gsupstate

Heard recently that G4 is planning to cancel GSP-LAS. It started in Aug., and is slated to end in Dec. What the......??? It has been suggested that the problem isn't necessarily performance of the route, but that the airline is expanding too rapidly and needs the a/c elsewhere.

Is there any truth to that? I mean, the route hasn't even been running a full month yet. If so, this doesn't seem like the way to run an airline. I had been rooting for G4 lately, but now.... Anyone know how the loads have been on GSP-LAS?

FATFlyer

I heard about this also.

Given the length of the route and the runup in the price of oil the last 2 weeks they would need to be seeing good bookings to continue.

It is possible that bookings were not as strong as they would want.

I looked at ticket prices going out the next few months. There are quite a few weekends where the fares are $99 each way.

The intro fare sale for the route back in July was $89 each way and they said originally "After the introductory fare period, regular one-way fares on the route start as low as $109 one-way."

So it does not sound good to me that they are below their planned fare.

gsupstate

That still smacks of poor planning/management to me. I mean, this route hasn't existed long enough to gain a foothold. How can they know how it will perform in the long term?? Can't G4 perform yeild management and adjust fares as needed like other carriers??

Also, speaking of similar routes, has any similar noise been made about HSV-LAS and/or TYS-LAS? If not, why not?

FATFlyer

Allegiant has a culture of not continuing routes just to see if they develop. They see no point in losing money on them for 6 months or a year. Instead they take the attitude that we made a mistake and move on.

Others that they have cancelled over the years include Baton Rouge-LAS back in 2004. That route never even got started because bookings were too light before the first flight ever took off.

You and I may not agree with the attitude (we could even say it is ruthless) but the company has been profitable for the last 5 years operating that way, not many airlines can say that. Its hard to argue with success.

TYS-LAS seems to be doing better than GSP. With the exception of a few days this month of lower fares, the cheapest fare I can see going out is $114 ow. That is above the originally announced lowest regular one-way fare of $109. So they were able to fill the lower priced ticket buckets.

HSV-LAS looks weak to me, fares are low, sitting at $99 each way through next year with the exception of the holiday weeks. That is the fare Allegiant originally set as the lowest price. So they haven't been able to sell enough yet to move the fares up.

gsupstate

Well, it looks like I'm going to have to pin my LCC hopes on FL again for GSP. Independence was so great, and GSP was supposedly one of their better stations, but we all know what happened there.

I really didn't want WN here, but there are persistent rumors about them being interested. That's better than nothing. I was originally leery about G4 here, but got excited when they started adding routes. There were rumors about B6, too when they announced the Embraer 190 order, but those plans have apparently changed, too.

I don't know if FL would seriously consider GSP, being so close to ATL, but DL does that route quite profitably with everything from CRJ 100's to MD 80's about 9 times a day.

The GSP area is a red-hot business market, and is growing by leaps and bounds. I can't understand the problems with getting back to pre-9/11 passenger levels, considering there's so much more going on in the metro area now than in 2001. This is very frustrating.

FATFlyer

I see in the news this morning that Allegiant's reason for cancellation is the same as I suspected.

Its too bad because I thought personally that GSP would embrace the route.

gsupstate

So did I.... I doubt I'll have a chance to try it out. Too bad.