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Avelo Announces Service to Salem OR (SLE) - Will Alaska Respond?

Avelo Announces Service to Salem OR (SLE) - Will Alaska Respond?

Old Jul 13, 23, 10:18 am
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Avelo Announces Service to Salem OR (SLE) - Will Alaska Respond?

Just like the title says, Avelo has announced service from SLE-LAS and SLE-BUR. I wonder if AS will respond, SLE hasn't had commercial service since 2008 when DL pulled out (I am not counting SeaPort lol, sorry). Do you think AS will respond? I hope they do and it may signal a return to some of those old QX markets. What old markets would you like to see return?

Also, this is tangentially related to AS, so mods, feel free to move/remove if you don't think it belongs on this board.
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Old Jul 13, 23, 11:26 am
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Avelo seems to be aggressively pursuing under-served markets in all parts of the country. My FF cousin was recently forced to fly them SRQ-HVN and the experience was pretty comical. I can't say I would ever fly them, but then again I have an EasyJet flight coming up next month
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Old Jul 13, 23, 11:48 am
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Originally Posted by AKLifetimeFlyer
Avelo seems to be aggressively pursuing under-served markets in all parts of the country. My FF cousin was recently forced to fly them SRQ-HVN and the experience was pretty comical. I can't say I would ever fly them, but then again I have an EasyJet flight coming up next month
Yeah. Some of their West Coast routes are interesting, like their Bend, OR (RDM) and Sonoma County, CA (STS) service. It's very old school QX route planning.
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Old Jul 13, 23, 12:00 pm
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Alaska might care if Avelo started SLE-SEA flights, which isn't likely to happen.

Avelo and Allegiant have figured out that you can do ok flying a couple times a week from just about anywhere to Las Vegas and Southern California.
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Old Jul 13, 23, 2:50 pm
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Originally Posted by AKLifetimeFlyer
Avelo seems to be aggressively pursuing under-served markets in all parts of the country. My FF cousin was recently forced to fly them SRQ-HVN and the experience was pretty comical. I can't say I would ever fly them, but then again I have an EasyJet flight coming up next month
I have booked family on Avelo several times, primarily because their non stop routes worked perfectly for them. Haven't heard any major complaints. Obviously, if you start adding checked or rollaboard bags and nicer seat choices, the total fare quickly gets into what I would pay at AS or UA as well. But that wasn't a factor for the travelers I booked because they would have paid for a bag on AS and would have had to connect in SEA and wouldn't have gotten a nice seat for free either.

In general, I am happy to see Avelo/Allegiant have some interesting point to point routes on the west coast that enable me to save money when booking others.
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Old Jul 13, 23, 3:18 pm
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it's basically "niche marketing"; the idea is that these niche point-to-point routes are where airlines like AS have little or no interest, because competing would mean diverting resources from their hub operations
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Old Jul 13, 23, 4:03 pm
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Originally Posted by jrl767
it's basically "niche marketing"; the idea is that these niche point-to-point routes are where airlines like AS have little or no interest, because competing would mean diverting resources from their hub operations
Alaska coincidentally announced STS-BUR after Avelo did.
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Old Jul 13, 23, 6:25 pm
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That's funny. When we were looking to move to Oregon 20+ years ago we were told that SLE was not a viable option, the realtor told us we would have to drive to EUG or PDX to get anywhere, so we chose Eugene (for many more reasons than that).
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Old Jul 13, 23, 6:42 pm
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If they do start (some like SGU and MRY never materialized after announcement) - fly it early with less pax..
I like avelo with cheap fares and convenience of BUR to small airports but they tend to try and drop routes rather quickly if they dont work out (eg Tucson, Mesa, Ogden, Ft Collins, Grand Junction etc)

Are there rental cars in SLE? Ft Collins had no infrastructure so it was not practical as destination...
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Old Jul 13, 23, 6:55 pm
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Originally Posted by azepine00
Are there rental cars in SLE? Ft Collins had no infrastructure so it was not practical as destination...
Avis/Budget on site, apparently.

https://www.cityofsalem.net/communit...ort-businesses
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Old Jul 13, 23, 9:45 pm
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Respond with what? A fresh fleet of 15-passenger vans with QX branding as circa 1991?

AS has such limited interest in PDX right now that I cant see them ever considering a PAE-like operation at SLE, even though I think the demo and pop numbers in a reasonable collection area could support it without tanking PDX O/D any more than it already is.
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Old Jul 13, 23, 10:18 pm
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Originally Posted by VibeGuy
Respond with what? A fresh fleet of 15-passenger vans with QX branding as circa 1991?

AS has such limited interest in PDX right now that I cant see them ever considering a PAE-like operation at SLE, even though I think the demo and pop numbers in a reasonable collection area could support it without tanking PDX O/D any more than it already is.
QX is back in Redding (RDD) and Idaho Falls (IDA)... I don't see it that much of a stretch
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Old Jul 13, 23, 11:09 pm
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Originally Posted by StevenSeagalFan
QX is back in Redding (RDD) and Idaho Falls (IDA)... I don't see it that much of a stretch
The difference is Salem is about an hour driving from EUG and 60-90 minutes from PDX depending on traffic, both of which have AS service. Considering AS lack of appetite for Oregon right now I see them sitting this one out. But I hope I am wrongit would be cool to see AS back in SLE.

I suspect SLEs best play long term is to become something of a LCC destination within a larger catchment area, sort of like PVU is.

If I ruled the SLE marketing contract, I would try and position it as a gateway airport to Oregon wine country and the Oregon coast.
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Old Jul 14, 23, 5:00 am
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Originally Posted by Chugach
The difference is Salem is about an hour driving from EUG and 60-90 minutes from PDX depending on traffic, both of which have AS service. Considering AS lack of appetite for Oregon right now I see them sitting this one out. But I hope I am wrongit would be cool to see AS back in SLE.

I suspect SLEs best play long term is to become something of a LCC destination within a larger catchment area, sort of like PVU is.

If I ruled the SLE marketing contract, I would try and position it as a gateway airport to Oregon wine country and the Oregon coast.
I'd rather see AS fly to PVU.
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Old Jul 14, 23, 8:42 am
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I think Salem is just a good example for not needing actual QX air service (easy for me to say, since I don’t live there and would never fly there), but would be a good candidate for Landline bus service connecting it to PDX or EUG.

https://crankyflier.com/2023/07/13/l...rican-flights/
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