Juan Tugo
Fire for effect...
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2003
- Posts
- 86
From the Las Vegas SUN:
McCarran International Airport officials say they would have no problem accommodating late-night flights by Southwest Airlines if the company chooses to implement a red-eye schedule.
The Dallas-based carrier, McCarran's busiest, confirmed Wednesday that it is considering adding late-night flights between Las Vegas and several destinations east of the Mississippi River.
Southwest currently doesn't have many late operations because it has focused on other opportunities, company officials said. Chief Executive Gary Kelly said Tuesday at a New York conference sponsored by Citigroup Smith Barney that because Southwest has added so many East Coast destinations since 1996 that it now makes sense for the airline to consider late-night options.
Randy Walker, director of the Clark County Department of Aviation, said McCarran would be able to accommodate the additional night flying if Southwest wants it.
"Many people don't realize that one of the busiest times of the day for us is between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m.," Walker said. "Southwest would have to work out the logistics, but of their 19 gates, eight don't have a plane parked overnight. There's also five parking spaces (for overnighted aircraft) on the east side of the C gates, so they could easily get up to a dozen more operations."
Walker said several airlines have red-eye flights to and from Las Vegas.
Between the hours of 9 p.m. and 2 a.m., most days, America West and its America West Express commuter partner have 51 flights -- 47 percent of their operations. Southwest has 15 flights, or 8 percent of its total, during those hours.
In addition, Delta offers five late-night flights, Northwest has four, Continental, American and US Airways have three each, Alaska and Ted have two each and JetBlue, Spirit and AirTran each have one.
Walker said Southwest can operate its ticket counters at whatever hours it chooses. The only operational adjustments McCarran would have to make is whether to order certain food and beverage retail operations in the concourse to remain open later hours.
Officials with Tempe, Ariz.-based America West had no comment on Southwest's plans, since the airline hasn't announced any specific schedule.
America West has developed a "bank hubbing" operation at McCarran in the late-night hours. Walker explained that means that the airline arranges its schedule to bring a large number of planes into Las Vegas within a span of about an hour so that arriving passengers can transfer to planes heading for other destinations. Walker said the airline has two distinct late-night banks in place at McCarran to move traffic throughout the company's route system.
Robert Mann, an analyst with R.W. Mann & Associates, Port Washington, N.Y., said Southwest's possible entry into the late-night arena and other recently announced moves "appear to be opportunistic shots across the bows of the other low-fare carriers."
Mann noted that Southwest's push to develop more flights at Chicago's Midway Airport is a clear poke at the AirTran Airways, which is vying with Southwest to take over gates being abandoned by bankrupt ATA Airlines.
"The late-night flights are pretty well aimed at America West," Mann said. "For a decade or more, America West has pretty much had a monopoly on nighttime Las Vegas service.
"Historically, Southwest has not done a lot of night flying because they do their maintenance overnight," he said. "They're obviously considering whether night flying would degrade their product."
Mann said America West, which is now marketing itself as the nation's No. 2 low-cost air carrier, would defend its turf with its wholesalers and its America West Vacations packaging product.
"America West clearly has the better stable of wholesalers," Mann said. "America West Vacations has been the No. 1 operator in the Las Vegas market, so they have a pretty good head start with brand loyalty.
"But you can't count out Shamu, the Killer Whale, out of any food fight," he said. Three of Southwest's planes are painted like killer whales, a tribute to the company's partnership with Sea World theme parks.
McCarran International Airport officials say they would have no problem accommodating late-night flights by Southwest Airlines if the company chooses to implement a red-eye schedule.
The Dallas-based carrier, McCarran's busiest, confirmed Wednesday that it is considering adding late-night flights between Las Vegas and several destinations east of the Mississippi River.
Southwest currently doesn't have many late operations because it has focused on other opportunities, company officials said. Chief Executive Gary Kelly said Tuesday at a New York conference sponsored by Citigroup Smith Barney that because Southwest has added so many East Coast destinations since 1996 that it now makes sense for the airline to consider late-night options.
Randy Walker, director of the Clark County Department of Aviation, said McCarran would be able to accommodate the additional night flying if Southwest wants it.
"Many people don't realize that one of the busiest times of the day for us is between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m.," Walker said. "Southwest would have to work out the logistics, but of their 19 gates, eight don't have a plane parked overnight. There's also five parking spaces (for overnighted aircraft) on the east side of the C gates, so they could easily get up to a dozen more operations."
Walker said several airlines have red-eye flights to and from Las Vegas.
Between the hours of 9 p.m. and 2 a.m., most days, America West and its America West Express commuter partner have 51 flights -- 47 percent of their operations. Southwest has 15 flights, or 8 percent of its total, during those hours.
In addition, Delta offers five late-night flights, Northwest has four, Continental, American and US Airways have three each, Alaska and Ted have two each and JetBlue, Spirit and AirTran each have one.
Walker said Southwest can operate its ticket counters at whatever hours it chooses. The only operational adjustments McCarran would have to make is whether to order certain food and beverage retail operations in the concourse to remain open later hours.
Officials with Tempe, Ariz.-based America West had no comment on Southwest's plans, since the airline hasn't announced any specific schedule.
America West has developed a "bank hubbing" operation at McCarran in the late-night hours. Walker explained that means that the airline arranges its schedule to bring a large number of planes into Las Vegas within a span of about an hour so that arriving passengers can transfer to planes heading for other destinations. Walker said the airline has two distinct late-night banks in place at McCarran to move traffic throughout the company's route system.
Robert Mann, an analyst with R.W. Mann & Associates, Port Washington, N.Y., said Southwest's possible entry into the late-night arena and other recently announced moves "appear to be opportunistic shots across the bows of the other low-fare carriers."
Mann noted that Southwest's push to develop more flights at Chicago's Midway Airport is a clear poke at the AirTran Airways, which is vying with Southwest to take over gates being abandoned by bankrupt ATA Airlines.
"The late-night flights are pretty well aimed at America West," Mann said. "For a decade or more, America West has pretty much had a monopoly on nighttime Las Vegas service.
"Historically, Southwest has not done a lot of night flying because they do their maintenance overnight," he said. "They're obviously considering whether night flying would degrade their product."
Mann said America West, which is now marketing itself as the nation's No. 2 low-cost air carrier, would defend its turf with its wholesalers and its America West Vacations packaging product.
"America West clearly has the better stable of wholesalers," Mann said. "America West Vacations has been the No. 1 operator in the Las Vegas market, so they have a pretty good head start with brand loyalty.
"But you can't count out Shamu, the Killer Whale, out of any food fight," he said. Three of Southwest's planes are painted like killer whales, a tribute to the company's partnership with Sea World theme parks.
