Originally Posted by
knope2001
(b) MKE-LAX ended on NW this month, so both Midwest and AirTran likely benefitted form that and posted good loads. However it will be interesting to see subsequent months because traffic has definitely dminished since fall to LAX. In the current period...the lull between Thanksgiving and Christmas...AirTran pulled their normal morning MKE-LAX nonstop for apparent lack of demand, and their evening MKE-LAX nonstop is sometimes going out with only a few dozen passengers from what I'm hearing. And Midwest's daily morning MKE-LAX nonstop (in spite of no morning nonstop competition in this period) often carries loads that an E190 could hold. Now things will turn around sharply around 12/18 for a couple of weeks. But early December is a preview of the lull betwen New Year's and spring break. Overcapacity seems to be the name of the game, and one wonders if there will be more capacity pulls, or empty planes, or both.
Yes, I am particularly interested in AirTran's MKE-LAX performance. I am booked on FL for that route in early February, so I hope it survives the long, cold winter. I was originally booked on NW for that trip, but canceled it after the NW nonstop was dropped. Hopefully, my FL replacement isn't up the creek, too.