% of the 2019 numbers.

For BHM: 1. Dallas/Ft Worth 367; 2. Orlando 278; 3. Chicago 267; 4 NYC 250; 5. Washington DC 245; 6. Denver 241; 7. Houston 229; 8. Los Angeles 200; 9. Las Vegas 190; 10. Miami 186; 11. Tampa 176; 12. Philadelphia 153; 13. Detroit 152; 14. Boston 127; 15. San Francisco 103; 16. Charlotte 97; 17. Phoenix 87.

HSV: 1. Washington DC 242; 2. Orlando 89; 3. NYC 79; 4. Los Angeles 75; 5. Las Vegas 52; 6. Miami 47; 7. Phoenix 45; 8. Seattle 43; 9. SLC 41; 10. Tampa 37.

MGM: 1. Washington DC 55; 2. NYC 26. Nothing else above 20.

MOB: 1. NYC 51; 2. Washington DC 46; 3. San Diego 24; 4. Norfolk/Seattle/San Francisco 23. 7. Philadelphia 22

ATLgaUSA · Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:05 am

Saw this in the IND thread and was surprised. Imagine what BHM could do with an airport authority that even passively recruited new airlines or flights…

https://atwairport.com/wp-content/uploa ... _Final.pdf

gdavis003 · Mon Jan 31, 2022 8:37 pm

More good news for Mobile's Airbus plant. Airbus and Lockheed Martin will plan to build KC-Y tankers at BFM, if they are awarded the contract for the USAF: https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2022/01/ ... obile.html

sprxUSA · Mon Jan 31, 2022 11:40 pm

ATLgaUSA wrote:
Saw this in the IND thread and was surprised. Imagine what BHM could do with an airport authority that even passively recruited new airlines or flights…

https://atwairport.com/wp-content/uploa ... _Final.pdf

LOL, funny about that report is the touting of ATW adding RAP route. What for 5 minutes for Sturgis. Really noteworthy haha.

gdavis003 · Tue Feb 08, 2022 1:59 am

Midwestindy wrote:

Lots of frequency cuts to ORD, PHL, LAX, e.t.c. too many to summarize.

Interesting cuts though: ORD-FLL/PBI/SRQ/VPS are all cut for the summer, or moved to Sat Only. PHL-SLC no summer season, LAX-TPA dropped through November, LAX-SLC/RNO dropped through August,

Also wondering on the status of some of the western routes, BZN-CLT/LGA/PHL, JAC-BOS/CLT/JFK/LGA(once it opens in July) aren't on the schedules for summer.

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Ail ... j1skQOZjHo

Pulled from the AA Network thread, but it looks like the seasonal HSV-MIA flight will return in May, Saturday only for the time being. BHM-MIA is currently operating at 2x daily on the E175. BHM-DCA and BHM-PHL are at 3x/1x daily currently. I can't remember the last time there were 3 flights per day to DCA, which is great, but it is unfortunate to see PHL operating at such a low frequency.

diverdave · Thu Feb 10, 2022 12:02 am

Looking at Frontier's site, it looks like HSV-MCO is suspended in May, June, and July. It then resumes in August at 3x per week whereas it has mostly been 2x per week.

I hadn't known that HSV-MIA ever operated. Given that the airport authority sends out an e-mail blast at the drop of a hat, I'm surprised they haven't publicized the route in prior years.

David

gdavis003 · Thu Feb 10, 2022 12:29 am

diverdave wrote:
Looking at Frontier's site, it looks like HSV-MCO is suspended in May, June, and July. It then resumes in August at 3x per week whereas it has mostly been 2x per week.

I hadn't known that HSV-MIA ever operated. Given that the airport authority sends out an e-mail blast at the drop of a hat, I'm surprised they haven't publicized the route in prior years.

David

They ran it as a Saturday only route last summer, so it was only about 12 or so roundtrips. Same goes for the BHM-MCO route that AA operated last summer, which was also on the E175.

I am somewhat surprised that AA has not added a Saturday only service from BHM to AUS with their massive expansion there. I’m hopeful that this is coming in the near future, as well as an AA flight to NYC to link up with JetBlue’s partnership. HSV is actually bookable on the JetBlue website via the partnership with Silver at MCO, but BHM is not.

