Airtran gives up monopoly to Flint

[dfw]

AirTran hasn't been ran out of market by DL? I can think of one right away...Toledo. AirTran came into the market and dropped fares. Delta in turn beefed up capacity with CR7s to ATL and going to 8 (now 9) daily flights to CVG. Delta increase capacity, dumped fares when they saw their market share drop too much. Eventually they were able to grab 60% market share again and FL left.

Of course...FL also shot themselves in the foot by not rationalizing fares to a more profitable level. They only bothered to send advertising materials on dirt cheap fares, never a product directed towards businesses. Oops. Oh well...Owens Corning, Dana, OI, etc...all loved their SkyMiles I guess.

 

[mad691]

Airtran ran Delta "mainline" out BUF,ROC, and CAK. All used to have mailine flights out of ATL. So it goes both ways.

 

[dfw]

Yup it does go both ways. CAK is a bad example. 9/11 screwed the whole mainline idea there...initially it was suppose to be 3 daily MD-88s...then it went to 1 when all hell broke loose...then the CR7s became more viable.

However, they each have a win or two in their back pocket.

 

[General Lee]

Mad691,

Was it Airtran kicking the DL flights out of those cities, or the airplanes themselves doing it? If I remember it right, mostly 727s went into those cities, and after 9-11 we parked all of them. Sure, if they were really profitable, Delta probably would have put some MD-88s etc into those cities, but those MD-88s and 737s are still flying to their same cities. As we continue to bring out more 737-200s from the desert, maybe we will add them back to those cities---but in the mean time I hope our Comair 70 seaters are filling up--which I am sure they are. We have added some primarily Airtran cities---like Freeport and now Flint--- and we will try to take some of their market share or just create more for everybody. We shall see how everybody does.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[flx757]

General,

I for one, got the joke. However, AirTran serving FNT was never aimed necessarily at Flint itself. It was, and is, marketed as a very attractive alternative to DTW, and has worked quite well as evidenced by the large numbers of passengers who prefer to drive to FNT for the fares and the far less hassle travel experience compared to DTW. Personally, I think AirTran made an excellent move by serving FNT and drawing a huge number of passengers away from DTW, as evidenced by the consistently high load factors and ever increasing service from FNT. Evidently, DAL has seen this and is attempting to draw upon some of this traffic for itself.

 

[General Lee]

FLX757,

I agree with you. Airtran did see it as a good alternative, and they have been successful. It isn't like Airtran never went to Detroit-----because Valuejet did way back when. And, DCI also flew into FNT---from CVG. I am glad you saw my joke in all of this.

Bye bye--General Lee

 

[General Lee]

Kingairer,

As I remember it, Detroit City was not a very friendly "airline" city due to it's size. The runways were long enough, but really skinny---I believe 75 feet wide. Sure, that is probably enough for most mid-sized jets, but I believe it was pretty narrow when the snow would build up on the sides. I know Southwest went in there for awhile (I think?) and the Proair guys---ofcourse.

Bye bye--General Lee

 

[dfw]

DET's problem...the short runway. Southwest wanted it expanded, but the city refused...so they packed up the rest of operation and moved it to Metro (they were using both airports at the same time). The other thing with DET...you have a graveyard at the end of the runways. Short runway...graveyard...I can see a problem with this.

 

[Ty Webb]

Yeah, I can just see the news report, "A Beech 1900 has crashed upon takeoff . . . . so far, authorities have recovered 47 bodies. .. . Film at 11:00".

 

[FLB717]

Les,
Yeah you are right about jumping the gun on the saftey issue. I recalled some of your previous posts on the topic, sorry. BTW who do you fly for? I dont believe you have said.

And yes it is more fun to drink and read these forums.

 

[fokkerjet]

Detroit City

City airport has only one runway suitable for large aircraft, 15 - 33 and it's 5715' x 100, if you use the "private" portion of the taxiway / runway. Both ends have ILS approaches down to 250' and 1 mile.

Southwest, when they flew there, only seviced IND and MDW nonstop, and ProAir didn't go much further, maybe ATL, even through they had direct service to Florida on the weekends. (fuel stop enroute)

I did hear on the radio not to long ago, Delta (i believe) was going to start service out of City again. I'm sure it was ComAir or ASA, going to CVG or ATL.

If you ever travel into City Airport, make sure you're "packing some heat" because I don't know anybody that wants to go to that part of town, in daylight, let alone after dark.

As far as Flint goes, a very large percentage of the population of Detroit lives in the northern suburbs making FNT an easy commute for millions of protential customers. The disadvantage to FNT might be the lack of airline traffic, or choices on one hand, but on the other hand, that lack of traffic means fewer delays, close-in, cheap parking and you don't have to put up with Northworst.