2021 Oklahoma City Aviation Thread

[BG918]

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!

If they had started before Labor Day they could pick up some of the OU passenger traffic heading to the Tulane game on Sep 4

[kukblue1]

It's great adding all these routes but until the prices come down at OKC i'll look else where for flights. I don't fly much but used Tulsa and Wichita way cheaper. Why is OKC so expensive?

[Bellaboo]

^^^. Demand ? ^^^

[gopokes88]

Love AA

[Downwind17]

OKC- MIA had been suspended since August, but just returned on June 1st. This route, I believe, is the single best addition to OKC’s air service in the last several years. You can have your “toes in the sand” in just three to four hours after takeoff.

[no1cub17]

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.

Totally agreed! I'm happy the LAX nonstops are back, but it's quite obnoxious that both dailies are now on CR7s instead of the E75s which are 1 million times more comfortable.

[gopokes88]

It's great adding all these routes but until the prices come down at OKC i'll look else where for flights. I don't fly much but used Tulsa and Wichita way cheaper. Why is OKC so expensive?

Cool

[gopokes88]

American is within shouting distance of southwest.

https://www.flyokc.com/sites/default...nplanement.pdf

[gopokes88]

May of 2019 had 209,000 enplanements. So we’re about 75% of the way back to pre pandemic levels.

https://www.flyokc.com/sites/default...nplanement.pdf

With the growth in routes and strong months, it’s feasible 2022 is larger than 2019 passenger wise.

[catch22]

https://simpleflying.com/portland-op...aska-airlines/

With a renewed focus on PDX, and to take connecting pressure off of SEA; it wouldn't be a huge surprise to see Alaska add OKC-PDX.

It appears that OKC-SEA has matured enough over the past 6 years to reliably and profitably fill a 737 to SEA. I notice they are running 900s lately (their largest type). Any expansion in OKC will likely not be feasible in their maxed-out SEA operation. A second frequency to SEA leaving OKC in the morning would be terrific, but there is nowhere for them to put it in the schedule. An E175 departing OKC for PDX at 630am with a 8am arrival would be a great option to give AS some sort of a morning schedule in OKC; this would be an ideal flight time for local traffic on the route, and early enough to facilitate connections to SEA or points north (PAE, YVR, BLI). I'm not necessarily betting on it, but the circumstances may line up as they pursue increased market share in Portland; and dealing with a full SEA.

[gopokes88]

PDX is the last west US connection we’re missing right?

Denver, Vegas, Phoenix, salt lake, LA, SF, SEA all covered. Is SD considered a major destination?

[catch22]

PDX is the last west US connection we’re missing right?

Denver, Vegas, Phoenix, salt lake, LA, SF, SEA all covered. Is SD considered a major destination?

Yep. SAN is actually a much larger market than PDX in terms of passenger demand from OKC. Frontier flew SAN a few summers ago, but that seems unlikely to return. So SAN and PDX to the west. Really just BOS to the east is the last realistic east coast city, assuming AA resumes PHL and starts LGA. OKC is pretty well covered these days.

[gopokes88]

Yep. SAN is actually a much larger market than PDX in terms of passenger demand from OKC. Frontier flew SAN a few summers ago, but that seems unlikely to return. So SAN and PDX to the west. Really just BOS to the east is the last realistic east coast city, assuming AA resumes PHL and starts LGA. OKC is pretty well covered these days.

Huge thanks to AA for that. Absolutely insane the amount of coverage they’ve added.

[catch22]

https://www.faa.gov/airports/airport...llocations.pdf

OKC Receives $17.9 million FAA COVID-19 relief grant.

Other commercial airports:

TUL, $13.8 million
LAW, $1.3 million
SWO, $1.2 million

[Celebrator]

Anyone know why WN has dropped BWI? It doesn't even appear as "suspended" on the WRWA website; it is simply not there. Surprising since it is their main East Coast hub that feeds their mid-Atlantic and New England stations. We used to always fly through there (even last year in the middle of the pandemic) to connect to MHT each year. Now we have to go through MDW instead. Is this where they are deciding to send their East Coast traffic because they are serving DCA from OKC now, giving them a presence in the DC/Baltimore area already? Just curious.

[catch22]

Not sure. They have stretched themselves too thin at the moment. They are cancelling hundreds of flights a day to crew availability. They added a ton of new flying this year, and you have to fund that flying by reducing in existing markets or adding airplanes. This year they are doing both.

[gopokes88]

Anyone know why WN has dropped BWI? It doesn't even appear as "suspended" on the WRWA website; it is simply not there. Surprising since it is their main East Coast hub that feeds their mid-Atlantic and New England stations. We used to always fly through there (even last year in the middle of the pandemic) to connect to MHT each year. Now we have to go through MDW instead. Is this where they are deciding to send their East Coast traffic because they are serving DCA from OKC now, giving them a presence in the DC/Baltimore area already? Just curious.

WN will drop any route that's used as a hub too, as we saw with OKC-LUV

[damonsmuz]

Tonight: Flew the AA A319 from CLT and it was full. On a side note, I noticed Allegiant flying out at 12:25am to LAX. I thought for sure this was a delayed flight and that it was supposed to take off sooner, but it wasn't. That's it's original flight time. It lands at LAX at 1am. Who are they trying to target with a flight time like that? After midnight departure from OKC?

[PoliSciGuy]

People who are fine with a redeye if it saves a few bucks. Given how high some prices are this summer I can see the allure

[damonsmuz]

By looking at the equipment type (A320) and only about 25 people in line to board, it doesn't seem like OKC is a market that has the demand for "red-eye". Plus, wouldn't a "red eye" flight be one that departs the night before and lands in the morning? Technically, this is just a "late flight." Departs at midnight and arrives at 1am.

[PoliSciGuy]

Well a couple other explanations. One, a Wednesday flight might just have fewer travelers than normal. Two, if you track the inbound flight it came from LAX so this could also just be a positioning flight for the following day and they might as well get a little bit of revenue on it. Those late night flights into LAX have lower gate fees than getting a gate there during the main rush-hour.

[sooner333]

At one point America West had a flight that left OKC and arrived in LAS at around 11:30 in their respective time zones. America West used Vegas as a midnight hub so you could even connect there for flights that left around midnight in Vegas (probably best for west coast travelers taking a redeye east). I guess it was a way to squeeze revenue out of every minute of the day.

[shawnw]

I wish we had more redeyes from here. Didn't even know about that one.

[Celebrator]

Hey, on the L.A. end, at least you presumably wouldn't have to deal with traffic getting to your final destination in SoCal! That might be worth it alone! Being a night owl and a loather of bad traffic, I would seriously consider this option. But it's certainly not for everybody (probably most everybody) but might be worth one of their $63 one way fares, though.

[shawnw]

Personally, I would absolutely take a $63 redeye, then a fly-away shuttle from LAX to Union Station, and then the Dodger Stadium Express from there to catch a day game. And if possible be on a flight back that night (not that I wouldn't stay longer, just saying fitting such a thing into a weekend would be awesome).