urbanSTL

Airport drops fees to attract flights



By Ken Leiser

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

10/08/2009



St. Louis hopes to woo new flights to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport by temporarily suspending landing fees and rental costs to airlines that start service to new cities.



By setting aside nearly $1.7 million for the airline incentive program, Lambert officials plan to recoup some nonstop service the airport will lose in April, when American Airlines significantly slashes its St. Louis schedule.



"It's going to be provided to the airlines on a first-come, first-served basis," said Airport Director Richard Hrabko. "Frankly, I wish we were in a position to offer more. We are talking to a lot of different carriers about coming in here and taking up some of the void that American's going to be leaving."

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/busine ... enDocument

Southwest adding more flights to Lambert STL International



Southwest Airlines is making some changes to its spring schedule at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.



The Dallas-based airline said Tuesday it is adding more weekday flights from St. Louis to Baltimore, Dallas, Las Vegas and Orlando. Yet it will eliminating one of its 5 weekday St. Louis flights to Houston from March to May.

Great news. The Houston isn't much impact as Continental has, iirc, 5 daily departures to IAH, and Southwest has countless 1 stops to Houston via Dallas (where there is a flight DAL-HOU every 30 minutes or so).

Dissappointed in the PD's runway article today (flew on AA today - I couldn't escape the irony). No surprises on runway usage.



However, can we actually state that we have huge development opportunities in air cargo and industrial development because the airport is in a central location and now is surrounded by large free trade zones as well as having freeways, railway and direct transit connections that already exist. Instead, we get another article quoting a former Bridgeton resident citing their greviances. The alternatives were pretty clear.



1) do nothing and have no possibilities

2) build a bigger outer airport with less/ or limited infrastructure connections and thus have two underused facilities while spending more money



The question in my mind. Will the state pull the trigger on helping Air China build a cargo hub if they choose STL. I'm fearful most area politicians will quote the guy who used to live in Bridgeton.

^They'd damn well better.

^^Actually, I thought the Post's article today was fairly balanced. They did talk about the China air cargo potential, and they said the new runway's usage was steadily increasing, and was expected to continue to do so. They also mentioned the current downturn in air travel.



I think the headline was a bit misleading.

I flew Southwest out on Wednesday morning and I couldn't believe how busy the East Terminal is nowadays. The last couple times I flew I pretty much walked up to security. This time I had to wait almost 45 minutes to clear security.



Oh and flying to Chicago beats the hell out of driving there.

I flew out on American last Friday morning, and breezed through security. Came back that night on Southwest, and was SHOCKED at how many people were waiting for planes.



Southwest has totally kicked American's butt in St. Louis. It's sad.

I flew in and out of the east terminal this week as well. No wait at all in the security line however the concourse was very packed. I used to DESPISE flying SWA buy now I really enjoy it.

Paying the additional $10 is certainly worth it to get to the front of the line. Here's to SWA expanding in the StL market.

This is a huge announcement by SWA. This is in response to AA cuts on specific destinations that were being cut and increase nonstop service to/from STL International. Overall SWA will add 14 new nonstop flights including 4 new nonstop destinations from Lambert International.





Southwest Airlines Continues Commitment to St. Louis With More Flights to More Nonstop Destinations

Wed Oct 21, 2009 2:45pm EDT

Rueters



DALLAS, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Airlines announced today that the airline will continue the carrier's nearly 25 years of growth and commitment to St. Louis by adding nine new daily flights to six new

destinations from Lambert International Airport. The new flights are expected to begin by May 2010 and will be open for sale this December at

www.southwest.com.



"Our Employees saw opportunity and worked vigorously to incorporate additional

capacity in the St. Louis market," said Gary Kelly, Southwest's Chairman of

the Board, President, and CEO. "We are optimizing our network strategically

and strengthening the relationship between Southwest Airlines and the

communities we serve."





BEGINNING MAY 2010:





-- Two new daily nonstop roundtrips between St. Louis and Nashville.

-- One new daily nonstop roundtrip between St. Louis and Raleigh/Durham.

-- One new daily nonstop roundtrip between St. Louis and New Orleans.

-- Two new daily nonstop roundtrips between St. Louis and Los Angeles.

-- One new daily nonstop roundtrip between St. Louis and Seattle.

-- One new daily nonstop roundtrip between St. Louis and San Diego.

-- One additional daily nonstop roundtrip between St. Louis and

Minneapolis/St. Paul (nonstop service between those cities launches

with two daily roundtrips in January).



Southwest Airlines began service to St. Louis on March 17, 1985, with 17 daily

nonstop departures to four destinations. The airline currently operates 72

daily nonstop flights from Lambert-St. Louis with additional or connecting

service to 42 destinations. With previously announced nonstop service

additions to Minneapolis/St Paul and Boston Logan (beginning January 10, 2010)

and the future service above, Southwest becomes the dominant airline serving

St. Louis, in terms of daily departures. Totaling over 80 daily flights and nonstop service to over 40 destinations. American Airlines will the be second largest carrier at Lambert St. Louis International as of May 2010.





After 38 years of service, Southwest Airlines continues to differentiate

itself from other low fare carriers--offering a reliable product with

exemplary Customer Service. Southwest Airlines is the most productive airline

in the sky and offers Customers a comfortable traveling experience. Southwest

recently updated its gate areas and improved its boarding procedure to make

flying Southwest convenient and simple. Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), the

nation's largest carrier in terms of domestic passengers enplaned, currently

serves 67 cities in 34 states (Southwest will add a 68th city, Milwaukee, Nov.

1, 2009). Based in Dallas, Southwest currently operates more than 3,200

flights a day and has nearly 35,000 Employees systemwide.

I maintain that without the Wright amendment in Dallas, Southwest would have put AA out of business years ago. AA is slowly shrinking themselves into irrelevancy, plus they're part of the weakest airline alliance. DL/NW and UA/CO/US are eating their lunch.



Once someone can break into DFW, it's all over for AA.



That said, I'm ecstatic about more SW flights. Time to qualify for A-list again.

This is great news!!!



One question, I haven't flown out of the East terminal in over a year. Last time I remember the far west portion of the East terminal was barren and empty. I'm talking about the area where E starts to run into D. Are there finally gates there open for business, a restuarant, or anything? It would be great if Southwest uses some of the D gates as well!

Survivor:

That is actually the new East Terminal International concourse area. The international arrivals custom/immigration/baggage area is on the lower levels there (only for inbound STL iternational passengers)

That area is completely renovated and continues into concourse D for gates number E39-33 (actually into a portion of Concourse D).

Charter Flights, AeroMexico, USA3000, Ryan International and other all use that portion of E and there are restaurants, etc... there today.

If British Airways and Iberia launch their international service to Spain and London from STL - this will also be the area they will expand into.

I was there last week and those are still empty. I think some rinky dink carrier uses the very far ones for a couple flights to Mexico or somewhere. Southwest has plenty of room to expand in the terminal. I'll take a walk through tomorrow morning before my flight and let people know how many gates are open entirely.

In the other part of the Press Release, Southwest is initiating 4 flights out of a new city on its network -- Panama City, FL. But apparently it is being heavily subsidized by a local Panama City developer, St. Joe Company.



Maybe MidAmerica should take a cue from St. