Originally Posted by
jwright
Perhaps they could be filled going to SoCal but what about the aircrafts' return flights north? Full one way and empty the other equals a 50% load factor, not enough to justify extra flying.
I don't really buy that. Alaska has consistently called PDX and LAX "hubs," which traditionally means traffic between hubs. Secondly, have you looked at the sparse options already out there? If one flight a day was added for a couple days it would likely get game traffic as well as other traffic. It would not be 100% full on the way down and zero on the way up. It may not be 100% capacity, but there is a decent amount of potential traffic out there to make a decent dent.
If Alaska is committed to Oregon it will do something. Heck, even Southwest ramped up planes between Boise and Phoenix when the Broncos played in the Fiesta Bowl.
Otherwise, it looks like charter will rule the day. I just don't like charters because you are largely tied to the group.