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Porter Launches Myrtle Beach Service

Published
by
Dan Webb
on March 1, 2010
in Porter
. 0 Comments

On Sunday, Toronto-based Porter launched its new seasonal service to Myrtle Beach (KMYR/MYR) from Toronto City Centre Airport Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (CYTZ/YTZ). (The name was changed in November in honor the Canadian flying ace Billy Bishop, who served in World War I.) The flights will operate twice a week (Sundays and Thursdays) until May 30th. Myrtle Beach is Porter’s fourth US destination, though the other three (New York (Newark), Chicago (Midway), and Boston) are more business destinations.

Destinations like MYR do represent a slight change in strategy for Porter, which has traditionally focused on business markets. But it has found success in more leisure-oriented markets like Halifax. And one would assume those Porter business travelers might want to play golf in South Carolina every now and then. :D

Regardless, there are no other nonstops to Myrtle Beach from Toronto. Plus, with the Q400 and only two frequencies a week, Porter isn’t throwing much capacity into the market here. So I think there’s a good case for the service here. Let’s see if they find it worthwhile to come back next year.

Photo Credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomaspurves/ / CC BY 2.0

AirTran Partners with Amex To Woo Business Travelers

Published
by
Dan Webb
on March 1, 2010
in AirTran
. 2 Comments

An interesting press release came this morning from AirTran, with the carrier announcing that American Express would be partnering with AirTran, or as they describe themselves, “America’s Most Business Friendly Airline.” The promotion is aimed at members of American Express’ OPEN Savings program. The OPEN card is meant for small businesses.

So what does the partnership mean? Members of the OPEN Savings Program can save 5% on all AirTran flights. Hertz and some hotel chains are already members of the program, so adding an airline the mix rounds out that program nicely. Of course, AirTran is hoping that 5% discount will send some more business travelers its way.

But you need not be an OPEN member to benefit from this promotion – from March 13th to the 27th, American Express will be sponsoring free Wi-Fi on all AirTran flights. (On a side note, I wonder how much of that revenue goes to Aircell…)

And while we’re on the topic of Wi-Fi, AirTran called itself “the only airline with Business Class and Wi-Fi on every flight.” AirTran’s done this before in press releases. Virgin America has Wi-Fi on every flight, too. Can we just accept it and move on?

Anyway, I think this is a smart move.

Photo Credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wbaiv/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Midwest Rebuilds Kansas City Route Map

Published
by
Dan Webb
on February 26, 2010
in Midwest and Republic
. 2 Comments

Yes, three Republic-related posts in one week! Sorry to be repetitive, but some interesting route (and fleet) announcements have been coming from them of late. We’ve seen a bunch of routes from Milwaukee reinstated over the past few months, and now Kansas City is getting some love with new nonstops to New Orleans and Columbus, which are both routes the airline used to serve. Midwest launched flights to New Orleans in 2005 but left after Hurricane Katrina. Columbus has always had Milwaukee service, but Kansas City flights were cut a couple of years back.

New Orleans service will be daily and starts on May 20 – that’s interesting because Frontier is launching a daily Denver nonstop soon after in June.  The Midwest flights are a few hours earlier, so that gives Frontier/Midwest customers a few more options two and from the city. The service will be provided by Republic E-170s.

As mentioned earlier, Columbus is an existing Midwest city, and it has a few ERJs to Milwaukee per day. So why add Kansas City? There’s certainly some local demand there, but I think this is to help generate some extra connections, which is something that Frontier has done recently by announcing Denver service from some other Midwest destinations.

But after looking through the schedule, it seems that this flight adds a new connecting option to cities like Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco. In fact, the outbound flight (YX1989) in the morning is a one-stop to Seattle. The inbound, YX1974, flies SFO-MCI-CMH, but for some reason that itinerary isn’t bookable on Midwest’s website.

The Columbus service is operated with Republic E-190s. CMH-MCI fights operate Monday-Saturday, while MCI-CMH operates Sunday-Friday.

As I’ve said a lot lately, it’s certainly interesting to watch Midwest rebuild. And it’s also fun to see a slew of route announcements in this economic environment.

Photo Credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/ / CC BY 2.0

Republic: Our Lufthansa?

