Rumor Around XNA, New Airlines Entering Market

DeltaXNA · Thu May 29, 2014 7:00 am

A few people have seen the news, but I haven't. People are saying that we are supposedly getting new airlines. Southwest and Jetblue are rumored. I would think southwest is more likely. Does anyone else know anything?

Cactus739 · Thu May 29, 2014 7:32 am

I would love to see Southwest come here but with everything they have going on right now with DAL opening up in October I wouldn't expect to see them add any new cities....and they are just right down the road in tulsa. As for JetBlue they have essentially zero presence anywhere in the mid continent area so I wouldn't hold my breath for them either unless they could run an LGA flight. Every time I'm on an Eagle/Envoy flight to LGA it's packed.

If I were a betting man or had anything to bet, my money would be on Frontier. I think XNA would be prime for one of their 3-4 times a week cities, probably from DEN. Other than a line ERJ to DEN and a CRJ to LAX heading west from here is incredibly inconvenient.

SouthernDC9 · Mon Jun 02, 2014 9:35 pm

Quoting cactus739 (Reply 1):
Other than a line ERJ to DEN and a CRJ to LAX heading west from here is incredibly inconvenient.

Doesn't AA through DFW probably serve that direction pretty well? Though as DL seems to be building up their presence quite a bit, I would not be surprised to see them launch SLC... and/or (less likely) to see the new AA connect XNA to PHX?

I'm with you though that XNA would probably be a great spot for F9 to try out... UA has a pretty sad presence in XNA, though I assume it meets what they see as their needs... (I was there this past Tuesday and there seemed to be a UA CR7 going to IAH, but I couldn't figure out if that was a regular thing now...)

flyby519 · Mon Jun 02, 2014 9:52 pm

I'd bet on WN/F9/NK, B6 would be a big shock.

mayor · Mon Jun 02, 2014 10:09 pm

Personally, I'd rather see more service (in more directions) from here in FSM on DL, than more service out of XNA. No particular business case for it.....more out of selfishness than anything else.

PA727 · Tue Jun 03, 2014 2:55 am

Just a hunch, but are the rumors concerning new scheduled service, or perhaps just charters from carriers not normally seen at XNA like WN or B6? This week is the annual Walmart Shareholders' Meeting and as usual there are a couple WN charters, AA and DL upgauges and others bringing in the groups.

Regarding any new regularly scheduled service, my guess is F9 would be the most logical choice if any. WN is too close in TUL and LIT, while B6 has many, many more mid-con markets to consider before someplace like XNA would make any sense.

As for NK, sure, it's possible, G4 seems to do fairly well here. My guess would be if NK entered the market, G4 would probably cut bait.

The area seems to be resuming its growth after a couple of slow years, so new service may be in the offing, but AA has a pretty good corner on the market.

PA727

SurfandSnow · Tue Jun 03, 2014 5:24 am

I have long thought that XNA would be a great addition for F9, something like a 3x weekly DEN-XNA service. If they're able to do stuff like MOT and SUX from DEN then XNA should be a piece of cake (although it would probably be the final straw for their DEN-BKG service).

I simply cannot see XNA working for any other airline. If significantly larger Southern markets like TYS, HSV and JAN won't work for WN, then there is no way XNA is even a serious contender for canyon blue service. It's pretty easy for Northwest Arkansans to drive to TUL, LIT, or even MCI for WN flights anyways.

B6 couldn't even make BNA work, absolutely no chance they're even thinking of trying XNA.

NK has thus far been focused on markets much larger than XNA, but you never know what they'll do next. Still, I think they have much bigger fish to fry (i.e. Austin, Charlotte, Cleveland, Nashville, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Seattle) than Northwest Arkansas.

Other than F9, I'd say XNA's best bet for new service would be to work with existing carriers. AA to MIA, PHL, DCA, and/or PHX (in order from most to least likely); DL to SLC; G4 expansion (AZA, OAK, PIE, etc.) seem like plausible opportunities to me.

