kaukau

Article: http://www.lvrj.com/business/17181941.html

Sad to see them go under, but their Las Vegas service was really crappy. I think that 90% of their Las Vegas pax were non-rev: i.e. AQ employees flying to Vegas to visit friends or family. Most serious Hawaii - Las Vegas pax fly the non-stops: HA and TZ.

Mrp Alert

Actually the AQ flight was a favorite of WN non-revers. The WN flights would be sold out all day, but the late night AQ flight always had open seats.

Dr_wanderlust

the RJ is little more than a PR firm on tourism issues.

Aloha along with ATA makes getting to the Islands a bigger pain for LAS folks.

baccarat_king

Don't think TZ is going to work so well anymore.

kaukau, better keep booking those HA flights even further out --- looks like they have the LAS nonstop market locked up.

kaukau

Ain't that something! My friend Butch and I have been having a competition for a few years now, as to who can fly to Vegas from Lahaina more; He flies TZ, and I fly HA; so it looks like I win!

kaukau

Here's today's article on the ATA shutdown from your favorite PR firm : http://www.lvrj.com/business/17290609.html

Boraxo

I don't think the shutdowns will mean much to Vegas, which is now heavily dependent on the SoCal crowd for weekend bookings and meetings/conventions for weekdays.

However, the casinos are starting to see a falloff as a result of the U.S. economic slowdown. Casinos have traditionally viewed themselves as recession-proof but that may be changing.

Probably will find more deals in Vegas this summer than Hawaii.

As for LAS, the airport is already jammed with flights, I'm sure WN or another carrier will be happy to snap up a few extra gates. The LAS flights are very profitable and tend to sell out.

Mrp Alert

Both TZ & AQ used C2 IIRC. All gates are shared at LAS, but WN uses all of C by day with overflow heaed to A/B. At night, US uses A/B and sends overflow to C. As such, I don't think either airline willl have any issues absorbing this gate into their scheduling.

baccarat_king

ya think? This is truly what I am hopping for, with regard to advantageous comp opportunities ------ but, I have yet to see concrete data to support this, with regard to the Vegas casino market.

Boraxo, if you can provide any sources to the "start of this falloff" it would be very much appreciated.

edit to add:
did find one article HERE

But, gambling is only one source of revenue for the Strip. I still think we would need to see a bit more data (which is probably not be available yet). 2007 was a pretty good year for Vegas, overall.

kaukau

Although the LVRJ asserts that the sudden shutdown of AQ & TZ will not affect Las Vegas tourism, the Honolulu Advertiser reports that the demise of the two carriers translates into a 40% loss of seats between Las Vegas and Hawaii; a fact that may have severe implications in the Islands, with respect to tourism here, and the availability and price of seats from here to our #1 destination of choice.

Article: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ap...804050306/1071

DMark

Just a wild guess, but isn't it usually the case that when one airline (or in this case, two airlines) stop flying a route, another one (or two) happily steps up to fill any void - assuming there are paying customers wanting the service.

I would think Delta or UA or any of the other carriers might be inclined to offer more flights pretty soon, and I wouldn't be surprised if one of the low(er) cost airlines (JetBlue, etc.) made a run at the Vegas/Hawaii route.

I think news like this is devastating to small cities with less profitable routes (ie Peoria, Illinois to Louisville, KY) as it is not like there are hoards of people demanding those flights. But Vegas to Hawaii? I think this momentary lapse in service won't last all that long.

Mrp Alert

My gut feeling is that US will reinstate daily LAS-OGG flights or something similar as they have feed beyond just locals. Alternatively, UA might consider it as the #3 airline in LAS with sufficient feeder flights from IAD & ORD.