Originally Posted by
HeathrowGuy
All the advertising in the world wouldn't make much difference for CO in the MSP market -- MSP locals, and especially business travelers, are going to overwhelmingly stick with Delta because of the need for convenient, frequent nonstop air service to cities where they want to go.
WN seems to be doing quite well -- 11 flights daily, mostly full or nearly full. However, WN is not actually expanding right now -- just reallocating resources -- so I don't expect much further growth here for a while.
Long term I dont think DL/NW has all that much of an advantage. NW preserved its lead for decades through cut-throat competition, e.g. with ATA they moved into their home base & drove them out. DL/NW can't play that game w/ WN in the picture because it could very well be DL/NW that ends up going under. To the extent that their destinations overlay, other competitors (e.g. AirTran, Frontier, Sun Country) will be shielded by WN. NW's bite has been muzzled.
Also NW is not as popular here as many would imagine. Labor relations, bankruptcies, leveraged buyout & drunk pilots have really given it a black eye as far as the local public is concerned. Elites view it differently because of how well we were treated, but for the public it's really a love-hate relationship, with a lot of the latter and the "Northworst" attitude.
Delta simply isn't a hometown airline.
And now CO pretty much just flies E-145s. Welcome to Rochester.