Unless there is some really backward management at Mid America, the number of passengers Ryanair could draw with their seemingly illogical prices (1 GBP plus taxes to fly London Stansted to almost anywhere in Europe is a frequent sale they have. Beats the poo out of Southwest's blow-out $39 each way + taxes fares) This would be a no-brainer for Mid America to keep their landing fees lower than Lambert. It doesn't matter to Ryanair if you are connecting to another city, need a ride into the city, and, heck, you have to pay for every checked piece of luggage, but if the economics work out for them, they'll do it. That doesn't completely discount Lambert, however. Ryanair flies into a number of major airports as well. But with super-competitive destinations (London, Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt [f-ing Hahn airport is an hour and twenty minutes from Frankfurt proper], Barcelona, etc.) they always go for the smaller airports, but I would hardly call St. Louis a super-competitive market.
- 252
Very interesting news about Ryanair! Looks like they are considering several cities.
I flew London Luton to Barcelona for $.01p once, but with taxes it was around $20. It’s the cheapest way to get around Europe, but you have to be fast to catch the $.01p fare. Ryanair promotes their cheap fare sales on a regular basis. The first few seat they sell on a flight will go for $.01, then the next bookings will go for perhaps $.99, then $5.99, then $12.99, then $49.99 and so on. As the plane fills up, the prices go up. It can be a very good deal if you book in time. In London, I recall getting up around 3am, catching a “night bus” to Marble Arch, then catching the “Luton Express” bus 1 hour ride. A long journey just to the airport, and there is not much room on those seats on the plane. But hey, I went for $20!
If you want that $.01 fare, you can’t always fly to the city or region of your choice. Many people just randomly pick a city as long as it’s cheap. You might know nothing about Poznan Poland, but so what, it sounds like a fun weekend for a $30-$40 flight from London.
I’ll be happy if Ryanair flys to any airport in the St. Louis or Chicago area. I can just imagine someone in London booking a bank holiday weekend to “St. Louie” for just a few pounds. Funny that everyone in England says “St. Louie”
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20070412/ ... c9bed.html“The new carrier would amass a fleet of up to 50 Airbus A350 or Boeing 787 mid-sized aircraft and serve destinations such as New York, Florida, Dallas and San Francisco from major Ryanair bases such as London Stansted, Dublin, Frankfurt Hahn in Germany and Barcelona in Spain.”
I flew London Luton to Barcelona for $.01p once, but with taxes it was around $20. It’s the cheapest way to get around Europe, but you have to be fast to catch the $.01p fare. Ryanair promotes their cheap fare sales on a regular basis. The first few seat they sell on a flight will go for $.01, then the next bookings will go for perhaps $.99, then $5.99, then $12.99, then $49.99 and so on. As the plane fills up, the prices go up. It can be a very good deal if you book in time. In London, I recall getting up around 3am, catching a “night bus” to Marble Arch, then catching the “Luton Express” bus 1 hour ride. A long journey just to the airport, and there is not much room on those seats on the plane. But hey, I went for $20!
If you want that $.01 fare, you can’t always fly to the city or region of your choice. Many people just randomly pick a city as long as it’s cheap. You might know nothing about Poznan Poland, but so what, it sounds like a fun weekend for a $30-$40 flight from London.
I’ll be happy if Ryanair flys to any airport in the St. Louis or Chicago area. I can just imagine someone in London booking a bank holiday weekend to “St. Louie” for just a few pounds. Funny that everyone in England says “St. Louie”
Jmedwick, sure, I'd love it if all airlines flew out of Lambert, but if it's not economically attractive, and MidAmerica IS, why not be in favor of it? What I don't understand is that we should be "giving away the store" if you ask me. Anything it takes to increase the number of passengers flying through st. louis. Is the city trying to make money off the airlines? I assume they obviously are, but at what cost? Shouldn't the goal to have a vibrant airport for the region? Why don't we make Lambert itself the "cheap alternative airport, instead of a "mid america" or second tier airport?
