toomanybooks

http://southwest.investorroom.com/in...s=43&item=1848

normalone

Wow. MDW-JAN is my route I guess I better start searching for a new airline.

N830MH

Perhaps B6 will fly to EYW from FLL/MCO/TPA instead.

NK will fly BKG-MCO/FLL/DFW/ORD by replaced of Southwest metal.

Or Allegiant Air will fly BKG-SFB/FLL/PIE/PGD.

This is better work. Those new airline will be so successful.

expert7700

wow, we were on the inaugural flights into Branson and Key West this year.

Despite wanting to visit Key West again, it would be somewhat depressing to book the last scheduled flight out as well.

iTanNicNic

I feel really bad for the workers in BKG and EYW... They are contractors and we know how the unions feel about contractors... So I doubt these folks will get jobs elsewhere in the WN system because they would most likely be just like any other external candidates

expert7700

Just don't miss the last flight on 6/7/14! No flat-tire rule in that case....

alggag

BKG - I'm surprised this station wasn't cut while still under the FL banner, subsidy or no subsidy. For their sake I hope they can convince F9 or G4 to pick up the slack otherwise they are going to have a pretty empty airport soon. I'd still like to make a quick run up there to see the Acrobats of China show so I guess I'll have to make it happen while I still can.

JAN - I know it was a perennially poor performer but if a legacy WN station was going to get cut I don't see how it could be anywhere else other than CRP. I do find a little worrisome that this is one of the very few times that WN will totally exit a legacy WN market (not just airport as in DET, IAH, and SFO) and I get the sense that we will see more legacy markets closed in the next year or two or three.

EYW - Most disappointing for me. I was surprised that it was converted in the first place seeing as how WN tends to avoid airports with operational challenges but it looked as if it might have been hanging on with the addition of EYW-MSY. I am booked to go there in January and was looking forward to adding to my vacation destination rotation but it now it looks like that will probably be my one and only time flying in there on WN.

alggag

Contractors don't get accommodated in the WN network as they technically work for the handling company and not for WN. I'm speculating here, but I would think that the only WN personnel at either BKG or EYW were the station managers.

chuckworth

Somewhat surprised FNT was not included in these closings. Maybe hanging on by a thread.

ElmhurstNick

JAN was down to 2xHOU, 1xMCO, 1xMDW in the winter schedule. I think Wichita (1xLAS, 2xDAL, 2xMDW, also a transfer from AirTran) is probably in danger eventually as well.

I have a feeling that Amarillo (1xLAS, 2xDEN, 7xDAL), Lubbock (1xAUS, 1xLAS, 5xDAL) and Midland (2xLAS, 3xHOU, 5xDAL) are all going to have some reductions when the Wright Amendment goes away. The 7 one-stop DAL-LAS are probably going to become 5 non-stop, 1xELP, 1xLIT, and maybe they'll run a late Friday or early Saturday non-stop flight to LAS.

But I can't imagine them getting completely cut.

alggag

I think MAF is kind of a screwball considering that it's pretty much ground zero for petroleum production and in that sense I suspect that it does a bit better than simple load factors would suggest.

A while back I suggested somewhere that IAD would probably get the hook if WN ever opened DCA in a meaningful capacity which now looks to be coming true with the slot divestiture.

LetsGoToo

The flight schedules at JAN had gotten very difficult. The times and connections are rough. It's similar to a lot of the legacy WN network. I'd expect even more of this going forward. At least in the Southeast, it seems WN is just handing market after market over to Delta.

ElmhurstNick

The minute that WN decides to move DCA-MKE to become DCA-MDW, it's all over at IAD. It's a shame that WN couldn't build that station more, they didn't even bother flying to HOU. Security is not awful if you are A-List or better (and now with PreCheck, probably just fine) and the WN gates are right off the escalators from the train. I actually preferred IAD to BWI, and the prices were usually cheaper if I had time to buy WGA.


ETA: The other one I can see leaving is ALB. They've steadily cut flights there since they first started. They are down to 4xBWI, 2xMDW, 4xFlorida and an occasional Saturday flight to LAS. That doesn't really get it done.

ctuttle

Other than being a legacy market for Southwest it is their only station in Mississippi, although Memphis is just a few miles north of Mississippi. I'm afraid this is not good news about the economy of Jackson.

It will be interesting to see what happens to fares in and out of Jackson after Southwest leaves. I doubt there will be any new carriers coming to JAN unless the airport offers some financial considerations to lure one, and even then it will be difficult with Southwest leaving. I'm guessing you will start seeing additional mainline flights from the existing carriers there to add seats to make up for the inventory lost when Southwest departs.

Branson, I'm thinking looked good on paper, that there would be demand. Problem is, Springfield airport is just 45 minutes away, and it's not like there isn't room for more flights there. I can't see that area supporting two airports so close to each other. Perhaps if this was the 1990's the outcome would have been different.

It's sad to see cities lose Southwest, however the economy has changed, and Southwest has changed. I think this is going to continue and I also think frequency of flights is going to continue to decline. If you are on a Southwest flight and it isn't full, or nearly full you will see the elimination of the flight and the plane will be put on another route where it will be full. Southwest has too many other options to use those planes and marginally profitable stations will be closed. Adding flights between two larger cities is less costly than keeping a smaller market station open.

chrisj85

Not terribly surprised that EYW is being dropped. I think that the short runway combined with iffy weather during wet season caused significant operational problems and WN just decided the hassle wasn't worth dealing with anymore.

The Key West business community is pretty much in a panic, as they probably should be. DL could, if they so choose, return to the pre Air Tran mode of a couple of unreliable RJs per day with no mainline service and sky-high fares (DL has operated 2-3 mainline 737s per day into EYW the last few years). There really is no particularly useful alternative among the other major carriers as AA only flies ATRs to MIA (given how often they are delayed or canceled you might as well drive) and UA doesn't fly to EYW at all, except for obscure codeshares with Silver Airways that require double connections to go anywhere other than IAH or EWR.

Unless EYW's runway is lengthened someday (and that is highly unlikely), doubt we'll ever see WN return.