Originally Posted by
BlueHorseShoe2000
I had posted this in the AirTran forum yesterday but will make a few comments here as well
Sorry -- I had not been over to the FL board recently and have been short on participation time as of late. Didn't mean to steal your thunder!
Originally Posted by
BlueHorseShoe2000
Long-term, with the exception of DSM, nearly every connection option offered by AirTran in MKE will be available through Southwest via MDW (especially when DCA slots are shifted to Chicago). It might be a negative for MKE, but will have little to no impact on the Southwest network as a whole.
That's really the crux of why I decided to mention it here....it might well offer some of the first solid evidence about the role of Milwaukee in the WN system. In reducing the overcapacity beetween MKE and BWI, the decision was made to keep Milwaukee as a spoke for the WN Baltimore hub, but
not keep Baltimore as a spoke for the FL Milwaukee hub. Ultimately, of course, when the integration is complete it's all one airline and a BWI-MKE flight can serve hubs at both ends. But who knows if there will be a MKE hub by that point.
Blue is right on the money that nearly everything AirTran offers BWI-MKE-XXX is already available on Southwest nonstop or via an existing WN hub. Speculation has MKE unnecessary, but this might just be the first concrete move supporting that speculation.