DeltaXNA · Tue Jun 03, 2014 5:27 am

Quoting SouthernDC9 (Reply 2):
I was there this past Tuesday and there seemed to be a UA CR7 going to IAH, but I couldn't figure out if that was a regular thing now

I was there working that flight, that was a charter. UA does not fly anything regularly with 1st class into XNA. CR2 and ERJ only.

mayor · Tue Jun 03, 2014 4:10 pm

Quoting Surfandsnow (Reply 6):
It's pretty easy for Northwest Arkansans to drive to TUL, LIT, or even MCI for WN flights anyways.

Except in the winter.

Quoting Surfandsnow (Reply 6):
DL to SLC

This would be startup of a route that was there right after DFW was closed as a hub. Some of the routes moved to SLC and this was one of them.

sfjeff · Tue Jun 03, 2014 4:37 pm

Quoting SouthernDC9 (Reply 2):
UA has a pretty sad presence in XNA

I wonder if an XNA-SFO CR7 flight would be viable if timed for Asian connections. I have flown XNA-LAX on an American Eagle CR7 and it was not a bad flight at all.

SouthernDC9 · Tue Jun 03, 2014 7:19 pm

Quoting Surfandsnow (Reply 6):
I simply cannot see XNA working for any other airline. If significantly larger Southern markets like TYS, HSV and JAN won't work for WN, then there is no way XNA is even a serious contender for canyon blue service. It's pretty easy for Northwest Arkansans to drive to TUL, LIT, or even MCI for WN flights anyways.

Tulsa, yes, though I suspect there are not a lot of fares low enough to justify the added time/expense... LIT and MCI, those are pretty long hauls - LIT is about 3 hours, MCI is I believe maybe closer to 4 hours. But all of that is fairly irrelevant, as I agree with you that XNA would probably not be the right fit for WN, or at least not a priority for them given all they have going on. (WN did advertise BKG service in NW AR, fwiw.)

Also, I suspect that all things considered XNA is a more robust, if not numerically bigger, market than JAN, bless its little heart (though NW Arkansas is a sizable area, so I wouldn't be surprised if it does best poor little JAN.)

mariner · Tue Jun 03, 2014 7:32 pm

Quoting Surfandsnow (Reply 6):
I have long thought that XNA would be a great addition for F9, something like a 3x weekly DEN-XNA service. If they're able to do stuff like MOT and SUX from DEN then XNA should be a piece of cake (although it would probably be the final straw for their DEN-BKG service).

I'd be very sorry to see BKG go, but I wonder if there is any market XNA-IAD?

The "all to DEN" days at Frontier appear to be over.

mariner

[Edited 2014-06-03 12:34:31]

razorbackfan · Tue Jun 03, 2014 7:43 pm

XNA could really use some competition to help lower the fares, and while I'd love for Southwest to come to XNA, its most likely F9. Personally I'm sick of making the drive by-weekly from Dallas to NWA!

SouthernDC9 · Tue Jun 03, 2014 8:42 pm

Quoting DeltaXNA (Reply 7):
I was there working that flight, that was a charter. UA does not fly anything regularly with 1st class into XNA. CR2 and ERJ only.

I'm not just saying this, the DL people at XNA are all pretty great (not sure whether y'all work for DL or handle all the airlines, but either way people workign the DL flights have always been super.)

Quoting mariner (Reply 11):
I'd be very sorry to see BKG go, but I wonder if there is any market XNA-IAD?

I think a while back AA tried XNA-DCA and more recently US tried that route, neither effort seemed to work - for me personally, the US timing was pretty dreadful, but that's neither here nor there in the scheme of things... but as I recall that was one of the very short-lived flights introduced by US after the slot swap.

migair54 · Wed Jun 04, 2014 11:41 am

Quoting razorbackfan (Reply 12):
XNA could really use some competition to help lower the fares, and while I'd love for Southwest to come to XNA, its most likely F9. Personally I'm sick of making the drive by-weekly from Dallas to NWA!

