PRG-PHL route: how doing? Will it go year-round?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 52
PRG-PHL route: how doing? Will it go year-round?
Does anyone know how the new Prague-Philadelphia route is doing? I suppose it relies mostly on tourist traffic but am curious if it could go year-round or will at least remain seasonal going forward.
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2001
Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
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I do have some data and insight. Delta at JFK moved 1 1/4x times the number of international passengers as all carriers combined at PHL last year. If Delta can't make year-round work at JFK with a SkyTeam partner, AA at PHL has no chance.
Carriers don't publish RASM by route. Full planes at cheap fares don't mean much.
Carriers don't publish RASM by route. Full planes at cheap fares don't mean much.
#5
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: NYC
Programs: AA EXP, B6 Mosaic, UA Platinum, others
Posts: 1,270
I do have some data and insight. Delta at JFK moved 1 1/4x times the number of international passengers as all carriers combined at PHL last year. If Delta can't make year-round work at JFK with a SkyTeam partner, AA at PHL has no chance.
Carriers don't publish RASM by route. Full planes at cheap fares don't mean much.
Carriers don't publish RASM by route. Full planes at cheap fares don't mean much.
#7
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: NYC
Programs: AA EXP, B6 Mosaic, UA Platinum, others
Posts: 1,270
Yah, at this point you take your chances going anywhere on the 763 (and the 752, 'specially in the winter). I know they say they'll be eliminating them in 2019 and replacing them in 2020 with the 788s, but I'm suspicious given the extended fate of the 333s.
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 52
#9
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,769
While they don't show a second cut on the data (split by month and country of origin), I would imagine that the seasonality of US-based tourist visits would be even more pronounced, due to the distance involved and typical U.S. vacation periods. For example, the data shows a big spike in December, but probably not that many Americans are going over for Christmas markets (whereas Germans, still the largest tourist group in 2017, are probably doing this a lot).
#10
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To be fair, the 763s are barely older than either above yet are a operational nightmare. Why is AA unable to keep the 763s in good dispatch reliability while others such as DL can?
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 52
Prague's tourist traffic is not flat month-to-month by any means; see page 51 of https://www.praguecitytourism.cz/fil...rze_en_web.pdf
While they don't show a second cut on the data (split by month and country of origin), I would imagine that the seasonality of US-based tourist visits would be even more pronounced, due to the distance involved and typical U.S. vacation periods. For example, the data shows a big spike in December, but probably not that many Americans are going over for Christmas markets (whereas Germans, still the largest tourist group in 2017, are probably doing this a lot).
While they don't show a second cut on the data (split by month and country of origin), I would imagine that the seasonality of US-based tourist visits would be even more pronounced, due to the distance involved and typical U.S. vacation periods. For example, the data shows a big spike in December, but probably not that many Americans are going over for Christmas markets (whereas Germans, still the largest tourist group in 2017, are probably doing this a lot).
I am not trying to blindly advocate for something that cannot work but am just wondering why no airline seems to be willing to put a bet on one of the top-5 most visited European destinations year-round. This ignores, moreover, the increasing business traffic which is now mostly routed via FRA, MUC, AMS and LHR.
#12
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,769
There probably just isn't much in it for them; easier to let the alliance partners do the heavy lifting and concentrate on higher-revenue flights. In AA's case, it seems that there's generally a widebody shortage, and the destinations that can be served falls off pretty quickly. Maybe there's a business case, but it can't just be a business case in isolation; it has to be strong enough to warrant taking an aircraft off of another route.
#13
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If PHL-LIS was never a year-round route for the past decade, then PHL-PRG ain't gonna be one either. Even PHL-VCE was never year-round. BTW, I have been to Prague several times in the middle of winter, and there is a noticeable difference between those tourist crowds and the ones in the summer.
#14
Ambassador: Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 7,390
I am not trying to blindly advocate for something that cannot work but am just wondering why no airline seems to be willing to put a bet on one of the top-5 most visited European destinations year-round. This ignores, moreover, the increasing business traffic which is now mostly routed via FRA, MUC, AMS and LHR.
In other words, in the summer months AA believes they can command fares that leisure travelers are willing to pay to make the flight profitable, but they clearly do not believe they can charge the same price point while sustaining the number of customers willing to pay that amount in the colder months as they do in the summer.