2021 Oklahoma City Aviation Thread

[damonsmuz]

Now we wait to see how other airlines respond to Breeze. The legacy carriers may not care much since AA and United run hubs through DFW and IAH. The only airline that may do something about Breeze would be Southwest. Will they bring back DAL or open up new routes to SAT and New Orleans ? Time will only tell I guess...

[HangryHippo]

Will Southwest or Delta try Austin?

[BG918]

Will Southwest or Delta try Austin?

I think one of the two will start flights within the next couple years. Likely Delta which would probably use the E-170 potentially the A-220 if demand is there. I’d rather see 2x daily E-170 vs 1x A-220

[HangryHippo]

I think one of the two will start flights within the next couple years. Likely Delta which would probably use the E-170 potentially the A-220 if demand is there. I’d rather see 2x daily E-170 vs 1x A-220

I agree with your last thought 100%.

[PoliSciGuy]

As an airplane nerd I’d love to get some A-220 routes. Haven’t seen any here in OKC aside from the occasional DFW divert

[unfundedrick]

Now we wait to see how other airlines respond to Breeze. The legacy carriers may not care much since AA and United run hubs through DFW and IAH. The only airline that may do something about Breeze would be Southwest. Will they bring back DAL or open up new routes to SAT and New Orleans ? Time will only tell I guess...

I think it would have to be daily service and last for more than 6 months before any of the other airlines will give it a second thought.

[HangryHippo]

OKC and Tulsa both getting daily service to Austin on American Airlines. OKC’s flights begin October 7th and will be on either an Embraer 175 (yay!) or a Boeing 737. Tulsa’s flights begin in November.

[catch22]

This is a chance to see if the route is actually viable on a real carrier. Provided the times are decent it should do fine for them. Probably an E175. AA is providing monster coverage in OKC. Tremendous.

[brianinok]

This is a chance to see if the route is actually viable on a real carrier. Provided the times are decent it should do fine for them. Probably an E175. AA is providing monster coverage in OKC. Tremendous.

I really like the E175. Good ratio of first and MCE, which are generally all I'll fly. I wish AA would change out our CRJ-700 and CRJ-900 flights to E175s.

Odd that the airport website still has not posted April or May statistics.

[Downwind17]

Another great service add! Wonder if AA brings back the Philly flight?

On another note, AA has been sending alot of 321s in from DFW and CLT...seats in/out of OKC have sure been increased.

[damonsmuz]

I saw the other day that Delta sent an A321 from ATL to OKC. Previous slots had it as 717. Not sure if the 717 had issues or if Alabama softball and FSU were on the flight so they upgauged it. Either or, cool.

[Pete]

Press release:

************

American Airlines Announces Nonstop Service to Austin – Bergstorm International Airport

OKLAHOMA CITY, June 10, 2021 – American Airlines announced today that it will begin nonstop service from Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers World Airport to Austin – Bergstorm International Airport in Austin, Texas (AUS) beginning October 7, 2021.

With Dell, Inc’s headquarters located in Austin and OKC home to Dell Technologies, this new nonstop service will serve the business community well. “This is great news for Oklahoma City,” says Mark Kranenburg, Airports Director. “Austin is one of our largest markets without nonstop service and a popular destination for both leisure and business travelers. We appreciate American’s commitment to our community by adding this great market for our passengers.”

“We’re eager to add new service from Oklahoma City to Austin, giving local customers another choice for their travel plans,” said Brian Znotins, American Airlines Vice President of Network Planning. “We look forward to welcoming more Oklahomans back to travel with American to experience all that Austin has to offer, as well as further connecting them to our global network.”

With the addition of Austin, Texas, nearly every American Airlines hub is served nonstop from Will Rogers World Airport. As of today’s announcement, American’s nonstop destinations from WRWA will include Dallas/Ft. Worth, Austin, Chicago, Charlotte, New York LaGuardia, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Ronald Reagan Washington National. The new service will bring the average number of daily departures by American to 21.

The new Austin service will operate once daily utilizing the Embraer 175 aircraft offering two-classes of service. The current schedule is as follows*:

AUS to OKC
Departs 4:20pm
Arrives 5:51pm

OKC to AUS
Departs 6:30pm
Arrives 8:00pm
*Times may vary slightly


Flights go on sale Saturday, June 14 and may be booked through aa.com.

[whatitis]

Press release:

************

American Airlines Announces Nonstop Service to Austin – Bergstorm International Airport

OKLAHOMA CITY, June 10, 2021 – American Airlines announced today that it will begin nonstop service from Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers World Airport to Austin – Bergstorm International Airport in Austin, Texas (AUS) beginning October 7, 2021.

With Dell, Inc’s headquarters located in Austin and OKC home to Dell Technologies, this new nonstop service will serve the business community well. “This is great news for Oklahoma City,” says Mark Kranenburg, Airports Director. “Austin is one of our largest markets without nonstop service and a popular destination for both leisure and business travelers. We appreciate American’s commitment to our community by adding this great market for our passengers.”

