Southwest Rapid Rewards - BOS-PHX going away?

Any ideas as to why BOS-PHX is apparently going away in August? Seems like a decent winter route; I flew it in January and the flight was packed full (though I don't imagine a lot of people going to PHX in the summer). It had decent West Coast connections on the same flight (SAN and SMF, IIRC). That would leave B6 and US (!) left on the BOS-PHX route. And, I don't believe PVD or MHT have direct PHX service anymore.

E1A-E1E in BOS has become quite nice since the WN/FL merger - new restaurants (though Beer Works appears to be under construction), plenty of seating, big windows, rocking chairs, etc. Hopefully WN will continue to expand service there, though PVD and MHT are still relatively popular. Only negative is BKSX at the C/P, but that's for another forum.

I flew it round trip not too long after WN started it (only flights on WN to date). Outbound was 40-50% full (though I should note the flight was on 9/11/10, and it was also a Saturday), but the return was full on 9/15 (a Wednesday). It seems like a long flight for WN, the plane might make more money flying a handful of shorter routes in the same time period. MHT/PVD/BDL all have WN service to LAS, so I'm guessing a lot of traffic chose those routings instead if connecting, and LAS probably has more year round and overall interest than PHX.

WN will add BOS-BNA to replace it and also BOS-MKE is converting from FL to WN. These will offers some westbound connections. Also, WN has no competition on these routes.

BOS-PHX had US and B6, and the route is longer stage length (almost transcon) which is something WN wants to rely less on, atleast from BOS.

B6 is avoiding the middle of the country which might provide room for WN to expand however.

Here are some routes that are shorter than BOS-PHX that might work:

BOS-HOU (major WN station, with international plans)
BOS-SAT (nobody is on the route; SAT is a big station)
BOS-DAL (2014, the Wright Amendment restrictions are lifted)
BOS-MCI (WN could compete against DL if WN ventured. WN is big at MCI, and can offer more connections)
BOS-IND (WN could compete against DL, but WN isn't as big in IND. Maybe risky)
BOS-RDU (Could offer no plane changes to Florida. B6 flies it, but B6 is weak in the RDU market, so maybe WN would push them out of there. DL also flies the route however)

BOS-CAK (currently flown by FL. Not sure if it will convert)
BOS-ATL (likely to convert)
BOS-MCO (likely to convert)

Doubtful, but maybe a small chance if there is enough O&D between the cities:
BOS-DAY (under 500 miles, so still short enough I suppose. It might have to rely on getting pax from Dayton to Cincinnati to support it)
BOS-CHS (long, and might need to connecting service to Florida). NK is able to get BOS-MYR to work but NK probably operates on lower costs.

I didn't list the hub for other airline cities, like MEM, CLE, IAD and CLT. It would be too tough just being present there, and flying to markets like BWI and MDW, let alone making an attempt for BOS.

@TheBOSMan: True that re: long flights. Most of their flights are relatively short-haul; even if PHX isn't technically transcon, it's out of character for WN to fly that far (six hours out, five hours back).

@rtalk25: I'd love to see BOS-MCO go year-round on WN. I don't mind connecting through BWI because it's a good airport with excellent food options, but it does add a decent chunk of time to the trip (which I take twice a year).

WN's strategy at BOS, though it's a point-to-point airline, seems to be to feed pax into its focus cities like BWI, STL, and MDW for connections to other destinations - not to drive lots of O&D traffic on direct routes.

With five gates, there is definitely room to expand. I think that 2x MCI is the most logical choice, with HOU in there if they want to go after United. BOS is not a big military-oriented market, so I don't think SAT would be productive.

The E gates with their dedicated security are very nice, and while I've not tried it yet, Priority Pass members are supposed to be able to use the Air France lounge. But I don't think WN is really trying to go up against B6 head-to-head - I think their strategy is to provide BOS destination to WN loyalists from elsewhere.

@TheBOSMan: True that re: long flights. Most of their flights are relatively short-haul; even if PHX isn't technically transcon, it's out of character for WN to fly that far (six hours out, five hours back).

@rtalk25: I'd love to see BOS-MCO go year-round on WN. I don't mind connecting through BWI because it's a good airport with excellent food options, but it does add a decent chunk of time to the trip (which I take twice a year).

WN's strategy at BOS, though it's a point-to-point airline, seems to be to feed pax into its focus cities like BWI, STL, and MDW for connections to other destinations - not to drive lots of O&D traffic on direct routes.
Well, but aren't PHX and LAS WN's focus cities in the west?

I just flew LAX-BUF and back, and outwards I changed in BWI. (So they brought LAX-BWI back sometime; I remember for a while they'd gotten rid of anything that long, and that was part of what soured me on them at the time. Now I'm soured by way more things, and bringing back LAX-BWI can't make up for all of them. But anyway...)

But returning I changed in PHX, so at least last week there was a nonstop BUF-PHX flight. Why does that work (at this time of year)? It's already too late for people escaping BUF winters in Arizona, is because so many Arizonans go to Niagara Falls now?

(Thinking that WN didn't like long flights that much, I would have excepted my LAX-BUF to involve connections in the middle of the country like STL or MDW, but no?)

Does this have anything to do with WN being the only airline to fly mainline planes to BUF, except for JetBlue to BOS and JFK and DL to ATL? (That was, in fact, a big part of why I decided to fly WN on this route, to avoid RJs. But no one has to fly WN just to avoid RJs on PHX-BOS; most if not all other airlines already can do PHX-BOS with one connection on all mainline jets.)

BOS-SAT (nobody is on the route; SAT is a big station)

B6 does BOS-AUS, which is next door to SAT.

B6 does BOS-AUS, which is next door to SAT.

SAT and AUS are closeby but are technically different markets. San Antonio is also the larger market of the two with a pro-sports team.

SAT and AUS are closeby but are technically different markets. San Antonio is also the larger market of the two with a pro-sports team.

AUS actually had 12-13% more passengers according to the FAA in 2010. And don't forget about AUS' pro-sports team(s), UT ;).