Glad AA is catching Southwest in terms of volume.
Flew to LAX on Wednesday AM on AA. The flight was full.
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.
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 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.
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.
Anyone know how full the first Breeze flight to Tampa was today?
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.
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.
^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.
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.
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).
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