Actually, I flew Ryan Air from STL to London last fall. They offer chartered flight via STL to Europe. We were on an Apple vacation and they booked the entire plane from STL direct non-stop to London. Very nice airline and great service. So you can fly chartered Ryanair from STL.
- 8,905
TEXT: AirTran Comes To St. Louis
Last Edited: Tuesday, 08 May 2007, 8:34 AM CDT
Created: Tuesday, 08 May 2007, 8:34 AM CDT
AirTran Airways
Lambert St. Louis International Airport
BRIDGETON, MO (KTVI-myFOXstl.com) --
A new low-cost airline begins flying out of Lambert St. Louis International Airport Tuesday morning. Atlanta-based AirTran Airlines is offering four daily flights to Atlanta, with connections to 56 other destinations. St. Louis and Lambert have been aggressive about landing new business like AirTran in the attempt to expand the airport.
One factor in AirTran’s decision to offer service out of St. Louis is the incentives offered, including nine months of landing fees and terminal rentals waived.
Low fare carriers like AirTran and Southwest are one reason airfare prices are rolling back for major carriers, like United, which attempted to raise rates last week.
But industry analysts say there is a weakening demand for air travel and more seats available. So even as some airlines where raising published fares, there are plenty of discount and fare sales to found on the Web.
It’s too early to say what impact AirTran’s arrival at Lambert will have on the price of tickets from competing carriers, especially to destinations like Atlanta. But offering low cost tickets is one reason AirTran has managed to stay profitable.
http://www.myfoxstl.com/myfox/pages/New ... geId=3.2.1
Lambert International and St. Louis in new movie
Lambert International to Star in the Movies
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport will be the scene of a new major motion picture production, THE RETURN, written and directed by Neil Burger (The Illusionist), designed by Jan Roelfs (The Cook the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover) and will star Tim Robins and Rachel McAdams and Michael Pena. Filming will take place in many St. Louis areas and Lambert was chosen as one of the locations for this feature. “It’s an honor to have Mr. Burger choose Lambert Airport. We will be proud to show off our hometown airport, said Airport Director Richard Hrabko”. The movie will be filmed in several locations of the airport, so watch for the grand opening of this premier movie soon.
Lambert International to Star in the Movies
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport will be the scene of a new major motion picture production, THE RETURN, written and directed by Neil Burger (The Illusionist), designed by Jan Roelfs (The Cook the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover) and will star Tim Robins and Rachel McAdams and Michael Pena. Filming will take place in many St. Louis areas and Lambert was chosen as one of the locations for this feature. “It’s an honor to have Mr. Burger choose Lambert Airport. We will be proud to show off our hometown airport, said Airport Director Richard Hrabko”. The movie will be filmed in several locations of the airport, so watch for the grand opening of this premier movie soon.
I hope it's the East Terminal or if they can make the main one look good.
why can't the City sell the airport to a private company and use the money to offset the earnings tax in the city's budge? WHY does the city need to own the airport?
Does it need it for a jobs program?
Does it need it for a jobs program?
Because the airport is a cash cow for the city. Why would they sell something that the entire region has to use? They will never sell it (I hope); in fact the city just acquired 1/3rd of bridgeton in the last airport expansion. This is the only way for the city has to extend it's land area and profit on it. We will take over the county one runway at a time LOL! If we sell the airport we lose our most valuable asset.
Why is the government providing something that can clearly be better provided by the private sector?
Which international airports are privately run, for comparison purposes?
Uh, the city collects taxes from the airport, guaranteed, as long as people continue flying to or from St Louis. That's a big deal.
I am normally all for privatization, but in this case I don't think it is good for private companies to control airports. It is for the same reasons as I prefer the interstate instead of private toll roads.
bprop wrote:Which international airports are privately run, for comparison purposes?
Not many based upon a scan of Wikipedia, I found the following.
