Archive for the 'AirTran' Category

AirTran Ups the Ante on BOS-BWI

Published
by
Dan Webb
on May 18, 2009
in AirTran, JetBlue and Southwest
. 1 Comment

Ah, the Boston-Baltimore route has become such as hub of activity lately. Southwest announced service, then JetBlue decided to hop on, and now Delta is bailing. Now, AirTran has made a move to help keep O&D passengers by offering double rewards credits:

The double A+ Rewards credits promotion applies to flights taken between May 12 and December 31, 2009. To be eligible for the extra A+ credits, travelers must be a member of A+ Rewards and register for the promotion online at http://www.airtran.com before traveling. A+ Rewards signup and promotion registration are free. Double A+ credits are earned by passengers traveling on nonstop flights between Baltimore/Washington and Boston.

Click here for the press release.

I would expect something similar to come out of Southwest. They often offer bonus credits when a new destination is launched, and I don’t see why BOS and LGA would be any different. I wouldn’t be shocked if JetBlue came out with something as well.

Looking at the Air Travel Consumer Report

Published
by
Dan Webb
on May 13, 2009
in AirTran, Delta, Hawaiian, Industrywide and Southwest
. 0 Comments

Yesterday, the monthly Air Travel Consumer Report came out, and I noticed a few things. Here they are, in no particular order.

For all the carriers reporting, on-time performance went up compared to a year ago. The on-time percentage for March 2008 was 71.6%, and 78.4% in March 2009.

Delta had the most flights that were stuck on the ground for more than four hours. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that a storm in early March was the culprit. But the newspaper also points out that AirTran didn’t have any flights delayed that long from Atlanta.

As Brett Snyder has mentioned in the past, it looks like Hawaiian is still having some issues with mainland flights. For example, the airline’s flights arriving into SFO arrived on time only 45% of the time. When only mainland flights are considered, the airline’s achieved a low on-time percentage of 58% (better than the 50% on-time percentage that Brett reported earlier, but still pretty bad). The number jumps up to 91.5% when the interisland operation is put into the equation, so Hawaiian can still claim it has the best on-time performance in the industry.

In terms of mishandled baggage - here’s a list of all the carriers, ranked by reports of mishandled baggage per 1,000 customers for March 2009. I also list the change in complaints compared to March 2008. All of the carriers improved, and I still think its fair to say that this is one positive side effect of checked luggage fees.

may131

Another interesting thing I noticed was that the report noted that Southwest had updated its 2008 numbers, so I asked them about it. Southwest spokeswoman Paula Berg (one of the best airline PR reps in the business, in my opinion) had an extremely-detailed answer for me less than an hour after I sent her my question (yes, I am looking at you, airlines that don’t seem to respect bloggers :D ):

…all carriers are required to report operating stats to the DOT. As part of an ongoing effort to ensure the accuracy of the information we report, we initiated a review of our 2008 numbers. The findings confirmed the accuracy of the majority of our reporting, but we found some small errors in our baggage numbers - not intentional, of course, but rather the result of human error.

Specifically, there were some coding and formula errors relating to the number of baggage reports taken and the number of Nonrevenue Customers boarded. The correct numbers would not have altered the DOT’s monthly baggage-handling rankings during 2008 except for March (lowering Southwest’s rank from 7th to 8th place) and July (lowering our rank from 5th to 6th place).

OK, that makes sense. Many thanks to Paula for such a prompt and informative reply.

And now…time for me to hop on a bus to get to work! :D

Delta Dumps BOS-BWI

Published
by
Dan Webb
on May 11, 2009
in AirTran, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest
. 4 Comments

Whenever new service is added onto a route, it’s not uncommon to see a bit of a fare war erupt, and it appears that Boston-Baltimore, which will be serviced by JetBlue and Southwest later this year, is no different. Take a look at this graph I made with FareCompare’s website:

Click here for a larger version.

I think it’s safe to say that the additonal competition on the route is at least partially responsible for the fare decreases.

According to this thread on Airliners.net (found via FlyerTalk), Delta has decided to drop the route. What’s interesting is that Delta is just giving up right away. After playing around with their timetable, it looks like the last day of service is August 17. Southwest launches on August 16, and JetBlue on September 9.

The move makes sense to me. It’s not like Baltimore offers a lot of connection opportunities for Delta passengers, so the flights were probably full of O&D passengers. So, the drop in revenue that Delta would probably experience makes the route uneconomical for them. So, those seven flights on CRJs are gone.

Will any other carriers drop the route? Probably not. While Southwest and AirTran might be hurt in the O&D department by JetBlue’s flights, the airport is very important for connecting passengers for both carriers. The JetBlue service still confuses me a bit, though. Since both Southwest and AirTran get connecting passengers on the route, JetBlue can only do so much. I really don’t see it making sense unless JetBlue is planning a further expansion at BWI.

Some More Traffic Reports

Published
by
Dan Webb
on May 5, 2009
in AirTran, Alaska, Allegiant and United
. 0 Comments

First, let me apologize for this week’s short and hurried posts, as I am in the midst of final exams. Fortunately, I’ll be all done on Monday next week!

AirTran’s results were pretty good - a 0.3% increase in RPMs paired with a 7.9% capacity cut (in terms of ASMs) increased the carrier’s load factor by 6.5 points.

Meanwhile, Allegiant continues to outperform the industry with a 34% increase in RPMs and a 29.8% increase in ASMs. The airline’s April load factor went up 2.8 points to 90.3 percent. Wow.

United’s results weren’t as great. The only portion of its flying to see an increase in RPMs was its regional flying, which makes sense as the airline will have to rely more and more on its regional flying as it cuts down the 737 fleet. The carrier’s load factor in North America, however, went up 1.4 points due to a 12.9% reduction in ASMs.

