Milwaukee-Tucson
 

Milwaukee-Tucson is being added, Saturday-only, for the winter season.

It will be E190 and run from January 8 through April 16.


This is an example of a new route that the combined system allows. Midwest alone would likely never add a station like Tucson for this service. Plus, since there are MKE-DEN-TUS flights, it makes the nonstops more viable if some people need to travel one direction at a different day or time. The same could be said about San Antonio.

Damn! I wish the DL relationship would not have gone away. Do this often.

Might it be time to also start accumulating miles in the F9 program instead of consolidating them all in DL? :-)

Press release:

http://frontierair.tekgroupweb.com/a...rticle_id=5211

Too bad that the MKE departure is mid-afternoon and not A.M.

This is an interesting addition to the route map. Frontier seems to have had a lot of success offering less than daily flights on certain routes.

I always thought that if Tucson service was added MCI would have been the logical launch point, perhaps with thru service to/from MKE.

In any event, it's nice to see some more diverse service offerings by Frontier out of MKE.

Off topic, but it would be nice if Frontier operated MKE-FLL on weekends during non-peak periods.

Sure hope they never overbook. Life could get interesting if you were IDB'd.

They also fly DEN-TUS so there are other options than the 1x weekly nonstop.

If my tally is right, this puts MKE at 54 destinations with scheduled nonstop service between all the carriers.

Quite a change from the depths of the early 80's shortly before Midwest started up. Nearly everything from Milwaukee went to O'Hare, Minneapolis, or Detroit. Milwaukee's only nonstop jet routes over 300 miles were these:

St Louis (3x)
Denver (5x)
Atlanta (4x)
Memphis (3x)
New York LGA (5x)
Washington DCA (1x)

There were some prop flights to IND/CVG/CLE/CMH, plus a few flights left within Wisconsin and Michigan. That was it.

Milwaukee was definitely underserved at that point, having suffered big route cuts from Republic, United, and Northwest in particular. Hence the choice of Midwest Express to use Milwaukee instead of O'Hare as their main base.

This is interesting, and I am also somewhat surprised.

Then again, it seems as though the most effective way to deal with the competitive environment at MKE is to offer flights that the competition does not offer.

This goes against the conventional wisdom that, to dominate a market, you have to directly compete with other airlines on similar routes.

This is particularly noticeable in recent actions from both Frontier/Midwest and AirTran. Their recent route additions lend some credibility to the notion that both of these competitors can co-exist at MKE.

Recently, we have seen YX pull back on some of their traditional markets, including scaling MKE-LAX back this winter and completely abandoning MKE-ATL, both routes now served pretty well by FL. These route cuts have been offset by new additions like MKE-BDL, MKE-SAT, and MKE-BKG, which are all routes not served by FL.

At the same time, FL has identified some niche routes like MKE-MSY, MKE-SRQ and MKE-CAK. I've heard that more could be in the works.

The best way to succeed at MKE might just be to identify routes not currently served. Both airlines need ot be given credit for thinking outside the box and trying to make some things work in a highly competitive environment. Perhaps these boutique routes have more pricing power than routes that are more hotly competitive.

In the end, MKE is gaining routes that would have never been possible. If this trend continues, MKE will really start to look like a pretty good mid-continental hub, at least for domestic operations.

It would be nice if they thought about Canada again...YYZ has become an atrocious market fare wise.

I just can't help but think that Toronto has gotten into a sprial where fares go up to improve results, and travel decreases, making fares go up.

It also does not help that YYZ is a notoriously expensive airport to operate from.

There may not be enough travel -- or high-fare travel -- to support the 2x/day RJ flights Toronto used to have. I would like to see them come back to Toronto next summer 1x/day with an Ejet, lower fares, and connections west.

Checking MKE-YYZ today for August 17 - August 24...four weeks advance purchase, a weekend stay, and traveling on off-peak Tuesday flights...the cheapest round trip of $486 on CO via Cleveland. Air Canada's nonstop is $725 R/T. Stunning.

Nonstop round-trip out of O'Hare for the same dates is $284. Or MKE-BUF (connecting) is $222, and Buffalo to Toronto is around 100 miles.

I'd love to see them add DEN-YVR back, posibly with the E90.

I'm not sure if MKE was "definitely underserved" in the early 80's or not. MKE has been one of those cities that served as a mini-hub or focus city for many carriers over the years (pre and post deregulation). During the time when they have served as a mini-hub/focus city, the number of nonstop cities served has increased. Otherwise, it decreases.

During the early 80's, SEA -- for example -- had difficulties supporting one year-round non-stop to JFK. However, SEA has grown over the years (and air travel has increased in general). Now, SEA has over a dozen nonstops into the NYC area, including EWR. So, MKE's number of flights has historically depended on airline hubs.