Im planning a visit to Bentonville in November and the fares are so high, I saw nothing cheaper than 350 USD, and funny part is that I try ORD to XNA and the cheapest fare is ORD-ATL-XNA then I go to Delta to book and the direct ATL-XNA is 462 USD and the cheapest from ATL to XNA is with AA via ORD or DFW, it's so crazy .

razorbackfan · Wed Jun 04, 2014 2:45 pm

Quoting migair54 (Reply 14):

Your right, the fares are crazy high. From DFW on AA the fare is typically around $400 round trip, to fly to say Tulsa the roundtrip is $180. My company says I have to rent a car and drive vs paying the $400 (which makes sense), while I've flown to TUL a few times, its not worth the time hassle at all. If your wanting to save some money I would look at flying into TUL, its about a 2 hour drive to Bentonville. Worth it if you can save a few hundred especially if there is more then one person coming.

JetBlueCLT · Wed Jun 04, 2014 2:56 pm

If it was jetBlue... I'd fall over and throw a party after I got up. I've been making trips to XNA for years on US or DL... Obviously my username speaks for itself on the airline that I prefer.

In reality I highly doubt it is jetBlue... But you never know in this industry... Incentives could bring anyone in if it's the right deal.

wnflyguy · Wed Jun 04, 2014 2:57 pm

It's not WN.
Most likely a ULCC airline.
Flyguy

razorbackfan · Wed Jun 04, 2014 4:37 pm

DeltaXNA...what are the rumors that your hearing? While this would be great news, I'm skeptical because I've been waiting for this news for so long.

CitrusCritter · Wed Jun 04, 2014 5:19 pm

Quoting Surfandsnow (Reply 6):
I simply cannot see XNA working for any other airline. If significantly larger Southern markets like TYS, HSV and JAN won't work for WN, then there is no way XNA is even a serious contender for canyon blue service.

How has WN done at GSP? I believe BNA service is ending?

DeltaXNA · Wed Jun 04, 2014 5:47 pm

Quoting razorbackfan (Reply 18):
DeltaXNA...what are the rumors that your hearing? While this would be great news, I'm skeptical because I've been waiting for this news for so long.

Our station manager and a few other rampers were saying that they saw something on the news about new airlines at XNA. They said we may be getting 2 or 3 new airlines.

I never saw the news, but I am guessing it was really about the airport trying to attract new carriers.

mayor · Wed Jun 04, 2014 6:23 pm

Quoting DeltaXNA (Reply 20):
I never saw the news, but I am guessing it was really about the airport trying to attract new carriers.

I believe I saw that piece and that's exactly what it was about and that is all.

iyerhari · Wed Jun 04, 2014 6:26 pm

If B6 ever comes, there's a chance there will be a direct flight to BOS which seems highly unlikely

Dallas · Wed Jun 04, 2014 6:48 pm

Quoting DeltaXNA (Reply 20):
Our station manager and a few other rampers were saying that they saw something on the news about new airlines at XNA. They said we may be getting 2 or 3 new airlines.

2-3 airlines coming in at once I would think is very rare. My bet would be on F9, and I couldn't see why WN would enter since they fly to TUL and LIT. They also just pulled out of JAN, BKG, and EYW, and I don't see them adding any new cities in the near future.

Hoping it is F9 or B6!

mayor · Wed Jun 04, 2014 6:59 pm

Quoting SouthernDC9 (Reply 10):
LIT and MCI, those are pretty long hauls - LIT is about 3 hours

More like 3.5+ between Fayetteville and LIT (more if you're considering Bentonville, Springdale and Rogers). LIT is about 2.5 hours from FSM and FSM is at least an hour from Fayettville.......more from the other towns I mentioned.

JetBlueCLT · Wed Jun 04, 2014 7:03 pm

If it was B6... I think it would be 2 daily JFK.

JFK-XNA 8am dep 935 arrival with the CDT
JFK-XNA 4pm dep 535pm arrival with CDT

XNA-JFK 1010am dep 135pm arrival with EDT
XNA-JFK 615pm dep 915pm arrival with EDT that would be a good arrival,connects to the last JetBlue bank of the night.

This is schedule is just me playing around with what could or couldn't be logical.