Published
by
Dan Webb
on February 25, 2010
in Frontier, Midwest and Republic
. 8 Comments

Republic’s certainly been a fun player to watch of late. The regional carrier has  become what some might call a “real” airline after acquiring Frontier and Midwest, instead of just focusing on fixed-fee operations. Republic did release its fourth quarter earnings last night, but let’s talk about the future, because that’s just more fun. :D

Today we saw an even more interesting development with Republic’s announcement that it will order Bomardier’s CS300, certainly a big boost for the type and the manufacturer. Republic plans to order 40 of the type with 40 options, with deliveries starting in the second quarter of 2015. The aircraft will seat 138, and there will be 5 rows of STRETCH seating for 25 passengers (the aircraft is in a 2-3 configuration). And that’s basically all we know for now. Which is where things get interesting.

A Bombardier rendering of a Republic CS300 aircraft.
Photo Credit: Bombardier.

At face value, this order looks like a replacement for Airbus aircraft, especially those that might be coming off lease in the future.  The CSeries will seat two more than Frontier’s current A319s. Bombardier is promising some strong economic benefits of the aircraft. Bryan Bedford called the aircraft “game-changing” during today’s earnings call, and it was also mentioned how it will provide “great flexibility” for them. Clearly, if the CSeries does end up doing great on the cost side of things, that certainly helps give Republic an advantage in competitive markets like its Denver and Milwaukee hubs.

This order might make Boeing and Airbus get moving on a decision on re-engining the 737 and A320 families, respectively. Plus, it might want to make other carriers take a closer look at the aircraft now. (United and AirTran, strong competitors in Denver and Milwaukee, respectively, have both expressed interest in the aircraft.) But back to Republic. Continue reading ‘Republic: Our Lufthansa?’

(Very Belated) Sunday Video #57

Published
by
Dan Webb
on February 25, 2010
in Sunday Video
. 0 Comments

I noticed I forgot to post a video on Sunday while I was trying to fix my laptop…so I’m posting it now! Here’s Continental’s most recent safety video for the 737-800/900 series, recently updated with new CEO Jeff Smisek. On a side note, who knew that Continental had an official YouTube channel?

YouTube Preview Image

Anyway, expect a more substantial blog post later today on Republic’s CSeries order.

Alaska Selects…Gogo?

Published
by
Dan Webb
on February 24, 2010
in Alaska
. 5 Comments

This morning, I saw the headline “Alaska Airlines To Offer Gogo Inflight Internet Service” pop into my inbox, and I honestly though it was a mistake! The airline has been testing Row 44’s satellite-based service on a 737-800 for awhile now. Row 44 seemed to make more sense for Alaska than Southwest, the only other American customer, as Gogo is only available over the continental United States, and Alaska has a bunch of flights in, well, Alaska, but the carrier has also developed a significant Hawaiian presence as well.

An Alaska 737-800. These aircraft will be the first to be installed with Gogo.
Photo Credit: Alaska Airlines.

So why go with Aircell? Alaska’s VP of marketing, sales, and customer experiences said in a press release that “their reliable, lower-cost equipment can be installed quickly, allowing Alaska Airlines to introduce Gogo service to our customers as soon as possible.”

There’s a big reason – Aircell installations are cheaper, but they’re also very quick – the company says the equipment can be installed overnight so the air carrier doesn’t lose an revenue. Row 44, however, is more expensive, is more complex to install, and will only be getting started with installations with Southwest later this year. Aircell, however, seems to have installations down to a science.

But what happens to those passengers traveling in Alaska? Well, Gogo “will expand its network” to provide service, but only for “key destinations.” (Which were not listed.) Passengers flying to Hawaii are out of luck, however. But apparently Alaska thinks the benefits of Aircell on the installation side of things more than compensate the greater coverage area that Row 44 offers. (Random thought – are the operational benefits that Aircell have be showing off realized when service is unavailable for chunks of Alaska’s network?) Continue reading ‘Alaska Selects…Gogo?’

