Originally Posted by YEG Guy
WN avoids congested and high cost airports like the plague, take OAK and SFO as a great example. Going to DFW would amount to increased costs for very little return. If they reallyt wanted to off the Wright Ammendment, then Herb would be banging down every Congresspersons door trying to get it cancelled. As it stands, WN has an excellent operation at LUV and they don't want to mess with it.
I agree completely.
Here's what I posted to a thread in the AA forum on the same topic:
I don't see WN moving to DFW in the near term, but anything is possible. DFW is an expensive place to operate.
This article from yesterday reveals some clues about the expense of flying at DFW:
Delta paid DFW about $25 million in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, a number that was expected to rise to $35 million in the next 12 months.
The biggest chunk, more than $28 million, would have been for landing fees in the next 12 months. Delta was also paying about $3.5 million a year to lease 28 gates under a contract that runs through 2009. The airline and the airport are discussing a buyout, Cox said.
While Delta's withdrawal will cost the airport an estimated $20 million, that is only about 4 percent of its $494 million annual budget. The impact is lighter partly because landing fees are based on an airplane's weight, and many of Delta's flights were small regional jets used by its subsidiaries.
$28 million to land 202 RJ and 54 mainline flights a day?
That's a lotta dough for a bunch of lightweight RJs. WN flies only heavier 737s.
While I haven't researched the landing fees and rent at DAL, I am confident that both are cheaper at DAL than at DFW.
And WN is loathe to pay for expensive airports - Denver is a prime example.
WN move flights to DFW? Maybe, but I wouldn't count on it.
Here's the
Budget for the Dallas Department of Aviation , covering Love Field, Dallas Executive Airport and the Heliport. Total landing fee revenue for fiscal year 2003-2004 was expected to equal just under $1,670,000. So WN's landing fees at Love were less than that since that's the total revenue for all landing fees at all three facilities. Compare that to the $28 million that DL was expected to pay for landing fees at DFW in the coming year.
With the new $1.2 billion terminal D at DFW expected to cause increases in airline landing fees and rent, I suspect it will be a cold day in hell when WN decides to throw away money by moving flights there. The article I posted above mentions that DL's DFW airport expenses were expected to rise from $25 million this year to $35 million next year. WN is smart enough not to sign up for such exhorbitant projects.
They'd have to be on crack to move flights from low-cost DAL to high-cost DFW. $28 million landing fees for DL and its RJs at DFW? WN paid about 5% of that for landing fees at DAL. No way would WN throw away its money like that.