Cactus739 · Thu Jun 05, 2014 1:54 pm

Quoting migair54 (Reply 14):
Im planning a visit to Bentonville in November and the fares are so high, I saw nothing cheaper than 350 USD, and funny part is that I try ORD to XNA and the cheapest fare is ORD-ATL-XNA then I go to Delta to book and the direct ATL-XNA is 462 USD and the cheapest from ATL to XNA is with AA via ORD or DFW, it's so crazy .

The simple answer is that this is a business market, not a leisure market. The world's largest corporation is based here and the amount of people coming here to do business with Walmart is insane. The business travellers in cities like ORD and ATL when they have business to tend to here they need to get here and get home as quickly as possible. They aren't going to connect somewhere if they can avoid it and the airlines know this so they charge as much as they want. The leisure travellers have time to connect so you'll see those fares cheaper.

If you're paying for your ticket and want to save some money check Tulsa. I've saved upwards of $200 flying in and out of there instead of XNA and the drive down US 412 is easy as pie.

JetBlueCLT · Thu Jun 05, 2014 2:26 pm

Quoting cactus739 (Reply 26):

That's funny you say that, my final destination is always TUL but I always fly to XNA because it's half the cost ..

With US starting CLT-TUL, there will be no need for connecting!

SouthernDC9 · Thu Jun 05, 2014 3:06 pm

I never dreamed XNA would be a cheaper alternative to anything until I tried flying into Springfield, MO, where my sister lives - holy cow! Obviously smaller market, less competition, fewer flights, etc - my mom lives in Fayetteville so she just picked me up on her way...

I alas have never found a fare into Tulsa that was worth (my mom) making the drive...

Cactus739 · Thu Jun 05, 2014 3:34 pm

Quoting SouthernDC9 (Reply 28):
I alas have never found a fare into Tulsa that was worth (my mom) making the drive...

I don't use Tulsa often... but when I have I've only bothered when i saved about $200 flying to Phoenix. Next week I'm actually driving up to Kansas City for a flight, but that one was booked using reward miles and I couldn't find anything out of XNA.

Springfield, Joplin and Fort Smith are all horribly expensive too.

Anyone know what the X in XNA is for? I chuckled when I heard it.

SouthernDC9 · Thu Jun 05, 2014 3:42 pm

Quoting cactus739 (Reply 29):
Anyone know what the X in XNA is for? I chuckled when I heard it.

I've always thought it was meant "cross" or "across" Northwest Arkansas, like cross-country skiing is sometimes referred to as XC skiing, something like that... it's really nice though, just sort of rolls off the tongue - "exenay"...

razorbackfan · Thu Jun 05, 2014 4:05 pm

Quoting cactus739 (Reply 29):

XNA doesn't stand for anything in particular. When the airport was built, they didn't have a lot of options and NWA was already taken. The X is a random letter and NA stands for Northern Arkansas.

Quoting SouthernDC9 (Reply 30):

I agree...it totally rolls off the tongue....I just wish all airlines would call it it Northwest Arkansas Regional. A lot still call it Fayetteville...which is annoying.

ozark1 · Thu Jun 05, 2014 4:11 pm

When word gets out about the absolutely stunning Crystal Bridges Museum there, I think XNA has the potential to draw in a lot of people in addition to the Wal Mart employees.

Cactus739 · Thu Jun 05, 2014 4:25 pm

When it was being built they chose XNA because it was an eXciting New Airport (straight from flyxna.com) I've also heard it was for eXciting Northwest Arkansas....

Quoting razorbackfan (Reply 31):
I agree...it totally rolls off the tongue....I just wish all airlines would call it it Northwest Arkansas Regional. A lot still call it Fayetteville...which is annoying.

in December I was flying CLT-XNA... in all their wisdom some US employee decided to put a Fayetteville NC flight right beside my Fayetteville AR flight... that caused a wee bit of confusion... I do agree that Northwest Arkansas should be standardized across all airlines... I think Allegiant calls it Fayetteville/Springdale, at least they used to.

mayor · Thu Jun 05, 2014 5:45 pm

Quoting razorbackfan (Reply 31):
I agree...it totally rolls off the tongue....I just wish all airlines would call it it Northwest Arkansas Regional. A lot still call it Fayetteville...which is annoying.

