Originally Posted by
iahphx
One additional problem with maintaining a small presence at a small airport is getting the word out that you even exist. Sure, Frontier did an initial advertising campaign in Wilmington and Trenton to launch their service, but the small operation cannot sustain a large, continued ad campaign. So people forget you're there, and future travelers often don't even realize it.
As an example, I recently had a Delaware friend complain to me about how she was facing a high ticket cost for a PHL to MKE flight at the time she wanted to take to southeast Wisconsin. It didn't even immediately occur to me that perhaps ILG-MDW might be a reasonable alternative for her. If I can't remember that, what are the odds that a "regular" traveler would (like my Delaware friend has no clue that Frontier was operating out of Wilmington). And most flight searches that "normal" people would do wouldn't pull up this option.
I think ILG might suffer this issue a little more than TTN. Atleast F9 has been advertising TTN more I think, and it has more routes, better frequency to markets like MDW, and it also has the Central/Northern NJ catchment. So there'll be more word of mouth.
Not that it's very significant but travelocity also associates TTN with Philadelphia. There is no ILG association to Philly on travelocity as well. travelocity sells Frontier flights.
The loads might be good at ILG, but the yields are probably terrible. There needs to be more mass awareness/interest to ramp up demand, while supply remains and F9 can charge more if it needs to make the flights more profitable. ILG-IAH was a disaster.