urbanSTL

Also going away are some regional jet cities...



Cedar Rapids

Charlotte

Springfield, MO

Tulsa



All go away Nov 19 as well. Not a lot of competition on these routes- USAirways on Charlotte, guess not enough Wachovia/Wells traffic?

Can someone explain to me what promises were made by American after the TWA takeover that everyone always refers to (such as these stltoday commenters)?



Obviously any commitments AA might have made were done before an unfortunate fate befell the airline industry in 2001. It also seems naive to think that AA would continue to execute in perpetuity the same operations TWA did, considering that particular course of action bankrupted TWA.



It does make me think I need to burn through the 250K FF miles I have with American before there's nowhere left to fly to, though.

Carl Icahn took all the money out of TWA and used it to buy US Steel, I think.



AA essentially moved the St. Louis hub to new Terminal D in Dallas. I also have a lot of AA miles. Only a few years ago, I flew non-stop to Gatwick in England. Now we can't get to San Diego non-stop.



I am waiting for Southwest to announce an increase in flights, which has been the response to AA cutbacks in St. Louis in the past. My relatives recently flew from Oklahoma City to Florida on Southwest, and changed planes in St. Louis. So Southwest is slowly making a St. Louis a mini-hub apparently.

i heard through the grapevine.. that Southwest wanted to make St. Louis essentially a much larger hub, but it was the CITY that was trying to bleed them dry. HELLOO!? What? The airport should be run REGIONALLY not by the city alone. not the brightest left at City Hall, lets be honest... Should Southwest begin to operate a full HUB out of St. Louis, i say, let them do it at operating cost, and THATS IT. NO TAXES for the city above that. can you imagine being the Hub for the ONLY airline that makes a profit?! COME ON ST LOUIS!! does anyone disagree with me on this? if so, why?

I'd like to see the city hall memo that says "Let's bleed 'em dry". Then, yes, I'd be outraged.

The way the city and the airport like to throw tax money around, it would really surprise me if they said let's bleed them dry. Everyone has come up with the Southwest rumor, but nobody can actually source it. I think it's a lot of dreaming that got out of control. I would absolutely love to be proved wrong, at least on the part that Southwest did indeed want to massively expand here. Don't want to be proved wrong on the bleed em dry part...

JCity wrote:i heard through the grapevine.. that Southwest wanted to make St. Louis essentially a much larger hub, but it was the CITY that was trying to bleed them dry.

I tend to doubt that as Southwest doesn't operate "hubs". Their model is based on mostly point-to-point flights relying on connections much less than other airlines.



Adding to that is the fact that Southwest has cut back on flights in STL over the past several years -- yes, only slightly -- but considering their rapid growth nationwide up until this year, I think that if Southwest had true plans on a major buildup in St Louis they would utilize the East Terminal a lot closer to its true capacity than what they do now.

After the cuts, only the following will be left from American...



American Airlines Boston, Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, , Los Angeles, Miami, New York-LaGuardia, Orlando, San Diego San Francisco, Seattle/Tacoma, Washington-Reagan



AmericanConnection operated by Chautauqua Airlines Atlanta, Austin, Des Moines, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, New Orleans, Newark, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, , Raleigh/Durham, Richmond, San Antonio, Washington-Dulles, Wichita



American Eagle , Des Moines, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Madison, Milwaukee, Nashville, Norfolk, Northwest Arkansas, Raleigh/Durham



I was able to find an old TWA route map from early 2001. Look at the number of destinations, amazing.



TWA Express

http://web.archive.org/web/200111071450 ... ps/twe.pdf



TWA

http://web.archive.org/web/200111111337 ... merica.pdf



International

http://web.archive.org/web/200111111339 ... ope_me.pdf

^ looking at those old TWA maps really makes me sad! Lambert used to be bustling, now its kinda dead. Its like a ghost of its former self, thanks to AA and their broken promises!



I have a feeling NWA/Delta will get rid of or reduce capacity at CVG or MEM and consolidate at DTW and ATL.



I wish STL will get some flights back, maybe another carrier that isn't AA.

I was there picking up on Sunday night at it seemed rather busy. Main Terminal.

Also...heard that Mosaic was opening in the airport. looked online and that appears to be the case, though I don't really remember the announcement...

http://www.mosaicrestaurants.com/Mosaic-Airport.cfm

What else is going in along with this theme?

Checketts wants to bring JetBlue to Lambert

St. Louis Business Journal - by Christopher Tritto



Dave Checketts, chairman of St. Louis Blues and Scottrade Center owner SCP Worldwide, said he is working behind the scenes to bring JetBlue Airways service to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.



Checketts is a founding member of Jet Blue’s board of directors. He said he has been making introductions between other Jet Blue directors and executives and Missouri officials for some time, even arranging a meeting several months ago in New York between Jet Blue Chairman Joel Peterson and then-Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt.



Checketts, 53, frequently travels between St. Louis, SCP’s base in New York City and Salt Lake City, where SCP owns the Major League Soccer franchise Real Salt Lake. JetBlue is the official airline of the soccer team and Rio Tinto Stadium. Jet Blue entered into that three-year agreement in March and will pay the team a total of $375,000 for the sponsorship. Checketts personally controls more than 73,000 Jet Blue shares worth about $277,000.



