Originally Posted by
Letitride3c
+1 and LOL's - that or lots of 738's charters, plus, urrrr - lots of excess checked luggages. Many cruisers are known to bring half of their personal belongings on a weeklong cruise to the Caribs ...
Who has a fleet of 747's on standby, aren't most of them mothballed out at the Mojave desert in California, stripped for parts or otherwise baking naked in the sun? And, qualified pilots & crews to fly them on short notice...
You may seriously underestimate the scale of the U.S. airline industry. Delta, American and United each have a fleet or more than 120 active widebody aircraft. DL and UA have more than 1,000 aircraft each when including regional affiliates. Delta and Southwest each had over 300,000 passenger boardings in an average day in February. 3,500 cruise ship passengers (not previously planning to use the SXM airport) may overwhelm certain airport facilities, but for big U.S. carriers, this is just a little blip.