ASA taking over Freedom flying

[BoilerUP]

MCO-EYW? That one's going to be ugly. Max of 30 I bet.

AWAC doe (or did?) EYW-FLL and EYW-MCO...getting 50 into EYW is easy, 50 to FLL normally isn't a problem and I think the most I ever took to MCO was maybe 44.

I did have a ramper down there tell me ASA's 700s could take 70 folks out of EYW to ATL, though...

 

[USCtrojan]

The CR2 routes are MCO to: TYS, SDF, AVL, EYW, HSV, LEX, LIT, MSY, NAS, PFN, RDU, PNS, RIC. Also TPA-TLH.

Delta is completely pulling ATL-SCE, ACY, MEI, FSD and a couple of others I think.

Starting when?

Trojan

 

[USCtrojan]

Too bad that wasn't given to SKYW as rumored, oh yeh its our turn to shrink and be on reserve for years.

Serves you right for chasing an upgrade. Maybe you'll learn.....nahh, probably not.

Trojan

 

[Cpt Oveur]

Delta wants to pull out of MEI, but it's an EAS city, so they'll hit the city up for money and continue to serve the market with a larger subsidy from the government.

 

[wms]

The money doesn't come from the city, it comes from the FEDs for EAS or the city for locally subsidized service.

 

[Cpt Oveur]

The money doesn't come from the city, it comes from the FEDs for EAS or the city for locally subsidized service.

It really depends. Sometimes the city will kick in money for landing fees or leasing terminal space. Daytona beach gave air tran free landing fees for a year in an effort to subsidize service to more cities, LGA, BWI, ATL. Bibb County, where MCN is, is subsidizing some of the fees for ASA, in addition to the EAS program. EAS only covers fares.

 

[TOOL CRIB]

AWAC doe (or did?) EYW-FLL and EYW-MCO...getting 50 into EYW is easy, 50 to FLL normally isn't a problem and I think the most I ever took to MCO was maybe 44.

I did have a ramper down there tell me ASA's 700s could take 70 folks out of EYW to ATL, though...

Yeah but only in the most favorable conditions. Normally, no.

 

[JoeMerchant]

MEI-ATL is an EAS route....just like MCN-ATL...We all pay for people to fly from these cities through our taxes....

It's really ubsurd that we help pay for people to fly from MCN to ATL....More govt. waste......more waisted tax dollars...more pork....

 

[StrykerFL]

ASA in Orlando, don't think so

The CR2 routes are MCO to: TYS, SDF, AVL, EYW, HSV, LEX, LIT, MSY, NAS, PFN, RDU, PNS, RIC. Also TPA-TLH.

Not so sure about that one.


Delta Air Lines will slash service at Orlando International Airport

Jason Garcia | Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer
March 19, 2008

Delta Air Lines will slash the number of seats it flies to and from Orlando almost in half and eliminate nonstop service to seven cities as part of a nationwide retrenchment announced Tuesday to deal with record fuel costs and a slumping U.S. economy.

Orlando will be the hardest-hit market in the country when Delta grounds as many as 20 mainline jets and 25 regional jets systemwide. Airline officials said that, by June, the average number of seats that Delta flies to and from Orlando International Airport every week will be down nearly 45 percent compared with a year ago.

Nationwide, Delta will trim its capacity by 10 percent. The company also announced Tuesday that it will offer buyouts to 30,000 employees in hopes of eliminating at least 2,000 nonpilot jobs.

A Delta spokeswoman said Orlando was particularly affected by the reduction in capacity because the airline focused on paring "point-to-point" flights instead of more efficient "hub-and-spoke" flights.

"During a time in which we are dealing with record fuel prices, Delta has opted to streamline its network by reducing marginal routes, allowing us to better use our resources and maintain profitability," spokeswoman Susan Elliott said in an e-mail. "In the Orlando market, this means routing passengers through hubs that provide numerous domestic and international connection opportunities."

Delta's cuts include four routes from Orlando -- Charleston, S.C.; Columbia, S.C.; Greensboro, N.C.; and Little Rock, Ark. -- that are not currently flown nonstop by any other airline. It also will end nonstop service from Orlando to Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Las Vegas.

Elliott said Delta will "substantially" reduce flights from Orlando to other cities as well, including Boston; New Orleans; Richmond, Va.; Raleigh, N.C.; and Knoxville, Tenn.

The cuts continue a remarkable retreat for Delta , once the dominant airline in Orlando. It was supplanted in 2005 by Southwest Airlines as the busiest carrier at OIA and its market share has continued to erode.

Delta is now likely to tumble to at least No. 3, behind Southwest and Orlando-based AirTran Airways.

Mike Boyd, an aviation consultant in Evergreen, Colo., said many of Delta's service cuts should come as no surprise. Most of the Orlando flights to be eliminated were flown on smaller regional jets that, given skyrocketing fuel costs, "are guaranteed to lose money right now," he said.

"They never should have been operating some of that, anyway," Boyd said.

Delta said Tuesday that its fuel costs have climbed nearly 20 percent in the past three months alone -- and 85 percent since the start of 2007. The airline, which last year reported its first annual profit since 2000, said it now expects to pay $2.2 billion more for fuel in 2008 than it did in 2007.

Boyd said funneling passengers through hubs is more cost-effective because it allows an airline to steer more passengers onto particular flights and concentrate its resources. Flights to Orlando also make ripe cost-cutting targets because they are typically filled with tourists who are flying on the cheapest tickets available.

"Orlando's a nice place, but they'd rather carry people to Billings [Montana] or Bangor [Maine]" or other cities not as reliant on leisure traffic, he said.

Delta spokeswoman Elliott noted that the airline will not reduce any flights from Orlando to its hub cities, ensuring passengers will still have access to all of its cities on one-stop flights. Delta flies as many as 14 flights a day from Orlando to Atlanta, its chief hub, as well as multiple daily flights to secondary hubs in New York, Salt Lake City and Cincinnati.

It is also possible a low-cost airline such as Southwest, AirTran or JetBlue could step in to serve one or more of the nonstop routes Delta is abandoning. Executives from JetBlue, for instance, will be in Orlando today to trumpet expansion plans in Central Florida, though their announcement is unrelated to Delta's.

Kevin Healy, the senior vice president for marketing and planning at AirTran, noted that AirTran has grown rapidly at OIA.

"We've grown consistently here for several years and, generally speaking, when we've opened new markets, we've added nonstops to Orlando as well," Healy said. "We'll continue to look for opportunities to build here."

But it is unlikely anyone will step into Delta's former markets very soon. Even fast-growing low-cost carriers have been forced to pare their growth rates in the face of record fuel costs and a weakening economy.

Analysts say it is difficult for an airline to begin new service now because fuel prices make it almost impossible to offer the low, introductory fares typically needed to stimulate people's interest.

"Nobody's going to go in there," Boyd said of the markets Delta will pull out of, "because even a low-fare carrier like Southwest isn't crazy enough to fly from Columbia to Orlando."

 

[rumrnr78]

The money doesn't come from the city, it comes from the FEDs for EAS or the city for locally subsidized service.

Jackie Chiles: "Money from the Fed's?, now your talking my kind of action!" "Your cities EAS disgrace is my case!" "Janet, get WMS on the phone!"

Cheers-Rum