I've always called it Wal Mart Regional Airport, for obvious reasons.

fjnovak1 · Thu Jun 05, 2014 6:17 pm

One time when I was flying MSP-XNA on NW Airlink the departure board at the gate at MSP said:

NW ARK RGL AIRPORT

I come up with my rollaboard and the lady working the desk asks me if I'm going to "wherever this is"? LOL

mayor · Thu Jun 05, 2014 6:25 pm

One time while trying to get on a ATL-FSM flight, the gate agent made an announcement of the flight going to Fort Smith, Arizona.......mistaking the AR for Arizona instead of Arkansas. Most of us corrected her, pretty quickly.

Of course, when I worked in SLC, about half of the rampers working a flight, had no idea what the destination was of the flights they were working.

[Edited 2014-06-05 11:27:40]

fjnovak1 · Thu Jun 05, 2014 6:55 pm

Oh I can top that one. United boarding passes to XNA used to list the destination city as Bentonville, AK. This lasted for the better part of a couple years. As recently as 2011 UA would put Bentonville on the boarding pass but Fayetteville on the departure screen.

mtnwest1979 · Thu Jun 05, 2014 7:35 pm

Quoting fjnovak1 (Reply 37):
Oh I can top that one. United boarding passes to XNA used to list the destination city as Bentonville, AK. This lasted for the better part of a couple years. As recently as 2011 UA would put Bentonville on the boarding pass but Fayetteville on the departure screen.

Bentonville, Alaska?

They should go with Northwest Arkansas Airport, serving Fayetteville, Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, Highfill, and so on lol.

Only been there once. Flew OO from SLC in and OO to DEN out. Nice area I thought.

kann123air · Thu Jun 05, 2014 7:43 pm

I'd love to see more service out of FSM, but I really don't believe it'll happen. What can we sustain other than DFW and ATL? ORD? Maybe CLT? IAH? They all seem unlikely.

As for XNA, the more the merrier! WN or F9 would be great!

[Edited 2014-06-05 12:44:40]

razorbackfan · Thu Jun 05, 2014 8:18 pm

Quoting kann123air (Reply 39):

I've flown outta FSM before because of cost savings vs XNA...but I honestly wish they would quit service to the airport. The volume is so low and its close to other airports that the expenses from the tax payers I don't think is worth it.

fjnovak1 · Thu Jun 05, 2014 9:34 pm

I flew from FSM once in the five years I lived in NW Arkansas. Nice airport. Rocking chairs and couches in the gate area!

SouthernDC9 · Thu Jun 05, 2014 9:42 pm

In my admittedly limited experience, it seems that on the arrival/departures boards, where things are arranged alphabetically and thus the first letters are vital, it is generally listed as "Northwest Arkansas Regional..." - i.e. so it's found under N - others' experience may vary, of course. If it's not standardized there it absolutely should be, since the arrangement is so important.

But yeah at the gate it's like a box of chocolates...

kann123air · Fri Jun 06, 2014 1:18 am

Quoting razorbackfan (Reply 40):

So leave a city with a population of about 85,000 with no option but to drive nearly an hour and a half to XNA for commercial service? I sure hope not!

That's kinda like telling Fayetteville residents in the 1990s to get rid of FYV, and just use TUL instead.

Quoting fjnovak1 (Reply 41):

Indeed. Wonderful little airport. Voted best public bathroom in the world in 2005!

[Edited 2014-06-05 18:22:16]

fjnovak1 · Fri Jun 06, 2014 3:28 am

I've seen inconsistencies even within airlines - at MEM, Delta usually referred to XNA as "Northwest Arkansas" both at the gate and on the departure monitors, yet at DTW, its 'Fayetteville, AR' both on the GIDS screen and the departure monitors. ATL used to say 'Fayetteville, AR' but I believe now they use 'Northwest Arkansas' as well. Can be very confusing for anyone not an experienced traveler.

mayor · Fri Jun 06, 2014 4:26 am

Quoting kann123air (Reply 39):
I'd love to see more service out of FSM, but I really don't believe it'll happen. What can we sustain other than DFW and ATL? ORD? Maybe CLT? IAH? They all seem unlikely.

