2021 Oklahoma City Aviation Thread

[Celebrator]

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).

I'd love to do a trip like that, too!

[Edmond Hausfrau]

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.

Think I flew that SAN a few times either via Frontier or some other line (?express jet? Northwest air charters?) Seems like SAN would get a lot of business, Miramar and Scripps are right there. I don't see the allure of PDX but I am not their target visitor most likely.

[Edmond Hausfrau]

Glad AA is catching Southwest in terms of volume.

[catch22]

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).

Why not take a 7am flight that arrives in LAX at 8am. You can be at Dodge stadium by 10am. What is the importance of arriving at 1am?

[Edmond Hausfrau]

Why not take a 7am flight that arrives in LAX at 8am. You can be at Dodge stadium by 10am. What is the importance of arriving at 1am?

Nothing good happens anywhere at 1am. Just take the 7am flight, you are right Catch.

[shawnw]

Why not take a 7am flight that arrives in LAX at 8am. You can be at Dodge stadium by 10am. What is the importance of arriving at 1am?

Legit point

[brianinok]

Flew to LAX on Wednesday AM on AA. The flight was full.

[catch22]

Loads are really accelerating. We (ua) ran 361,000 passengers today on 88% systemwide load factor. Very healthy, but still down quite a bit. I believe our normal summertime traffic volume was half a million a day.

[BG918]

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

They are expanding in TUL as well. In addition to the AUS nonstop they are adding DCA and MIA. Just need LGA to match the same level of AA non-stops in OKC.

[chssooner]

OKC really only needs JFK, PDX, BOS, and SAN, in order to have all the largest metros covered. Would be nice to get those this year, since airlines appear to be having new routes offered frequently. Maybe PDX would wait, but I think the demand is there for at least weekly flights to these locales.

[gopokes88]

OKC really only needs JFK, PDX, BOS, and SAN, in order to have all the largest metros covered. Would be nice to get those this year, since airlines appear to be having new routes offered frequently. Maybe PDX would wait, but I think the demand is there for at least weekly flights to these locales.

I mean if you have LGA do you really need JFK?

[gopokes88]

They are expanding in TUL as well. In addition to the AUS nonstop they are adding DCA and MIA. Just need LGA to match the same level of AA non-stops in OKC.

That’s awesome for sure! Love AA being so aggressive.

[gopokes88]

Loads are really accelerating. We (ua) ran 361,000 passengers today on 88% systemwide load factor. Very healthy, but still down quite a bit. I believe our normal summertime traffic volume was half a million a day.

I think we’re fully recovered by Q2 of ‘22 assuming they can get enough support contractors hired.

https://www.tsa.gov/coronavirus/passenger-throughput

There’s days we’re only down 25% over 2019. I would bet the demand is there capacity just needs to keep coming back.

[shawnw]

I mean if you have LGA do you really need JFK?

Technically you can catch a shuttle between them, but I'm sure there's value going to one vs the other. They're ten miles apart.

[chssooner]

I mean if you have LGA do you really need JFK?

Cache, mainly. How can you be a big league city if you only have 1 flight to the most important city in the world? Plus, it opens up a vast array of international destinations.

[whatitis]

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).

I did something similar for the Orange Bowl against Alabama in 2018. I couldn't find a flight from okc to miami that wasn't rediculous price or arrived in time to see the game. So I flew to Orlando. rented a car. drove down to Miami. got there at 6pm. watched the game. drove back to Orlando and flew out at 5am. it was rough but fun.

[BG918]

I mean if you have LGA do you really need JFK?

LGA is best for if you're going straight to NYC. JFK is best for international connections. EWR is good for that too with the massive United hub there. Having all three covered would be ideal but at least two out of the three should be fine for a metro of 1.5M

[damonsmuz]

Anyone know how full the first Breeze flight to Tampa was today?

[Celebrator]

OKC really only needs JFK, PDX, BOS, and SAN, in order to have all the largest metros covered. Would be nice to get those this year, since airlines appear to be having new routes offered frequently. Maybe PDX would wait, but I think the demand is there for at least weekly flights to these locales.

