Southwest will 'make every effort' to keep smaller AirTran cities

[Ty Webb]

I'm not familiar with the specifics of every city, but if the ridership wasn't there to support the service, what do you expect?

Before Pensacola, AirTran used to serve Mobile, AL. Delta walk-up fares for the 48 minute flight to ATL was $600. AirTran came in with a normal rate, and Delta matched it, and threw triple miles on the route.

When the local folks opted to ride on Delta for the triple miles and more convenient schedule, AirTran pulled out of Mobile. Of course, the next day, Delta raised the rates again, and the people of Mobile scratched their heads and wondered what had happened.

AirTran learned from that experience, and has worked with small market cities to ensure that if they do enter service, there will be ridership to support it.

Smart business.

 

[Crzipilot]

Well that ticket bank was in the area of 1.5 to 2million. Was looked at by other communities, and the statement was that they didn't think businesses in the area would want to tie up their travel dollars. I.E. the local community has to pony up the cash up front it seems. In the SRQ deal, the Airport was considering using 2 million from their reserves to attract Airtran. But Federal rules prohibited them from using their reserves for such purposes.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100928/article/9281053?p=3&tc=pg

AirTran agreed to begin flying from Sarasota-Bradenton International in October 2004, after the airport lined up a $5 million incentive package aimed at stemming passenger losses.


The ticket bank required the businesses to purchase 2 million of tickets AHEAD of time.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20040227/BUSINESS/402270437?p=3&tc=pg
Another option to lure AirTran would be for the local business community to set up a travel bank and commit to buying $2 million in seats from AirTran ahead of time.That might sound like a stretch, but it's exactly what businesses in Tallahassee and Pensacola did, to the tune of $1.5 million and $2 million, respectively.




Sounds to me like that 2 million went into Air Trans Coffers, did they refund that money back to the communities?

 

[Saluki Dawg]

As long as we keep MLI, I'll be happy. Yes I'm serious!

 

[user912]

If SWA can make money at those cities then they probably will keep them.

Exactly. It keeps cities it can make money on while other legacy type carriers try passing them on to Regional "partners"