lilj4425

I could definitely see GSP landing Southwest. Independence Air was very successful and Allegiant ranks GSP in the top five for filling capacity I believe. Like Gsupstate said, GSP has a high leakage rate thanks to Atlanta and Charlotte. Southwest would gain a lot of that market share back and even more if they came here. GSP is located right between Charlotte and Atlanta also. You could gain passengers from both sectors by going between them instead of going to one or the other.

Cargojon

Why would they fly into SRQ and PIE when they already fly to TPA?

hazelrah

One thing is for sure is that GSP fares are sky-high! The 55% leakage figure does not surprise me at all. With relatives in the area I choose CLT.

GSP is what happens when there is no LCC in the market, a perfect storm of :

1) Lots of corporate travelers (sky high fares)
2) Legacy carrier service (dividing up the market)
3) RJs (ugh)

gsupstate

Exactly. Which is why I think WN would make sense here, esp if they offered flights or connections to cities people are already flying to from here. I believe WN would get all the pax they could possibly fly in/out of GSP, except those addicted to "upgrades" on the legacies.

It's a shame, really, because GSP is a great physical facility (certainly the equivalent of or better than BHM or JAN when WN service started there).

Beckles

LOL ... Independence Air was "very successful"? You're kidding, right?

As for Allegiant, and to be clear this is no knock against Allegiant because they have done incredible things, but they have 16 flights a week out of GSP, that is hardly an indication of how well a carrier can do with a more comprehensive schedule.

For the record I really hope that WN does serve GSP, I have to go to CLT and the AVL area a few times a year and this would be a decent option to get me there. I just don't think the reasoning above is very sound.

gsupstate

I think they were saying that GSP was a very successful station for Indy (the success of the airline overall was a much different story). From what I used to read on an Independence Air employee website, GSP was one of the flight crews' favorite overnights, as well (great downtown).

Independence Air, as limited as their svc from GSP was, had a tremendous impact on pax numbers here, even for other airlines. WN would do that, many times over.

G4 vs potential WN svc may be an "apples vs oranges" kind of thing, but it does show that this market/region indeed reacts very favorably to lower fares (now if they'd just bring the LAS flight back....)

hazelrah

Southwest doesn't get the small-mid-sized city markets IMO. Let's acknowledge that change is hard and that WN has 38 very successful years applying its tried and true formula.

The low hanging fruit is gone and WN needs to be a little less of a pussycat and implement some change. 38 years and anyone is bound to be a little moribund. I agree that GSP service is an opportunity - not sure it fits the Southwest mold though.

gsupstate

As I said in an earlier post, why not do both? Make money all around. Granted, most other markets similar to GSP have pretty much been exploited, but here is one that hasn't, and why not add $$ to the balance sheet to/from here, as well as the more congested and delay-prone markets? I thought WN was all about the quick turn & efficient operations, anyway?

hazelrah

Yes, but the the Southwest modus operandi is a) mid/large size markets (or proximity thereto), b) 6-8 flights a day. GSP fails this test.

That's the just the Southwest way which is my point. They don't show much interest in the small/mid-sized markets or understand aggregating these markets. IMO this thinking is a bit stagnant, it remains to be seen if WN will change its formula.

gsupstate

That's VERY true (sadly for great markets like GSP) - money is money, isn't it? It's not like GSP is some backwater-BMW has its only N. American manufacturing nearly adjacent to the airport (plus all its suppliers), Michelin's N. American HQ is under the glidepath, Fluor Engineering has a corporate campus here (something like a co-HQ with another location in California) and GE has a huge gas turbine plant here, aw well as one of its engineering bases. Those are just the biggest companies. This metro is very diverse - most people I've come across here aren't originally from here, which means more air travel than some other metros would generate as well.

Plus, there's the likelihood of pulling great numbers of pax from nearby larger metros (many of whom already drive to GSP purely for convenience's sake).

I understand they believe there's big $$ to be made in big markets (duh), but that is more like traditional lagacy carriers' thinking. And they aren't the ONLY places a carrier can make $$. I still don't understand why they as a company apparently can't walk and chew gum at the same time - they should exploit ALL promising markets, regardless of size (with an obvious minimum someplace, but well below a thriving million-plus metro area).

Beckles

So you think between decding whether they'll walk or chew gum at any given time they just lucked into 36 consecutive years of profitability?

One word: Scoreboard.

tahitigirl

I don't see Southwest doing well at GSP. The reason people drive to CLT and ATL is because it is cheaper and there they can fly direct flights almost anywhere in the world. The folks that work for BMW fly LH CLT-MUC and those who work for Michelin fly DL or AF via ATL. GSP has one of the largest European communities with many European companies that don't fly SW.

I have lived in the area most of my life and have worked in the airline industry for almost 15 years. Over the last few years GSP has turned into an Express airport for all airlines except DL who still flies in with a few mainline a/c. All those express flight are feeders to international hubs.

I could see Jetblue coming to GSP before SW with connections via JFK.

gsupstate

While the 2 employers you mentioned are huge here, they're certainly not the only game in town. I stand by my reasoning. There's lots of untapped leisure travel (unvended market) to be captured within GSP's catchment area as well. The point is, with lower fares to desirable destinations, the 55% of GSP's market that chooses to fly from other airports belongs mainly to whoever's myopia clears up long enough for them to realize it.

tusphotog

I really, really doubt you're going to see WN at GSP. You don't make a lot of money on leisure travelers who look for the $39/$49 fares.

Why would someone fly GSP-MDW-SEA when they could drive to ATL and fly ATL-SEA nonstop? I'm not going to fly to some out of the way airport in rural South Carolina when I need to go to Charlotte. I hate flying to RDU to go to CLT, and only do so when the price is drastically cheaper.

tahitigirl

As of today the unemployment rate in SC is 12.1% More people will be looking for jobs than a great deal to MCO, etc.