I wouldn't mind seeing some service to SLC.

Quoting kann123air (Reply 43):
So leave a city with a population of about 85,000 with no option but to drive nearly an hour and a half to XNA for commercial service? I sure hope not!

And that's just the "official" population numbers. At one time, FSM was the second largest city in Arkansas, after LIT.

Quoting razorbackfan (Reply 40):
I've flown outta FSM before because of cost savings vs XNA...but I honestly wish they would quit service to the airport. The volume is so low and its close to other airports that the expenses from the tax payers I don't think is worth it.

I think maybe instead of building an airport out in the middle of nowhere (Highfill, AR?) They should have expanded FSM (if they were bent on not using Drake Field)........FSM is pretty equidistant from SW Arkansas and NW Arkansas and still could pick up a lot of traffic from the cities and towns in eastern Oklahoma. But they had to go and build "Wal Mart Regional Airport" because someone had some land to sell near "Highfill, Ark".

There were times when I would drive to TUL to get to SLC, usually during the times when DL didn't operate here or we'd drive to XNA when DL still had SLC service. But, honestly, FSM is SO close (about 10 minutes from our house) that it's almost worth it to go thru ATL to get to SLC or DEN (depending on where the grandkids are living at the time....DEN currently).
It actually wasn't bad when the DL flights went to MEM, but we know how that ended up.

sfjeff · Fri Jun 06, 2014 4:09 pm

Quoting mayor (Reply 45):
They should have expanded FSM (if they were bent on not using Drake Field)

The Fort Smith MSA has an estimated 2013 population of about 279,000. The Fayetteville/Springdale/Rogers/Bentonville MSA has an estimated 2013 population of about 491,000, and is a very rapidly growing area, and mostly to the north and west, closer and closer to XNA. Not only that, driving from Fayetteville to Springdale in the wintertime can be a problem. When I was in college 40 years ago, there were proposals to build a new airport at Tontitown. That would have been somewhat more convenient than XNA. But drive to FSM? I just don't think that would have been realistic.

SouthernDC9 · Fri Jun 06, 2014 4:22 pm

Quoting kann123air (Reply 43):
Voted best public bathroom in the world in 2005!

Seriously? Because honestly, the restrooms there are quite spectacular.

I also love how when you get off the plane and you're walking through the terminal to baggage claim, a lot of the ads are for these very esoteric retail-related programs - metrics, analytics, etc etc etc... you know you're in WalMart land.

mayor · Fri Jun 06, 2014 5:01 pm

Quoting sfjeff (Reply 46):
That would have been somewhat more convenient than XNA. But drive to FSM? I just don't think that would have been realistic.

And the same goes for people driving from FSM to NW Arkanas.......it's a PIA in the winter.

Quoting sfjeff (Reply 46):
The Fort Smith MSA has an estimated 2013 population of about 279,000. The Fayetteville/Springdale/Rogers/Bentonville MSA has an estimated 2013 population of about 491,000, and is a very rapidly growing area, and mostly to the north and west, closer and closer to XNA. Not only that, driving from Fayetteville to Springdale in the wintertime can be a problem. When I was in college 40 years ago, there were proposals to build a new airport at Tontitown. That would have been somewhat more convenient than XNA. But drive to FSM? I just don't think that would have been realistic.

BUT, what was it back when XNA was built, in the late 90s, early 00s? I'd bet it was much different....more equal or even reversed. However WalMart is probably the difference maker, here. Why do you suppose the airport is closer to Bentonville rather than Springdale, Rogers and Fayetteville? I'd say it was Wally World.

razorbackfan · Fri Jun 06, 2014 5:29 pm

Quoting mayor (Reply 48):

I don't have the populations handy of when XNA...but I still think NWA was much bigger. Also, how much business traffic does FSM get going to Fort Smith vs. XNA? There is no comparison there .

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