DL CMH-AMS/CDG Possible?
 

With the Midwestern TATL feeding frenzy in recent months (CLE, CVG, IND, STL, BNA), the last major city which could conceivably draw TATL service to not land a dance partner to this point is CMH.

The most recent Columbus Regional Airport Authority (CRAA) board minutes, for the first time, specifically mentioned by name discussions with Delta "or their worldwide partners" regarding flights to AMS or CDG, in addition to their ongoing efforts to land BA (presumably, by way of AA on a 757 to LHR). As observed on A.net, the minutes went public the day before IND's CDG service was announced.

Obviously, AF or KL aren't going to operate into CMH, but PIT and RDU both started with 757s and have since upgauged to 763ERs. Combine that with the supposedly "informed" rumor on APC about more TATL coming this Fall from DL strongholds, at least $675,000 plus two years worth of waived landing fees as reported by The Columbus Dispatch, and little things like PIT-CDG going to a 763 and JFK-SNN going to a Domestic 757 as opposed to a D1 757 (theoretically leaving one free), you wonder if there might be something to it.

Any thoughts/insight?

First time I have ever seen Nashville referred to as a midwestern city...

"Same general chunk of the country which was wanting and didn't have TATL service"?

I'd say that the recent influx of midwestern TATL flights probably bodes poorly for additional cities. Of course, with enough government subsidy, anything is possible.

If CMH is going to get TATL service its going to be DL or one of the European LCCs. AA is not going to waste an LHR slot on a secondary market and UA doesn't really do any non-hub TATL flights. DL may be willing to give it a try and see if it sticks.

AMS-CMH is probably right at the margin of 757 ops and could be unreliable as a non-stop in winter unless DL blocked seats and cargo. (Google 'United 757 Gander') Is the CRAA willing to spend $ for a summer seasonal 5x weekly flight?

Does CMH have the money to incentivize such a route, DL usually gets lots of $$$ to open up Europe flights

http://www.dispatch.com/business/201...-observers-say

"Columbus airport authority has incentives available of up to $675,000 in cash for new international service, plus waived fees for two years."

How interested are airlines in bringing TATL to CMH? In this article it mentions both FI and WW passed on CMH....

An insane idea with Detroit so close. That said, the airline business has done plenty of dumb things over the years, so one can't rule anything out.

Columbus is the state capital and also the location of OSU. I don't know what corporate facilities are nearby versus being closer to other Ohio airports.

Among the companies headquartered in Columbus, Nationwide Insurance, Huntington Bank, AEP, NetJets, Abercrombie & Fitch, L Brands (Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, etc.), and Wendy's are the most recognizable names, but there are decent-sized presences for other companies primarily in banking, fashion (which seems to be contributing the longhaul cargo flights from LCK), and insurance. Siemens is one foreign company established in town.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catego...ropolitan_area
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Columbus,_Ohio

There's a good chunk of the state, especially to the Southeast, which would be closer to CMH than CLE, CVG, IND, PIT, or DTW. Ohio University (in Athens) would be part of that radius.

IND is only 95 miles and PIT 65 miles further from DTW than CMH.

e- Really, by that logic, two 767s to CDG 124 miles apart (CVG, IND) is lunacy. As you said, the airline business is sometimes nutty, and an airline with airplanes willing to take free money from a city/state/corporation/airport authority wanting flights to Europe makes for an interesting situation.

I don't think any city or state in the Eastern time zone can be midwestern, by definition. Most of Ohio and most of Michigan (at least east of US-127) has more in common culturally with Pennsylvania and New York.

I thought the city and airport authority were stung pretty hard with dumping public money into the failed SkyBus venture.

Now that PIT & CLE have TATL, it's possible CMH feels left out.

Who knows. Airlines and public governing bodies have done dumber things with your money.

For what it's worth, CVG-CDG is very profitable for Delta judging by a Google Flights search of airfares. For the entire month of November and December, only one week -- between Christmas and New Year's -- has business-class airfares below $6,200. Some weeks the airfare is $10,000.

I don't think I have ever heard Michigan and Ohio be described as not midwestern before. Culturally, they are very much midwestern. If you want to say Buffalo and Pittsburgh have more in common with midwestern cities than the east coast, I would buy that.

"So close"? Detroit is 3 hours from Columbus and the entire drive isn't even all major highway (though most of it is). Are people in Columbus driving to Detroit to fly out of DTW? I doubt it. Certainly not business traffic. I'm not saying it will happen but operating CMH-AMS/CDG would hardly be different than operating PIT-CDG (which Delta does) or IND-CDG (which Delta will soon be doing).