Fixinthe757 · Thu Feb 10, 2022 11:40 am

gdavis003 wrote:
More good news for Mobile's Airbus plant. Airbus and Lockheed Martin will plan to build KC-Y tankers at BFM, if they are awarded the contract for the USAF: https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2022/01/ ... obile.html

Was quite excited when i saw this last week! I always had a really good idea that more would be built here, and here it comes! Should have already been going to begin with had whiney Boeing not slid the money under the table to tip the bid after their second loss. Will be nice to see this airport just keep on growing!

gdavis003 · Thu Feb 10, 2022 5:16 pm

A pair of somewhat boring and unexciting articles from the Birmingham Times that reaffirm my belief that the Airport Authority is lazy and is not properly prioritizing the actual needs of BHM.

https://www.birminghamtimes.com/2022/02 ... ames-2022/
https://www.birminghamtimes.com/2022/02 ... m-airport/

In short, they're adding LED lighting to places and making some cosmetic upgrades to the terminal, which was well-designed and is fantastic, but they haven't done the greatest job of maintaining. The chair refurbishment is actually a must, I was over in Concourse C the other week at the WN gates, where the covers were ripping off of the chairs. Not a good look. Most of these upgrades could have been avoided with proper maintenance and upkeep, and the LED lights for the parking garage are ridiculous.

The World Games are a great opportunity to show off this city, and while I constantly laugh whenever I drive down Red Mountain Expressway and see the countdown billboard, this is a big opportunity. I'm glad that they're planning to fix it up, but they seem to have new desire to attract a new carrier/new routes.

Scoots71 · Fri Feb 11, 2022 1:16 pm

gdavis003 wrote:
A pair of somewhat boring and unexciting articles from the Birmingham Times that reaffirm my belief that the Airport Authority is lazy and is not properly prioritizing the actual needs of BHM.

https://www.birminghamtimes.com/2022/02 ... ames-2022/
https://www.birminghamtimes.com/2022/02 ... m-airport/

In short, they're adding LED lighting to places and making some cosmetic upgrades to the terminal, which was well-designed and is fantastic, but they haven't done the greatest job of maintaining. The chair refurbishment is actually a must, I was over in Concourse C the other week at the WN gates, where the covers were ripping off of the chairs. Not a good look. Most of these upgrades could have been avoided with proper maintenance and upkeep, and the LED lights for the parking garage are ridiculous.

The World Games are a great opportunity to show off this city, and while I constantly laugh whenever I drive down Red Mountain Expressway and see the countdown billboard, this is a big opportunity. I'm glad that they're planning to fix it up, but they seem to have new desire to attract a new carrier/new routes.

Won’t be unrecognizable because it’s being properly maintained? Give me a break.

And what’s this about being the best small hub in the country. You can’t do that when all of your flights are only to hubs (or WN “focus cities”), and not even all of the major hubs at that. They’ve had the perfect opportunities to truly grow the airport with The World Games and new airlines coming around, and have squandered all of it.

gdavis003 · Sat Feb 12, 2022 6:37 pm

Scoots71 wrote:
gdavis003 wrote:
A pair of somewhat boring and unexciting articles from the Birmingham Times that reaffirm my belief that the Airport Authority is lazy and is not properly prioritizing the actual needs of BHM.

https://www.birminghamtimes.com/2022/02 ... ames-2022/
https://www.birminghamtimes.com/2022/02 ... m-airport/

In short, they're adding LED lighting to places and making some cosmetic upgrades to the terminal, which was well-designed and is fantastic, but they haven't done the greatest job of maintaining. The chair refurbishment is actually a must, I was over in Concourse C the other week at the WN gates, where the covers were ripping off of the chairs. Not a good look. Most of these upgrades could have been avoided with proper maintenance and upkeep, and the LED lights for the parking garage are ridiculous.

The World Games are a great opportunity to show off this city, and while I constantly laugh whenever I drive down Red Mountain Expressway and see the countdown billboard, this is a big opportunity. I'm glad that they're planning to fix it up, but they seem to have new desire to attract a new carrier/new routes.

Won’t be unrecognizable because it’s being properly maintained? Give me a break.

And what’s this about being the best small hub in the country. You can’t do that when all of your flights are only to hubs (or WN “focus cities”), and not even all of the major hubs at that. They’ve had the perfect opportunities to truly grow the airport with The World Games and new airlines coming around, and have squandered all of it.