Agree 100% Those airports would do it. I would place BOS at the top priority since we already have the other NYC metro airports covered (although JFK is great for Int'l connections) followed closely by PDX, SAN and JFK in that order. BOS gives you access to not only that important business and education center, but it is a gateway to all of New England and even the Canadian Maritimes. If you can just get BOS you can essentially say you are covering the catchment of the regional airports up there like BDL, BTV, MHT, PVD, and PWM because they are all within a 4 hour drive, with most closer than than that.

[gopokes88]

Cache, mainly. How can you be a big league city if you only have 1 flight to the most important city in the world? Plus, it opens up a vast array of international destinations.

With 9 dailies to DFW, and DFW's international presence I wonder if that's siphoning some off.

[catch22]

JFK is an international gateway. You really have little need for domestic access to it. AA flows massive international transatlantic connections through DFW, CLT, and PHL (when it returns). UA flows international through EWR and IAD. DL flows international through ATL and DTW. There’s really just little market need. LGA will always be the preferred domestic airport to NY. The alliances prefer to use JFK’s network to focus on NY O&D traffic to international destinations. Those command a premium with limitless demand. There is no reason for the networks to force lower yield connections onto those premium NY-Europe nonstops. They can route lower yield connections over DFW, EWR, ATL, PHL etc. those cities have less demand than NY and need the connection traffic anyway.

[no1cub17]

Loads are really accelerating. We (ua) ran 361,000 passengers today on 88% systemwide load factor. Very healthy, but still down quite a bit. I believe our normal summertime traffic volume was half a million a day.

This is extremely off-topic but I'm curious what you think of UA's recent massive order for MAXes and new A321s - and they're going to install PTVs too! Damn, did not expect United to make this much of a push to become a true premium airline. Curious how AA responds.

[Celebrator]

^I heard their (relatively) new CEO, Scott Kirby, wants to make an aggressive splash in the industry. They are betting on a quick rebound and growth.

[catch22]

From a ground handling perspective: The MAX sucks, hate to see anymore show up on property. Which is a shame because the Classic and NG are great on the ground. But they don’t buy airplanes because of that. I digress.

I am happy with the overall direction United is taking under Kirby. He is doing a great job and this order is a reflection of that. Low interest rates, Boeing has a ton of slots to fill, Delta is distracted by whatever they have going on, American is doubling down on racing to the bottom of the pack, and Southwest is having tremendous growing pains. It feels like Kirby is ready to go full throttle and pass all of them up.

He is an airline geek who spent 2 decades under Doug Parker. He was Doug’s right hand man at America West, Us Airways, and then American. He is spreading his wings and going a different direction than Parker. So, yes. Good order. We have great leadership at the moment willing to invest in the future and grab opportunity.

[s00nr1]

I have moved all of my biz and most of our personal travel to UA. The experience has far exceeded that of AA and Denver, Houston, and O'Hare have proven to be more than adequate for connections. Just noticed the product for our trip to OGG in November has also been upgraded to Polaris-equipped aircraft (763 out from DEN and 788 back into ORD).

From a ground handling perspective: The MAX sucks, hate to see anymore show up on property. Which is a shame because the Classic and NG are great on the ground. But they don’t buy airplanes because of that. I digress.

I am happy with the overall direction United is taking under Kirby. He is doing a great job and this order is a reflection of that. Low interest rates, Boeing has a ton of slots to fill, Delta is distracted by whatever they have going on, American is doubling down on racing to the bottom of the pack, and Southwest is having tremendous growing pains. It feels like Kirby is ready to go full throttle and pass all of them up.

He is an airline geek who spent 2 decades under Doug Parker. He was Doug’s right hand man at America West, Us Airways, and then American. He is spreading his wings and going a different direction than Parker. So, yes. Good order. We have great leadership at the moment willing to invest in the future and grab opportunity.