RED = totally private owned
GREEN = owned and run by a quasi-government company
BLUE = owned by the government.
_____________________________________________________________
A private company called BAA owns most of the big English airports like Heathrow and Gatwick.
The Paris airports are owned by a private firm that was started as a public entity but went public after World War II.
Hong Kong International is government owned.
Tokyo International is government owned but the newer Kansai is quasi-government.
All the Spanish airports are run by a quasi-government company Aena.
Looks like most of the Irish aiports are run by a quasi-government firm.
Frankfurt Germany is government owned.
Amsterdam is private.
Stockholm is government owned.
I can't tell Vienna Austria: It's government owned right now but they may be trying to spin it off to a quasi-government company.
Brussel Belgium is a quasi-government company.
Athens Greece is government owned.
Sydney Australia is owned by a quasi-government company. (SACL)
Cancun and Mexico City are government owned.
Brazil's airports are run by a quasi-government company (Infraero)
All of Canada's airports are government owned.
_____________________________________________________________
So it looks like most big international airports are government owned or owned by quasi-government companies. France and England are about the only place where companies own big international airports for profit.
EDIT: Kansai is quasi government according to a special I saw on the Discovery Channel.
I think the airport should join forces with Metro and the the other local ports and airports and form something like the Port Authority of NY/NJ.
The Port Authority is free from policial BS because it doesn't run on tax dollars, just the revenues it gets from collecting tolls, landing fees, tickets, ect.
The Port Authority is free from policial BS because it doesn't run on tax dollars, just the revenues it gets from collecting tolls, landing fees, tickets, ect.
- 34
"The Port Authority is free from policial BS because it doesn't run on tax dollars, just the revenues it gets from collecting tolls, landing fees, tickets, ect."
Not true. The Port Authority of NY/NJ is riddled with politcal in-fighting, usually among the various representatives from their respective states.
And the Delaware River Port Authority here in Philadelphia/South Jersey was prohibited from starting any new projects recently because of an 18 month long feud between the governors of NJ and PA.
Not true. The Port Authority of NY/NJ is riddled with politcal in-fighting, usually among the various representatives from their respective states.
And the Delaware River Port Authority here in Philadelphia/South Jersey was prohibited from starting any new projects recently because of an 18 month long feud between the governors of NJ and PA.
Indianapolis International Airport is managed by British Airport Authority (BAA), yet owned by the city of Indianapolis. [BAA is a privately owned company in the UK with operations in the UK and Australia] I was on a trip there sometime in April and all of the airport signage is like in Gatwick or Heathrow and the LCD monitors show the same BAA logo. They're also getting a beautiful new terminal next year, which makes much more sense than our "Airport Experience"-$100mm piece of glass.
By early next month, Southwest will eliminate 39 roundtrip flights throughout the USA, including one of five flights from Lambert Field to Houston's Hobby Airport. The airline is adding 45 flights, including three daily flights at Lambert, one each to Las Vegas, Chicago and Columbus, Ohio. With the new flights, Southwest, Lambert’s second-biggest airline, will have 73 daily nonstop departures to 22 cities. The changes at Lambert will take effect Nov. 4, said Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King. Tickets are available now.
Does anyone recall when the rental cars were removed from the main terminal garage to offsite locations? I Yesterday I returned a car at Cleveland-Hopkins to their rental car center and it was very quick and efficent. Saint Louis should consider developing a facility similar to CLE or ABQ.
- 1,610
Personally, I like Phoenix SkyHarbor, where uniform buses take folks to a centralized, off-site rental car facility.
I don't really see the current system being a problem. All you have to do is get on the correct car rental's bus/shuttle (just as at any other airport) and they take you directly to the lot. Whats the problem here?
DFW has the same system where you go to a separate rental facility. It's nice and gives you options if something happens w/ your reservation.
- 11K
^ Cleveland too. I tend to like the locations that are immediately in the airport, but the short bus ride isn't bad.