Now that we are joining *A, where will CO expand to next?
 

I know that this has been discussed before, but with Continental’s entry into the Star Alliance now set, I was wondering…

…which city would you like to see CO expand to next? :confused: A flight on CO metal originating stateside? Before, one had to keep the SkyTeam destinations and hubs in mind when answering this question…but now, the game has changed! :-:

Personally, and Mister Kellner knows this because I bug him about it at every DO :cool:, but I would like to see us expand to MUC. Although, I think that there will be plenty of options now with LH… <sigh> I'll just keep on dreaming! :D I’m curious to see the responses…Africa has to be in there, as do destinations in China now that we’re losing CZ…maybe CAN? CO has a name over there with their service to PEK and new service to PVG. Perhaps expand their great Latin America service...SCL?

How about HAV...soon!?! :eek::cool::-:

More TATL from CLE please :)

In terms of INTL, I would like to see CO add service to CPT, JNB, and SCL.

losing CZ , but gaining CA and FM so overall CO pax will gain presence in China through the move from Skyteam to *A . I do not see them adding service to the hub of an airline which will no longer be their partner

I would think that in the short term while the crisis is ongoing CO is not likely to take too many risks in overexpanding their network , I would expect to see a small number of new routes from CO hubs to existing *A hubs , such as the already announced IAH-FRA .

I think that in the initial stages while we are waiting for economic recovery the changes you are likely to find will be to existing routes through either codesharing additions ( particularly to/from Europe with LH/LX/SN/BD ) or terminal changes due to the 'under one roof ' initiative which will help with feed ( NRT / BJS / PVG )

It's been interesting to see Delta expand further after the NW merger. Interesting routes ex-LAX, for one, and a bunch of additional destinations in Africa for another. CO's exit from SkyTeam on that basis alone is very tough for me to swallow, especially since a good chunk of my travel is to East and South Africa. So I would love to see JNB, CPT and NBO. Why not go head to head with DL/KLM? It's just a question of whether those are big enough business markets, especially in a tanking economy. So I would think that expansion would be limited.

EWR-CAI...pretty please...yes I know I am dreaming...

You're right about HAV
 

Has nothing to do with Star but if the travel restrictions are lifted there is no doubt CO will start scheduled service to HAV.

With the economy in the shape its in I don't expect much new heavy metal going across the pond.

We might see an EWR-MUC, but since its likely not doable with a 752...more likely, if they get ATI with UA/LH, it'll be a LH operated EWR-MUC.

I'd expect that there might be some premium oil traffic that will get 787s, LOS and such. EWR-JNB 787.

Personally, assuming the security can be worked out, EWR-BEY would print money for CO.

CO is starting EWR-PVG next month. It is starting IAH-FRA in November. It is operating IAH-GIG 3 times a week this N. Hemisphere winter, and is applying for daily service year round.

[Edit to add: I think they have good chance of getting the Brazil authority, and those routes take up a lot of widebody utilization. For just the 3x weekly flight this winter, they have to cancel the 2nd the IAH-HNL CO72/73.]

I think we will not see anything else for longhaul until the 2 extra 772ERs arrive in 2nd half of 2010.

*A has much better cover of southern Africa than ST, though since the vast majority of that coverage is on SA, sometimes it means looking at a connection through JNB when it would not otherwise be preferable. There are A LOT of *A options from Europe to JNB, though, and SA has a direct flight IAD-JNB and JFK-JNB.

Western Africa is much more where *A is weaker than ST, though LH just bought out Brussels Airlines, so as soon as they join there will be a lot of connections added to the map in W Africa via BRU (the trouble is though that BRU is hard to get to from the western US!).

To Eastern Africa, there are some good options from Europe, and MS has decent coverage from CAI as well. But it's not always convenient. LX has a flight ZRH-NBO-DAR, but I believe it's less than daily, and the only other option to NBO from Europe is via CAI.

LH already flies EWR-MUC.

Would love to see CO start flights to Africa thats the only continent missing from there route map. Africa flights i think would do really well to start new international fligths not to much competition on US-Africa routes.

IAH-LOS
IAH/EWR-JNB-CPT
EWR-CAI
IAH-ACC

From IAH: EDI, IST, MAD, MUC, OSL, SCL, and HKG!

I'm not expecting anything earth-shattering for a while. They don't have the planes and demand is in the toilet, anyway. Perhaps some reshuffling of CDG or AMS flights to FRA, ZRH, or possibly MUC. Maybe bump CPH to daily during the winter (though SK is shrinking so fast, there may not be much need). Beyond that I'm not sure there will be much movement for at least another 18-24 months.

I agree that MUC would be a good (and likely) addition, although connecting through AMS or FRA isn't too bad. Once I took UA non-stop but I'm not doing that again until they refurbish more of their planes.