“I have a conflict since I have a personal interest in Jet Blue coming here, so I’m just opening doors,” Checketts said. “But I’d love to see them fly here. The airport has that big runway and the capacity to handle them.”

Link

I don't undersand how AA broke promises. AA is making business decisions based on the fact that they don't need three hubs or the capacity that goes with it through the mid section of the country. Unfortunately, we are the smallest of the three metro areas with the weakest business community of three. I believe Delta will dramatically reduce flights out of Memphis as soon as possible for the very same reasons (too much hub and spoke capacity in a city with only one well known corporate business - Atltanta, New York, Minneapolis, Detriot, Memphis)



I do like Checketts, here is a business guy investing in St. Louis and is trying to hussle an airline. An airline that is slowly expanding and needs to look at a mid region airport if it wants to get beyond its current market. Hopefully he has some ears.

10-intuition wrote:^ looking at those old TWA maps really makes me sad! Lambert used to be bustling, now its kinda dead.

There's one upside I can think of. It always added insult to injury after a long travel day to have your plane pull up to gate D40 and getting to hike all the way back up to the terminal building.

ChrisInDownTown wrote:Also...heard that Mosaic was opening in the airport. looked online and that appears to be the case, though I don't really remember the announcement...

http://www.mosaicrestaurants.com/Mosaic-Airport.cfm

What else is going in along with this theme?

The Post reported on Mosaic about 2 years ago, along with an Imo's; the concessionaire got a contract extension and one of the stipulations was there was a requirement for some "local flavor."



Sounds like the economy has put the brakes on all of that, though.

ben1040 wrote:

10-intuition wrote:^ looking at those old TWA maps really makes me sad! Lambert used to be bustling, now its kinda dead.

There's one upside I can think of. It always added insult to injury after a long travel day to have your plane pull up to gate D40 and getting to hike all the way back up to the terminal building.

And to think, as a kid, I used to wish our plane would park as far away as possible for an excuse to walk the entire concourse.

Progress wrote:
I do understand. Y'see...I remember American's hubs at Nashville and Raleigh-Durham. American whittled away at them - especially Nashville.

So...Did AA ever say, "Hey, in 10 years, we pinky-swear that STL will look exactly like it does today, take our words for it!!" Probably not, and even if they did, it would be a pretty stupid business move on their part. AA is just looking out for AA, which is what they should be doing. If AA were to worry about the impact they had on each airport they flew in and out of, they would be losing a lot more money each year than they already are.

AA has announced that they will add Ft. Myers nonstop from STL in November now.



USA3000 and Southwest both fly to Ft. Myers nonstop now from STL. I guess AA wanted some of the action or Ft. Myers is warranting more flights nonstop from STL.

^Hmm. I've flown AA to Ft. Myers non-stop from here before (last two years). I guess they're adding a flight? It's a highly seasonal route.

interesting article in the Cedar Rapids paper.



Not only has AA cut their flights from STL - so has Delta to Cincy and ATL.



http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs. ... 49930/1007





Looks like Delta will do the same to Cincy and Minneapolis soon too. Both cities are feeling the heat like STL. This NYTimes article reads:



"At the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport, passengers are so scarce that a long-term parking lot will soon be turned into temporary housing for 900 horses attending equestrian games in the nearby bluegrass countryside.



It is an apt image — going from air power to horse power — for the troubles that airports are face these days: too few passengers, too few flights, too little revenue. And to deal with these setbacks they have come up with a solution: cut every capital project they can. "



READ FULL ARTICLE:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/busin ... f=business



Delta continues to cut flights at Cincy, including all international flights to London and Germany. This leaves no international service out of Cincy at all and Delta will announce another round of cuts in the next few weeks. I am assuming mostly at Cincy and, Memphis and Minneapoilis. Hmmmm sounds familiar.



"Delta announced the cutbacks earlier this month, and more could be coming as the financially struggling airline industry continues to pare back due to reduced demand. Delta will release its full fall schedule in a few weeks, and more domestic cuts could be coming. The airport has already lost about half its flights from three years ago as the recession. The redistribution of operations due to Delta's merger with Northwest Airlines also has had an impact."



"Delta said the cutbacks in flights and seats will begin in September; as a result, the company will again reassess its staffing needs. Delta, which acquired Northwest Airlines in October, has already shed thousands of jobs during the past year in connection with previously announced reductions in capacity."

Cincy was so expensive to fly out of when they had a ton of flights. Especially now, my family there drives to Dayton or Indy for flights. Part of the problem is that the airport is a ways away, maybe 30+mins for some and there's no light rail there (Cincy) so the 1.5hr drive to Indy isn't so bad. Of course I think they're ignoring the high cost of car travel and that flying out of Cincy still makes the most sense, but whatever.

Good lord. Is there anything Checkets is NOT involved in. The man must be some sort of superhero. I mean honestly - where does he find the time.

From today's St. Louis business journal lead article "Lambert hopes to be gateway to Southwest":



"Lambert officials are quick to point out that most of the flights that American plans to axe are usually 75 percent to 80 percent full.



Having full flights, however, doesn't make them profitable, said Robert Mann, and airline industry analyst and fomer fleet planner for American."



I think I see why AA is going out of business. Its kind of like -- we knew we were taking a loss on every unit, but we thought the volume would take care of it.



Anyone see a problem with this business model?

^here is the link



http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... tory1.html