Something I find especially encouraging about November is that Southwest's traffic was up about 5.5% in spite off fewer flights (about 1.3 average fewer flights per day). That's because average locals per flight (enplanament or deplanement) rose from about 105/flight last year to 115/flight this year.

I don't mean that to sound like a Southwest fanboy -- I want everybody at Mitchell to grow. And there are other airlines which saw growth for things which are expected, such as UA carrying more passengers with mainline added to MKE-DEN. But Southwest is a different story. Southwest has seen an ongoing string of little cuts here and there -- yes, a few adds like DAL and SAN but overall some reduction. So to see not just a good jump in passengers per flight but even a significant total increase in passengers is great. Several of Southwest's routes at MKE have had comparably soft loads and there's risk Southwest could cut more. Traffic growth like this is promising.

Some additional information on Volaris, including the interesting note that coming to Mexican Fiesta made a big impression on the Volaris sales team.

This is the second such story Top brass from AirTran came to Milwaukee and happened to be here the weekend of Irish Fest -- they were very impressed by the community. I'd like to imgaine the significant presence of Aer Lingus at Irish Fest can't hurt our chances at a MKE-DUB flight someday. :-)

http://www.jsonline.com/story/money/...ukee/96506292/

A few key parts:

Mexican airline sees opportunity in Milwaukee

The process for landing new international air service at Mitchell International Airport began at one of Milwaukee’s ethnic festivals.

“Two years ago we sent a sales team to Mexican Fiesta,” said Miguel Aguiñiga, the manager of international markets for Volaris Airlines, during a telephone interview from his office in Mexico City.

“The team found out there are a lot of people of Mexican descent, as well as a lot of people in the area interested in traveling to Guadalajara or to Mexico.

"That’s why we started to look into the market," Aguiñiga said. "We started to do the research for planning a new flight out of Wisconsin.”

-----

"Among Milwaukee’s foreign-born Latino population, the overwhelming majority (87%) was born in Mexico," according to the study.

--In deciding whether to enter the market, Volaris also discovered additional information that solidified the decision to add Milwaukee service.

"Right now, Mexico represents the second-largest trading partner with Wisconsin for exports," Aguiñiga said. "We found out there are 900 companies based in Wisconsin that currently export to Mexico. "And, 69% of those companies send people to Mexico yearly. And of those, about half make multiple trips."

Exports from Wisconsin to Mexico are valued at $2.9 billion, according to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.

Companies that have a presence in Mexico include some of the biggest names in Milwaukee and Wisconsin business: Johnson Controls, Kohler, Manpower, Quad/Graphics, Rockwell Automation.

"A lot of business travelers throughout the year can use this direct flight," Aguiñiga said

-----

Volaris began selling the Milwaukee to Guadalajara service late last year.

"We’re very confident about the market response," Aguiñiga said. "We started selling this market in late November, and the future bookings look really, really good. We’ll see how the market grows and what our passengers really demand."

I'll probably fly SFO-mke and it seems that only southwest has a nonstop flight. How is southwest at mke?

They're are indeed the only nonstop carrier flying SFO-MKE. They are #1 in Milwaukee with around 45% of the airport's total traffic. They fly out of the newest concourse at Milwaukee so there's a good amount of amenities and space.

Anything else in particular / more specific you're wanting to know about how they are at MKE?

As knope2001 said, they operate out of a new and comfortable terminal (C). It's busy there, but I've never seen it overly crowded. Decent food & drink options. After Midwest disappeared (sob), there were a few years without SFO-MKE nonstop service. I'm glad Southwest started it up again.

Funny how Southwest went for a very long time with no presence at MKE, yet now it's the biggest carrier there.

The growth wasn't exactly organic. They picked up most of the AirTran routes, and just kept most of them.

This is great. But, too bad the DL/AS agreement is going away. I would use this flight. But, the short trip to MSP will have to due me.

I forgot about that brief time where there was an AirTran SFO-MKE nonstop. That was great. The business class product was an especially good value. I miss that, but at least we have the nonstop with Southwest.

Volaris ticket counter has been installed, also new flooring is being installed in the C concourse connector. The new floors really brighten up that area.

Had a chance to see the Volaris ticket counter the other day -- nice that it's more substantial than just putting up a little sign. Good to hear that the new floor leading to C is a winner. That concourse will only get busier when United eventually makes their move.

Also today was the start of UA using C11 for the morning mainline departure to ORD. That aircraft arrives at C11 then RON there.

Have there been any conceptual plans released with what will be happening with E once UAL has moved out. Has it been decided yet if it will be a remodel or a full tear down?

Are they in both C and E?

Had a flight last week MKE-DEN on a 319 and it was in E, and all the signs show UA only in E.

Yes -- it looks like they are primarily still on E but occasionally using C11, perhaps for overflow.

United leases three gates on E and when they need a fourth they'd been using E64 for overflow, most commonly for a RON (remain overnight/morning originator.) As of late it seems if they need a fourth gate they use C11, often for a morning originator but I've seen a mid-day flight over there once or twice. I don't know why but can throw a few possible guesses out there -- maybe the jetway at E64 broke or was removed, maybe E64 has no gate reader/computer but C11 does, maybe United has to pay every time they borrow D64 but C11 is already "theirs". Or it might be none of those.

As of this past weekend some signage directing passengers to E for United had been removed, some modified to indicate they are on E but also C. I think the large sign near the entrance to D directs you only to C for United.

Not sure how long this will last -- a split operation is cumbersome to staff and operate, plus there's risk of people going to the wrong concourse and delaying or missing flights. How things looked Saturday I thought perhaps the move would be thhat night, but so far not.

UA is using C11 pretty much daily for the mainline ORD flights. They have UA-branded boarding group signage over there, so even if UA doesn't officially lease C11 they've clearly semi-claimed it...

I did note that WN has removed its gate reader and boarding stanchions from C15. I think they may occasionally use C15 to receive a late-night terminating flight, but they don't send any corresponding originators out of there. I forgot to look to see whether C25 still has stanchions, as that's the other gate that WN rarely uses for departures.