It's pretty pathetic. I had high hopes for Mathieu when they announced his takeover, but he's a total disaster. They have failed to capitalize on any opportunities to recruit any new carriers or routes. HSV is doing a spectacular job, while Mathieu and his crew just sit idly and wait, and add LED lighting to the parking deck. It's sad that they have to make a big deal out of these minor refurbishments because they have done a poor job of maintaining the interior, especially the seats, of the new terminal in just a few short years. They made a whole stink about refinancing their debt so that they could attract Allegiant or someone similar but no traction on that.

By the way, what is it with this city and LED lighting? I find it hilarious that the lighting at the new 59/20/280 interchange stopped working so quickly too.

gdavis003 · Sat Feb 12, 2022 6:44 pm

Fixinthe757 wrote:
gdavis003 wrote:
More good news for Mobile's Airbus plant. Airbus and Lockheed Martin will plan to build KC-Y tankers at BFM, if they are awarded the contract for the USAF: https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2022/01/ ... obile.html

Was quite excited when i saw this last week! I always had a really good idea that more would be built here, and here it comes! Should have already been going to begin with had whiney Boeing not slid the money under the table to tip the bid after their second loss. Will be nice to see this airport just keep on growing!

The growth at BFM is pretty remarkable, not just for the Airbus plant, but it seems like VT is doing even more routine maintenance for FX and UPS than ever before. United also seems to have a C-Check line at BFM, and Air Canada has also been using the facilities a good bit, from what I can tell. Really nice expansion, can't wait for the new terminal. Mobile is really a gem, and I think that it will do wonders for the tourism industry in Mobile.

Fixinthe757 · Tue Feb 15, 2022 11:56 am

We have 4 lines of United heavy checks, the Air Canada planes are now gone, but we have 2 lines of A330 PtFcoming starting in April and Alaska checks coming as well. UPS and Fedex continue of course, plus more UPS at our Pensacola facility. So yes things are looking good here at ST

Scoots71 · Thu Feb 17, 2022 2:36 pm

Another article that from the Birmingham Business Journal about the Spirit/Frontier merger and effects on BHM. The way the BAA talks about this also makes it hard to have faith in them.

Frontier's failure at BHM a few years ago makes it hard to believe anything will happen, though that is more on Frontier for trying to use routes that already had plenty of reliably daily service at the time (DEN, PHL, MCO).

https://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/ ... ffect.html

diverdave · Thu Feb 17, 2022 4:56 pm

Scoots71 wrote:
Frontier's failure at BHM a few years ago makes it hard to believe anything will happen, though that is more on Frontier for trying to use routes that already had plenty of reliably daily service at the time (DEN, PHL, MCO).

Frontier seems to run an "out and back" flight model, which in part means you are only going to get service to one of their hubs or focus cities. Those would be Denver, CO; Las Vegas, NV, Orlando, Miami, Tampa, FL; Chicago IL & the Trenton/Philadelphia area.

I found this interesting article which shows the contrast with WN's model where aircraft almost hitch-hike around the country.

https://crankyflier.com/2022/02/10/fron ... -recovery/

I do think Frontier could give BHM-LAS or HSV-LAS a shot.

ATLgaUSA · Thu Feb 17, 2022 5:42 pm

diverdave wrote:
Scoots71 wrote:
Frontier's failure at BHM a few years ago makes it hard to believe anything will happen, though that is more on Frontier for trying to use routes that already had plenty of reliably daily service at the time (DEN, PHL, MCO).

Frontier seems to run an "out and back" flight model, which in part means you are only going to get service to one of their hubs or focus cities. Those would be Denver, CO; Las Vegas, NV, Orlando, Miami, Tampa, FL; Chicago IL & the Trenton/Philadelphia area.

I found this interesting article which shows the contrast with WN's model where aircraft almost hitch-hike around the country.

https://crankyflier.com/2022/02/10/fron ... -recovery/

I do think Frontier could give BHM-LAS or HSV-LAS a shot.

As I recall, F9 had a 88% load factor on its BHM routes and dropped it. If they couldn't make BHM work with those loads, I doubt they'll be back but I hope I'm wrong.

gdavis003 · Sun Feb 20, 2022 7:20 pm

AA summer schedule was updated, quick rundown of what’s in store for the 4 Alabama airports that AA serves.

