gregl wrote:
I'm not aware of any new aircraft coming to Trans States Airlines in the near future. Trans States Holdings has orders for a yet-to-fly Mitsubishi Regional Jet but they have not said which of their airlines will fly the aircraft, which won't be delivered for another 2-3 years anyway.
That's a shame. I was hoping some of the 175s would get transferred to Trans States. I thought the MRJ was next year and the E175-E2 was in 2020. Either way, it sounds like unless something changes we are going to be stuck with the 145 for a while.
Landed last night at Lambert on a Delta 757 flight from Atlanta, expecting to be the largest plane at the airport that evening. Surprised to see a United 767 when we got over to the terminal. Anyone know why that was here? It says it came from KC - maybe this happens more often and I just have never seen it but I was surprised to see that large of a jet.
Flew this weekend and noticed an interesting situation as well as got to see how one of the routes added in the last couple years have been doing. Southwest is currently having to use gate E29 since one of their gates is out of service. When I was there I saw a brand new 737-800 there. They have temporary things for their boarding process, but interesting is talking to some of the gate people there is they have to seriously consider grabbing a gate around the corner permanently. (issue is international arrivals use those gates, maybe they have to go to gates after that on D)
The Thursday evening flight I took to Grand Rapids and the Sunday morning flight back that I took seemed to do quite well. Both flights were about 85% full so around 125 on the plane. Interesting was boarding at Lambert seeing a screen at the gate showing how many were local vs connecting people. It showed 70 were trips staring here. It would be interesting to see how some of the routes from here that have been added the last couple years have done.
Noticed on FlightAware that Sun Country Airlines had a flight from Lambert to Gulf Port, MS (GPT) on Monday 9/21. Any insight on this? Wasn't sure if it was just an odd situation.
MarkHaversham wrote:Tiny anecdote: heard a positive review of Lambert as nice and modern from a visiting LA Rams fan at the bar in terminal 2.
Terminal 1 at LAX (the one Southwest uses) felt very 1989 the last time I was there. But that was like 18 months ago and I think they're finally getting a renovation.
LAX is very dated. So is SFO. But it really doesn't matter if your airport is "dated" and you have the flights... ya know? I mean look at NYC LaGuardia - The place is like 1975 - restrooms are so small that you barely have 2 urinals and stalls - LOL --- but again, airlines (ultimately) don't care what the place looks like - they care what their service is warranted.
Delta is ramping up flights out of Raleigh. The airport is smaller than STL and the city is very small in comparison. We do have nonstop service to Raleigh on SWA from STL.
As for Delta they are adding the following from Raleigh: New York–JFK (begins January 5, 2016), Orlando (begins January 5, 2016), Paris–Charles de Gaulle (begins May 12, 2016),[37] Salt Lake City (resumes March 2, 2016)
to their scheduled: Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles Seasonal: Cancún, Minneapolis/St. Paul
This will serve the Paris flight from there into their hubs and NYC and Florida.
They are on the cost with much closer mileage to EU. They are also much lower cost for Delta in airport landing/gate fees. In addition, they have almost absolutely no delays in/out of Raleigh. So a win/win for Delta and customers. A win for a smaller airport/city too.
^ I think is at least in the beginning heavily tied to incentives and subsidies. Also the Paris flight i think is a summer seasonal on a 757 which doesn't have the legs for there in winter. Delta likely would have done the same here like they are doing there (and in Pittsburgh) if a 757 could get to Europe from here in the summer but we are just outside of range.
The landing fees mentioned, that has been a cited issue on making it a bit harder to get new service here. Remember a few years ago it was among the highest in the country, not sure what it is now since as the loans for the runway are being paid down. The work on bringing more air cargo here would help lower fees for everyone and could open new passenger flights if there is more cargo being shipped through here.
It will be interesting to see the next couple months if there is anything new or expanded for next summer, since this summer did well in filling in some holes with a couple more filled in during coming months.
Are you saying a 757 can fly from Raleigh to Paris in the summer, but not the winter, because of fuel consumption/capacity? (Sorry to be OT, just find that interesting). Could a 757 go St. Louis to London year-round?
I just had the pleasure of taking one from Nairobi to Paris. It really is a nice plane. Those windows are awesome.
The issue is in winter the jet stream winds are stronger creating more headwinds going west. I think with London, St. Louis is just a bit too far for a 757 to London regardless of season.
Also whenever a transatlantic flight does happen, wouldn't that require some reshuffling of current international arrival gates? Since I don't think those could handle a 787 or similar plane.
imperialmog wrote:The issue is in winter the jet stream winds are stronger creating more headwinds going west. I think with London, St. Louis is just a bit too far for a 757 to London regardless of season.
The longest 757 flight currently is JFK-Pisa by Delta -- and flown seasonally -- which is 4131mi. It would not surprise me if the flight is weight-restricted or has to make a fuel stop on a regular basis.
STL-London is 4200 mi. STL-Paris is 4398mi.
I think we are just barely (~150 mi) outside the range which would make a 757 flight possible to London and well outside the range that would make a 757 flight to Paris possible.
^ I have been wondering financial trajectory with paying off the runway. I think the financial shape is a lot healthier than in the 2010-2012 timeframe. Also there are some new revenue streams from having the new parking lot which is often near full and even the Ted Drewes machines (the airport nets $3 per concrete from what I saw on a St. Louis Business Journal article). There was also some new cargo leases done this year.
Would the Cortex people among others start getting more interested in subsiding to start up transatlantic flight? (also could see Financial Services industry here interested too) Since they seem more interested in doing that compared to traditional local business community and did help get more nonstop service to the Bay Area. (Really should be noted the significant increase in west coast service the last couple years) Wonder if any more Bay Area service gets added in the future would it be to SFO or maybe instead to another Bay Area airport (like how in November service starts to Orange County adding a 2nd LA area airport to here)
The cargo focus makes sense in both it will help reduce landing fees for everyone by having more freight there, a good added revenue stream, and also a lot of airlines have not grown much in recent years due to fleet replacements and remodels. This sounds like a good plan too since in terms of passenger service there isn't much in gaps domestically anymore and likely focus on a transatlantic route, which cargo focus would tie into international service.
I am curious if anything new or expanded next summer will happen. Best guess is Southwest starts service to Pittsburgh with AA leaving it. Also the reason AA left is the regional jet pilot shortage creeping in and affecting things. I looked its not that close and this wouldn't compete with a car since its around a 9 1/2 hour drive there. (To compare, Atlanta is closer to St. Louis than Pittsburgh and Southwest has a number of flights to cities that isn't as far driving from here)