ATA Yield Data for January

Published
by
Dan Webb
on February 23, 2010
in Finance and Industrywide
. 0 Comments

Yesterday, the Air Transport Association released its monthly passenger yield data, which is a combination of results from Alaska, American, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, United, US Airways, and their regional carriers. Not surprisingly, year-over-year comparisons continue to improve thanks to comparisons off of weaker numbers and an improving revenue environment. Here’s a graph of year-over-year change by region:

Of course, a big factor here is more favorable comparisons. For example, Atlantic yields decreased the most in January last year, so that helped fuel last month’s 4.4% increase (the biggest increase in January). Meanwhile, Latin yields were actually up last year, so it’s not surprising the results were the worst this month, with a 5.1% decrease. Domestic yields were up 1.1%, while Pacific yields experienced a slight 1.6% slide.

And, here’s my usual graph of the 12-month moving average of yields. There’s really nothing to exciting to report here. Yes, we’re starting to see some positive numbers, but we’ve basically been bouncing around the bottom for a few months now.

But let’s put this data in perspective a bit. Here’s the 12-month moving average, but back to the beginning of 2007:

I think that shows pretty well that there’s still a long road ahead for yields to recover.

And the winner is…

Published
by
Dan Webb
on February 23, 2010
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

Yes, I’m back with a new hard drive to boot. Fortunately, all of my old data made it to the new hard drive so I didn’t lose anything.

So, anyway, how about that Hilton contest? As usual, the quest for free stuff inspires people, and there were a total of 563 comments! But only one, comment #296, won the “Be My Guest Certificate.” So congratulations to Martin Pachet, who will be receiving it soon.

Thanks to all who played!

Midwest Continues to Rebuild its Route Map

Published
by
Dan Webb
on February 22, 2010
in Frontier and Midwest
. 0 Comments

Apologies in advance for a quickly-written post. Last night I began having a lot of trouble with my laptop. My biggest fear is that I’ll end up with a new hard drive today.

Anyway, Midwest announced some new routes last week, and the airline continues to rebuild its route map from past cuts. When Midwest dumped its MD-80s Milwaukee lost nonstop service to Seattle, forcing passengers to go through Kansas City (and more recently, Denver as well). Well, Midwest is restoring Milwaukee service on a seasonal basis three times a week from May 14 to June 10, and then four times a week until September 6. The schedule of the service is kind of interesting – the outbound leaves at 7:55 PM, arrives at 11:20 PM, then leaves from Seattle at 11:45 and comes back to Milwaukee at 5:35 AM.

I found it pretty interesting that it was decided to make the SEA-MKE route a redeye. I think one reason for that Midwest  schedule is so that E190 can fly that route at night while keeping its normal schedule during the day. (On a side note, at first it seems that Midwest’s schedule was a bit unique, but it appears that AirTran has a redeye now as well. I’m not sure if that’s new, though.)

Second, Midwest is coming back to San Diego from April to November with daily service from Milwaukee. When that station was cut, it only had service from Kansas city. The service will be provided with Frontier A319s.

Additionally, Frontier will be adding another flight between Milwaukee and Denver, for a combined six flights between the cities from Frontier and Midwest. My hope is that the route is being added because demand for codeshare routes between the two airlines.

On a side note, Midwest’s press release mentions how both the Frontier A319 and Midwest E190 feature STRETCH seating. Does this mean that Midwest Signature Service has been rebranded? (Midwest didn’t reply to my question on that one.)

Anyway, I’ll have more thoughts on Frontier/Midwest/Republic when earnings come out later this week…and when I have a working laptop.

Saturday Links #77

Published
by
Dan Webb
on February 20, 2010
in Saturday Links
. 0 Comments

I know, it’s been forever since I’ve done one of these. Sorry about that!

  1. A bunch of US airlines (American, Continental, Delta, Hawaiian, and United) are vying for access to Haneda, and Cranky has all the details.
  2. Frontier is pulling out of San Jose, California, where it currently has two daily flights during the week, and both Southwest and United have higher frequencies on the route.
  3. Alaska and Horizon are launching paperless boarding passes in some markets. Alaska is finally getting a mobile website, too.
  4. Lufthansa’s pilots will be striking from Monday to Thursday this coming week. The airline, will, however be operating some flights – click here for a schedule.
  5. Qantas is taking first class off 9 of its 747-400s, and 8 A380s on the way wont be getting first at all. Flight has all the information.