Isn't this role currently filled by the likes of existing 121, supplemental 121 or 125 carriers?Ty Webb said:My bet is that when it happens, it'll be high-volume, cherry- picked routes, serving a few thousand major customers in a few dozen easily-accessible destinations . . . . in other words, they'll just skim off some of the cream.
The US already has operators that can contract quite easily fill the void in markets where additional lift is needed. Also, those carriers have the ability to offer ACMI "wet" or dry leases to other airlines as needed (Southern & China Cargo, Atlas & China Airlines Cargo, World and everyone under the sun, etc).
The infrastructure costs alone to support an LCC operation IMO are prohibitive. It would have to be incredibly capitalized to start up the operation, and these expenses would certainly have to be passed on to the new customers. About the only way they might be able to do it would be to operate at citypairs where they solely can rely on freight consolidators and forwarders to fill their flights. But again, that's quite a risk as an upstart company to place the ground portion of your operation in the hands of another company.