Finally, Alaska also saw a load factor increase - 2.0 points, as the carrier’s decrease in ASMs was greater than the decrease in RPMs.

Unlike Continental, these traffic reports don’t provide any clues about RASM.

JetBlue Decides to Add BOS-BWI

Published
by
Dan Webb
on April 27, 2009
in AirTran, JetBlue and Southwest
. 1 Comment

Well, this one could get interesting. JetBlue has decided to throw itself on the Boston-Baltimore route in September, and will compete with AirTran and Southwest on the route. Could this be JetBlue trying to protect its turf at Logan, now that Southwest has entered the market? Who knows, maybe.

The question is - will this move really affect AirTran and Southwest? JetBlue could certainly take away some O&D passengers from both carriers if it keeps fares competitive. But, I’m not entirely sure if AirTran and Southwest will be affected that much. The city is a transfer point for both carriers, especially Southwest.

So, it will be interesting to see how this develops over the next few months. I’m interested in seeing if JetBlue will add any more routes out of Baltimore, and I’m also wondering how long it will take Southwest to decide if it wants to expand at Logan.

Personally, if JetBlue wants to try to get back at Southwest, I would highly recommend them flying to PVD. (Ok, maybe I’m a bit biased in that recommendation :D )

AirTran Announces West Virginia Service

Published
by
Dan Webb
on April 14, 2009
in AirTran
. 0 Comments

Lately, AirTran seems to just be adding a small number of flights to new, smaller cities, and today the trend continued. This morning the airline announced service from Charleston, West Virginia to Orlando on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. The flight will operate with a 717, and AirTran will be the only carrier with an Orlando route.

These new, smaller routes can make sense for any airline looking for a “capacity cut” of sorts on some routes. Instead of just cutting service on a route and letting an aircraft sit idle, why not reduce service and use that extra time to serve a new route? If it’s profitable, it’s a no-brainer.

AirTran Announces Service to Allentown/Bethlehem

Published
by
Dan Webb
on April 9, 2009
in AirTran
. 0 Comments

AirTran announced a pair of new routes today. On June 25th the airline will begin service to Lehigh Valley International Airport with routes to Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale. Orlando flights will be on Monday, Wendesday, Friday, and Sunday, while the Ft. Lauderdale flights will be on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. All flights will be operated with 717s.

AirTran will be competing with Allegiant on the Orlando route, though Allegiant fliles to Orlando Sanford.

Adding Insult to Injury: AirTran’s Deal With Ryan Braun

Published
by
Dan Webb
on March 27, 2009
in AirTran and Midwest
. 2 Comments

This morning it was reported that AirTran has inked a deal with Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun to appear in AirTran advertisements and make appearances for the airline. This is in addition to AirTran’s other advertising at Miller Park. The ironic part? Midwest is still the team’s official airline.

AirTran Adds a Pair of Routes

Published
by
Dan Webb
on March 24, 2009
in AirTran and Midwest
. 0 Comments

Yesterday and today AirTran announced some new routes, and I always like looking at new service.

First, starting June 11, Atlantic City will become a new destination with a pair of daily flights to AirTran’s hub in Atlanta. More interestingly, AirTran announced this morning that it will begin flights from Milwaukee to Washington-National (DCA), also starting on June 11 with two daily fligts. This route is notable as it is one already flown by Midwest.  It looks like Midwest will have more frequencies on the route, but still, it’s not good to have AirTran as a competitor on yet another route.

Again, why didn’t Midwest take that offer?

Sun Country Heads to Branson

Published
by
Dan Webb
on March 19, 2009
in AirTran and Sun Country
. 0 Comments

Branson Airport in Missouri is very interesting to watch, as it is the first privately-funded airport here in the United States. For some background, take a look at this post from Brett Snyder.

Sun Country recently announced that it will begin nonstop service to Branson from Dallas (DFW) and Minneapolis on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, starting in May (the airport has yet to open). (For some reason, two press releases were needed.)

I’m guessing here, but by looking at the schedule in the press releases it seems that one aircraft will fly MSP-BKG-DFW-BKG-MSP, and during the Saturday summer flights one plane will do the DFW one and another will do the MSP route.

It’s kind of hard for me to analyze the routes, as, well, Branson is a new airport. But I was able to find DOT Data for the second quarter of 2008 for the closest airport, Springfield-Branson (SGF). Here are the top ten markets (ranked by average daily passengers) for that market (after I combined the passenger count for Orlando and Sanford):

So, Dallas an Minneapolis are in the top ten. There might not be enough for a daily 737-800 from Sun Country, but I think three flights a week could work. I wonder if Sun Country is hoping to get some MSP-DFW traffic on the route to fill some seats, as their website will allow you to book that trip with a quick stop in Branson.

As for AirTran, Atlanta is one of the largest markets, and Milwaukee is near the bottom of the list with only 12 average passengers a day. But this data is just for O&D (origin and destination) traffic, and AirTran’s ATL and MKE flights allow for connections to a good number of markets.

Another thing worthy of note is that the top three markets (Vegas, Sanford, and Tampa) have Allegiant as their largest carrier. If Branson can convince Allegiant to move over from Springfield, that could give the airport a nice boost.

Overall, though, it seems that Branson is off to a good start. Yes, it only has two carriers, but based on this rendering from the airport website, it doesn’t look like the airport is expecting a great deal of traffic with only four parking spots in front of the terminal.

It’ll be interesting to see how AirTran and Sun Country do in this new market. If they’re successful, I wouldn’t be surprised if some legacies decided to send a few RJs to Branson as well.