BHM:
2x A319, 4x CRJ7/9 to DFW daily (much of the RJ service seems to be returning to Mesa this summer, with some on SkyWest)
1x A319, 4x CRJ7/9 to CLT daily (mainline flights to CLT resume on June 3, same as last year, with all regional flying on PSA)
2x CRJ7/9 to PHL daily (up from 1x currently)
3x CRJ7 to DCA daily (same as now)
1x E175 to MIA daily (currently at 2x, will go back to 1x on June 3)
1x E145 to ORD daily (same as now)
Saturday only MCO is not on the summer schedule at the moment, we’ll see if it returns

HSV:
3x E175, 2x E145 to DFW daily (all flights on Envoy)
4x CRJ7/9 to CLT daily (all flights on PSA)
1x E175 Saturday only to MIA (resumption of last year’s seasonal route
4x CRJ9 to DCA daily (all flights on PSA, same as current operations)
1x E145 to ORD daily (Envoy)

MGM:
2x CRJ9 to DFW daily (Mesa)
2x E145 to CLT daily (Piedmont)
1x CRJ7 to DCA daily (PSA)

MOB:
3x CRJ7 to DFW daily (SkyWest)
2x CRJ9, 1x E145 to CLT daily (PSA/Piedmont)

gdavis003 · Thu Mar 03, 2022 10:24 pm

As of tonight, the overnight DFW-MGM-DFW run switches from an E145 to the E175. Good to see MGM get some larger RJ's on the DFW route.

Contour's service from MSL to CLT also began this week. Operating 12x weekly.

Scoots71 · Tue Mar 08, 2022 2:47 pm

Big news for HSV. Looks like Breeze is adding an LAS route there.

Further ineptitude for Birmingham Airport Authority dropping the ball on many highly desired routes from the Breeze expansion as well...

MILakes · Tue Mar 08, 2022 3:58 pm

Looks like Breeze starts HSV-LAS Su/Th with evening HSV departure and red eye back. I suggested on Breeze forum there is a niche for long thinner routes to the west coast from HSV/BHM. Surprised Breeze expanded into more major markets instead of trying BHM.

As it is the HSV market can probably support a handful of routes 2-3x wk and the A220 brings in many more traditional opportunities out west (Pacific NW, LAS, LAX, PHX, etc).

ATLgaUSA · Tue Mar 08, 2022 9:05 pm

Scoots71 wrote:
Big news for HSV. Looks like Breeze is adding an LAS route there.

Further ineptitude for Birmingham Airport Authority dropping the ball on many highly desired routes from the Breeze expansion as well...

I honestly don't think the BAA is working to attract new entrants or routes. I think Mathieu came here to retire on active duty.

gdavis003 · Wed Mar 09, 2022 1:14 am

ATLgaUSA wrote:
Scoots71 wrote:
Big news for HSV. Looks like Breeze is adding an LAS route there.

Further ineptitude for Birmingham Airport Authority dropping the ball on many highly desired routes from the Breeze expansion as well...

I honestly don't think the BAA is working to attract new entrants or routes. I think Mathieu came here to retire on active duty.

He's getting paid a whole heap of money to do absolutely nothing - it's beyond frustrating. Breeze is adding routes to a city with a 36% load factor, while BHM remains idle.

CrimsonBeam · Wed Mar 09, 2022 1:55 am

Hope to see SEA soon!

MILakes · Wed Mar 09, 2022 4:17 pm

gdavis003 wrote:
ATLgaUSA wrote:
Scoots71 wrote:
Big news for HSV. Looks like Breeze is adding an LAS route there.

Further ineptitude for Birmingham Airport Authority dropping the ball on many highly desired routes from the Breeze expansion as well...

I honestly don't think the BAA is working to attract new entrants or routes. I think Mathieu came here to retire on active duty.

He's getting paid a whole heap of money to do absolutely nothing - it's beyond frustrating. Breeze is adding routes to a city with a 36% load factor, while BHM remains idle.

I think Breeze is looking at niche opportunity (and less than daily). And while I defer to your criticism of the BHM management, I think WN may have been a reason to try HSV instead.

gdavis003 · Wed Mar 09, 2022 11:51 pm

https://twitter.com/bhmairport/status/1 ... 22278?s=21

Breaking news! New improved cell service at BHM! Exactly what everyone was looking for. I’m really getting more and more flustered with the BAA by the minute

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