rtalk25

I'd think the TTN strategy would be more ideal for the people living between New York and Philly to park and fly, rather than for people from RDU and these other markets using it as a way into New York City.

knope2001

For what it's worth, according to Google Maps....

Trenton Airport to Times Square/Manhattan
65.1 miles
1:10 drive time
1:29 drive time in current traffic as of 7:40am eastern on 1/9/12

Long Island MacArthur (Islip) to Times Square/Manhattan
52.8 miles
1:09 drive time
1:40 drive time in current traffic as of 7:40am eastern on 1/9/12

Newburg Stewart Airport to Times Square/Manhattan
69.6 miles
1:20 drive time
1:28 drive time in current traffic as of 7:40am eastern on 1/9/12

Trenton is not much different than Islip and Stewart in being a gateway to classic NY destinations. Neither one has successfully substituted for LGA/EWR/JFK. It's not un-doable, and it can be reasonably marketed as access to New York. But it's probably not going to get too much penetration in that segment, just as ISP and SWF have not.

That doesn't mean TTN can't support flights, and being fit between two large metro area (rather than just on the suburban periphery of one) can help. But it's not really a good gateway to Manhattan.

davywavy

Cranky Flier has a long and extremely positive article about Frontier at TTN today:

http://crankyflier.com/2013/01/08/fr...-more-flights/

"Let�s be honest. There�s nothing special about Trenton itself other than the fact that it has a well-located airport that�s cheap to use. In fact, Frontier doesn�t even call the airport Trenton � it calls it Princeton/Trenton and has it show up under both Newark area and Philadelphia area airports on its website.

That is the magic of Trenton. The airport lies right off I-95 near a wealthy population center in southern New Jersey. It�s also only 35 miles from Philadelphia and 55 miles from Newark. It�s relatively close to a train station served by Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, and SEPTA. (According to the airport, it�s a $12 cab ride.) So the location is highly accessible".

He ends with:

"This is about getting friends and family back and forth to visit each other. Or its about the college kid going to visit Philly on a very tight budget. These are people who might drive today because the cost and time involved with a flight from Newark or Philly is prohibitive. It�s not about taking traffic from the other airports but rather it�s about stimulating new traffic in the ultra-price sensitive category.

Considering the expansion we�ve seen so far, it sounds like people are responding to the new service. I would imagine we�re going to see this get a lot bigger. Not every route will work, but Frontier has tapped into a real opportunity here."

I think he's right - not every new route will work, but there's only one way to find out and Frontier is working from the solid base of the Florida routes.

silverthief2

Interesting strategy. When I got the email from RDU that F9 was returning I thought DEN service for sure. I could see 6x/week frequency working on this route, though, if marketed properly. Esp with the many Northeasterners that have moved into the Triangle.

Daze

The problem with TTN-DEN seems to be the short runway being insufficient to allow takeoff with a full load of passengers and fuel to make DEN.

rtalk25

Also, I think F9, at some point, wants to restore it's service on PHL-DEN so might not want to even think about a TTN-DEN which would be quite long from a small airport anyways. Maybe if TTN establishes well in a year or so, people become loyal pax to F9 brand from the PHL/TTN point of sale side, these customers would support PHL-DEN to reach DEN or the west, in general, wanting to accumulate miles/rewards on F9.

Since Virgin America came to town, the transcon fares have dropped. But, if that carrier were to drop service, it'd make sense for F9 to return right away. The lower yielding PHL pax would be fine changing planes in DEN to reach the west, over an expensive transcon which would happen when US and United raise the fares.

DenverBrian

Ick. 6,000 feet. They probably need 6500 feet to make it work.

Earthlings

So, this airport needs to expand it's runway and get a rent a car building, for people to rent a car. Hertz should look into having a HLE next door for a rent a car service!

davywavy

Except that the airport has publicly committed not to lengthen the runway. I suppose that could change, but it would need the approval of the Freeholders and the Nimby's would doubtless have a few words to say.

TTN does, however, have Avis.

http://locations.avis.com/nj/west-trenton/ttn.html

MostlyAir

Doing some preanalysis for TTN and looking at the PHL booking market for both F9 and YX most of the customers were coming from the north side of PHL. So TTN was a perfect solution to serve the PHL area without flying out of PHL. It was exciting to think about the possibilities out of TTN and it's great to see it happening now. F9 has officially hogged the airport and won't have to worry about any direct competition in a long while.

Earthlings

Like the last sentence!!! Hope that is true. Hope people trust Frontier and fly with them! Frontier needs some more discounts and promotions to lure more people in.

jonu

From the local paper this AM:
http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2...make_tren.html

DenverBrian

Hmmm. Not a word about runway length.

So then, F9 with hubs in DEN, MCO and TTN?

And for DEN-TTN...any chance of using E190s on the route? And/or does F9 still have those two 318s it could use on this route, even if not at max weight?

MostlyAir

Does TTN have a FIS to handle flights from Punta Cana and Cancun?

mke9499

This is how Frontier sees TTN, according to Daniel Shurz::

http://articles.philly.com/2013-01-1...s-daniel-shurz