BOSavi8tr

Since about the mid 2000's DL has steadily decreased service at TLH. At it's peak in 2000-2003 you could fly DL non-stop from TLH to:

ATL, DFW, CVG, JFK, MCO, MIA, FLL, TPA and PBI with ~32 flights a day, the most being on one of the DL connection carriers.

However, TLH-ATL was 8x day and all mainline with a mix of MD-88s and 738's. Today is a much different picture. This is obviously due to various issues - recession, increased price of oil, etc. However, when other panhandle airports are seeing upgauges of aircraft (ECP, VPS), TLH continues to see mostly CRJ's with 1 or 2 mainline flights per day. While I understand places like ECP and VPS are popular spring break areas, they're a much more seasonal market than TLH, yet see more mainline flights. TLH has a strong Government, Business and Education market for a city it's size and doesn't have the seasonal market like the beach towns.

Obviously, Delta knows more than I do, but curious if anyone here has info to share about the TLH market or if it's due to change over to mainline in the near terms?

twohundredfifty

I lived down in TLH in the good old days and here's my take.

Gov and FSU/FAMU travel was seasonal.

DFW, MCO, and CVG (more or less) closed as hubs.

JFK apparently never worked out for DL. Flight was on a CRJ-100 which would explain it.

Not sure about the S FL markets. They are now Gulfstream/AA.

During the early 2000s, DL was competing against FL in TLH. Once FL gave up the market, fares went way up.

JAX is within a reasonable driving distance (unlike VPS or ECP) , esp. for leisure travelers and it has many more destinations and better fares. Plus, the 35 minute flight to ATL on ASA was pretty much guaranteed to be late which made the drive to JAX even more attractive.

I flew to TLH weekly for 6 months a few years ago and there was no mainline service at all during that time that I recall. So what they have now would appear to be an improvement.

BOSavi8tr

Yeah, that all makes sense. But looking at the service today, even though there are 2 major universities, FSU with around 40k students and FAMU with around 20-25k, plus a major state college with around 20k students, it's dismal.

What year-round segment is DL catering to in ECP & VPS that offers more than TLH that all of their flights will soon be mainline with FC?

FlyDeltaJets87

Huh???
ECP and VPS are both closer to TLH than JAX. Google Maps puts JAX at a 184 mile drive from the TLH airport (2 hr 46 min). Panama City is 100 miles (2 hours even). Fort Walton Beach (VPS) is 155 miles (2 hr 26 min) from the Tallahassee Airport. And heck, Valdosta, GA, Albany, GA, and Dothan, AL are all closer to TLH than JAX is. So how are you drawing the conclusion that JAX is closer to TLH than VPS or ECP when at best, you could say VPS and JAX are roughly equa-distant from downtown Tallahassee?

mersk862

I think what is being said is that TLH is closer to JAX than VPS/ECP, which would be true. People in TLH might consider driving to JAX for a substantial savings (especially if multiple people), while the extra drive from ECP/VPS would likely cause people in those markets to not consider JAX as a viable option to fly out of.

Pharaoh

Also compare to Gainesville with UF's 50k students and a minor state college with about 17k (plus another moderately large city, Ocala, 25 miles away with no scheduled service). It's about the same with only 7 weekday flights, all to ATL and no mainlines.

Seems like except for several pre and post holiday days there is not all that much demand from university towns. (Ignoring the fair accessibility of JAX, TPA, MCO, DAB or even ATL.)

twohundredfifty

Precisely. My impression is that TLH loses a lot of traffic to JAX, whereas it's too far to get to JAX from ECP and VPS conveniently.

NewNole2001

It doesn't help that fares are so much lower out of JAX so often. This summer I needed a 2 one way tickets to ABQ. It was $200/ticket out of JAX and $400 from TLH. I was able to get a one way rental to JAX for $35 and gas was another $30 or $40. So I paid $75 to save $400. For leisure travel on a Saturday it was a no brainer.

twohundredfifty

That is a good question. Maybe better service in ECP/VPS has something to do with WN at ECP?

Also, to add to your original list, there was TLH-MEM 3x daily with NW and then DL. That got cut sometime in the last year or two.

And IIRC there was also IAH-TLH on CO at one point but that didn't work out either.

BOSavi8tr

The biggest difference here is that Gainesville, and moreso Ocala, are extremely close to Orlando. Gainesville - Orlando you can do in an hour, with Ocala-Orlando being no more than 45 mins. Granted I tend to drive fast, but I-75 is like 3 lanes and you can go fast easily.

Conversely, as stated earlier the closest airport to TLH which is drawing traffic is JAX which is 2 1/2 - 3 hours on two lane I-10 which is notorious for speed traps.

BOSavi8tr

But wouldn't the same be said for VPS, which has ECP (a Southwest Airline airport) to the east, and Pensacola (a Southwest Airlines airport) to the west, yet they're seeing upgauges in aircraft. So that theory seems off. ECP and PNS are literally no more than 45 mins and 55 mins respectively.

MSPeconomist

Many of the students, especially undergrads, would be from Florida and are likely to drive rather than fly. Exceptions could be for major athletic events. University business travel is more likely at major research universities than at teaching oriented institutions.

BOSavi8tr

Those are very good points. However, FSU has a very large S. Florida population (Miami/Ft.Lauderdale area) which is a strong 8.5 - 9 hour drive from TLH.

FSU is by no means an MIT, Georgia Tech, etc., but they have a world renowned National High Magnetic Field Laboratory which is used for research in physics, biology, bioengineering, chemistry, geochemistry, biochemistry. So it's got a lot going on. Pretty cool spot, check it out -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationa...eld_Laboratory

MSPeconomist

Of course FSU has some good departments and programs, but the major state college less so.

BTW, FAMU runs an interesting business school program, including teaching time management. It seems to work.

EZE

Having been to these cities before, my thought is that TLH has less beach traffic, the students don't fly much, and the government traffic is mostly within FL. ECP has more popular beaches and now has runway that can serve mainline aircraft so while TLH might have had an advantage then they don't now. Plus PNS, JAX and ECP have military and consultant traffic. JAX has got a decent business community - CSX etc.