After WN left Jackson, airfares went up
Aug 19, 2014, 10:57 pm
#31
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 855
Not a fan of bleeding zillions of dollars from taxpayers to pitch at tiny little airports almost no one wants to use. Like JST, that ~$200,000,000 one in PA with about 25 pax a day:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-pl...100702844.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnsto...County_Airport
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-pl...100702844.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnsto...County_Airport
If you think they received $200M to support scheduled passenger service, think again.
Aug 20, 2014, 12:08 pm
#32
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 538
The Jackson experience kind of proves the SW effect is mostly a thing of the past.
In the 80's and 90's, SW entry into town meant a massive decrease in fares and a huge increase in airport traffic. It took no statistician to figure out something was going on. It was not only leisure fares that plummeted, but business and walk up fares also saw massive decrease. It left the major airlines with big problems--The lower fares led to a huge increase in the market. So they had to decide whether to deploy more of their capacity to a market at fares that lost them money, or to give up on the market. Often the response was sequential--first, more planes in an attempt to compete--followed some time later by a pull back as the extra market share destroyed the bottom line. This is how SW eventually came to dominate BWI---With US first trying to compete and then pulling out.
The micro effect of the SW pullout in Jackson shows how times have changed.
In the 80's and 90's, SW entry into town meant a massive decrease in fares and a huge increase in airport traffic. It took no statistician to figure out something was going on. It was not only leisure fares that plummeted, but business and walk up fares also saw massive decrease. It left the major airlines with big problems--The lower fares led to a huge increase in the market. So they had to decide whether to deploy more of their capacity to a market at fares that lost them money, or to give up on the market. Often the response was sequential--first, more planes in an attempt to compete--followed some time later by a pull back as the extra market share destroyed the bottom line. This is how SW eventually came to dominate BWI---With US first trying to compete and then pulling out.
The micro effect of the SW pullout in Jackson shows how times have changed.
Aug 20, 2014, 12:22 pm
#33
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Aug 20, 2014, 3:24 pm
#36
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Aug 21, 2014, 7:22 am
#37
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 5,813
The homepage linked above has these listings of Airlines:
Atlanta Delta
Charlotte US Airways
Chicago O’Hare United
Dallas/Ft. Worth American Airlines
Houston/Intercontinental United
Washington D.C./Reagan National US Airways
Charlotte US Airways
Chicago O’Hare United
Dallas/Ft. Worth American Airlines
Houston/Intercontinental United
Washington D.C./Reagan National US Airways
Which says:
The Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport is proud to provide non-stop air service to six cities daily via four outstanding passenger carriers.
Aug 21, 2014, 8:29 am
#38
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: National Capitol Region
Programs: Delta Dirt Medallion,AA,USairways, WN Rapid Rewards, National Emerald Club
Posts: 3,912
Southwest still has efficient operations, simplified training, common fleet type, maximization of fleet and crews, that provide cost advantages. I think the "Southwest Effect" is much diminished but still present.
Indeed, the industry pretty much has declared the failure of deregulation through bankruptcy, consolidation, and as a consequence increased monopolistic concentration.
Aug 21, 2014, 9:40 am
#39
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 5,813
The Legacy Airlines were unable to adjust their cost structures to the realities of the deregulated market where new entrants (including Southwest and others) had much different cost structures. The restructuring of the industry was a consequence of that.
The recent consolidation may only be temporary. You can see newer carriers expanding and in time may challenge the legacies. As the market continues to evolve you may see new entrants. PeoplExpress recently started, I don't know if they will be successful or not but other newer carriers from Spirit to JetBlue seem to be finding a place in the market.
Aug 21, 2014, 10:01 am
#40
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...You are talking about the Jackson Mississippi Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport (JAN) referred to in the link at the top of this thread?...
lol
sorry to waste everyone's time
Aug 21, 2014, 10:17 am
#41
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: PIT
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Posts: 1,787
Nobody cares about which carrier is cheaper by some national metric. All any one passenger cares about is the price of his ticket for his particular flight.
At a small station, when one carrier pulls out, that means a vast drop in capacity and that leads to a significant increase in prices.
It also means that the station could not support the capacity in place. That is a function of the local economy vis-a-vis other markets.
Expect to see significant price increases to/from smaller markets such as this as AA/US takes hold.
At a small station, when one carrier pulls out, that means a vast drop in capacity and that leads to a significant increase in prices.
It also means that the station could not support the capacity in place. That is a function of the local economy vis-a-vis other markets.
Expect to see significant price increases to/from smaller markets such as this as AA/US takes hold.
US played particularly dirty on the PIT-PHL route. When WN started that route, US immediately cut their prices and (re)started flying bigger planes. But then US would interline their own crews for commutes on WN flights... some evening WN flights, the seats could be half filled with US crew members. During this time, RT US flights between the two cities were actually cheaper than fuel + tolls on the turnpike.
After WN pulled out, US more than doubled fares on the route.... exactly the very next day that WN stopped operating it. Also, in the months following, they reduced the number of flights on Boeings and Airbuses and reduced many of the flights to Embraers.
It's not that the O/D traffic out of PIT isn't there... it's that the O/D traffic out of PIT isn't there at US Airways' prices.... and US took anti-competitive action to make sure they could maintain their monopoly on this route.
