Originally Posted by
jackal
It'd be interesting to get the inside loop on this. Wonder what prompted this decision? Did they come to the realization that it was a mistake to abandon this market, or did something change?
Although I'm not as frequent a flyer as some of my FT brethren here in ANC, so far, all of my AS and DL flights in and out of ANC (7 total so far this year--I'm in VA now) have had 100% load factors, regardless of the connecting city (SEA, SLC, ATL, CVG). It seems like winter tourism or business travel is up, too--the car rental agencies have all been selling out regularly throughout November and December in midweek. That hasn't happened for as long as I've been here.
I wonder if UA is going to operate more than just one round trip daily--if the passenger levels will sustain it, year-round service to SEA and SFO on top of DEN might be warranted...
I doubt it will be more than one flight a day to DEN in the winter. UA made a half-assed attempt at doing ANC-SFO in the winter after it yanked ANC-SEA and it didn't work. Personally, I wish they would bring back the SEA flight, but I doubt it since UA has basically ceded the PNW to AS/QX. UA has been scaling back Alaska service for years; they seem to view it as an inbound-only market, and don't cater to the locals.
Here's my $0.02 on why they reversed their decision: There have been lots of rumblings that UA couldn't find anybody to do their ANC ground handling during the summer. If no ground handlers were available, then even seasonal service wouldn't work. I think the pencil-pushers in Rockford decided that it made more sense to keep their own staff in ANC and operate one flight through the winter, with the usual summer increase, then to close down ANC completely and never return.
Originally Posted by
SkiUtah
if im not mistaken dosnt alaska operate a den-anc nonstop? couldnt the paying passengers demand to be rerouted on that?? I am guessing alot of the passengers could be easily rerouted thru salt lake city and deltas nearby hub to reduce inconvenience to the connecting passengers? Delta has reduced winter service to one 757 a day. hopefully ua wont make another carrier to sea then ua to den/ord to connect. no one likes an extra connection
AS only does DEN-ANC seasonally, mainly to compete with F9's seasonal service on this route. No airline has flown DEN-ANC this winter; UA is due back on 2/15, and F9 is starting their service in March this year, probably to get a share of the Spring Break leisure market that packs planes leaving Alaska that time of year. AS should be back on that route in June.