“We’re eager to add new service from Oklahoma City to Austin, giving local customers another choice for their travel plans,” said Brian Znotins, American Airlines Vice President of Network Planning. “We look forward to welcoming more Oklahomans back to travel with American to experience all that Austin has to offer, as well as further connecting them to our global network.”

With the addition of Austin, Texas, nearly every American Airlines hub is served nonstop from Will Rogers World Airport. As of today’s announcement, American’s nonstop destinations from WRWA will include Dallas/Ft. Worth, Austin, Chicago, Charlotte, New York LaGuardia, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Ronald Reagan Washington National. The new service will bring the average number of daily departures by American to 21.

The new Austin service will operate once daily utilizing the Embraer 175 aircraft offering two-classes of service. The current schedule is as follows*:

AUS to OKC
Departs 4:20pm
Arrives 5:51pm

OKC to AUS
Departs 6:30pm
Arrives 8:00pm
*Times may vary slightly


Flights go on sale Saturday, June 14 and may be booked through aa.com.

Saturday is the 12th. do we know if it's saturday or the 14th (monday)?

[Pete]

Saturday is the 12th. do we know if it's saturday or the 14th (monday)?

The sent a revision that changed the date to Monday, June 14th.

[damonsmuz]

I wonder what this route addition means for a return of MIA service. Will MIA return by the end of the year or will it wait until next summer?

[catch22]

I would expect all destinations to return. PHL will probably be the slowest and most dependent on Europe openings.

[HangryHippo]

Southwest Airlines is adding service between OKC and New Orleans and Tampa beginning September 12.

The schedules kind of suck as it’s weekends only through end of October/early November, so I’ll be sticking with Breeze, but good to have extra service!

[BG918]

I didn’t expect AA to start this service but pretty cool nevertheless. E175 is the perfect plane to start 1x then maybe upgauge to 2x.

Hopefully TUL can pick up some additional AA adds now with the recent addition of PHX and return of LAX. LGA, MIA and PHL would be good. With the Mx base they can run half empty planes heading in for repairs. I know they used to do this with MIA several years ago.

[chssooner]

Southwest Airlines is adding service between OKC and New Orleans and Tampa beginning September 12.

The schedules kind of suck as it’s weekends only through end of October/early November, so I’ll be sticking with Breeze, but good to have extra service!

Where did you see this, or are you just looking at the Southwest website?

[catch22]

Southwest Airlines is adding service between OKC and New Orleans and Tampa beginning September 12.

The schedules kind of suck as it’s weekends only through end of October/early November, so I’ll be sticking with Breeze, but good to have extra service!

Leave it to Southwest to show ZERO interest in expanding OKC until someone else does, then they suddenly add routes the exact same routes to squash the competition.

[HangryHippo]

Yep. What a crock.

[catch22]

Yep. What a crock.

It’s the same game they play with their entire existence. They made fun of the legacy carriers in their advertising for years for flying into busy, expensive, crowded airports; opting to serve the cheaper alternative airports, or ignore entire regions altogether. Then, when they finally see how much money they are leaving on the table, they come in and demand preferential treatment and take advantage of the infrastructure other airlines have funded to improve those busy airports. They crapped on UA and AA for years about the ORD experience; but guess who is starting service at ORD and complaining that they can’t get all the gates they want? Same thing at Hobby and IAH. I bet we’ll see them serve DFW at some point also; despite being in court for 30 years insisting that they be the only carrier to serve Love Field. They have to be one of the most stubborn companies in existence.

[brianinok]

I wonder what this route addition means for a return of MIA service. Will MIA return by the end of the year or will it wait until next summer?

MIA is operating now. It came back a few months back if I recall correctly. I was watching for it and LAX to return because of upcoming trips.

[brianinok]

Leave it to Southwest to show ZERO interest in expanding OKC until someone else does, then they suddenly add routes the exact same routes to squash the competition.

I've been looking at Southwest's schedule lately and it appears that MCO (Orlando) is Sat Sun non-stop from OKC but M-F has a one-stop no plane change option. I have an upcoming trip to Orlando in February and trying to decide whether to go ahead and book on AA (we normally fly one of the legacy carriers) or wait for Southwest's schedule to come out. I wouldn't necessarily mind a non-stop flight on SW if it was non-stop, but our trip isn't Sun - Sun. But we are planning on Sunday departure from OKC, so that would work. But on the return there is a one-stop no change plane flight during the week. I wonder what the chances of SW keeping that flight when they extend the schedule? Should I wait to book until SW extends through February and see if this option is available? If not, I'll be booking on AA.

[damonsmuz]

MIA is operating now. It came back a few months back if I recall correctly. I was watching for it and LAX to return because of upcoming trips.

You're right. I must've missed it.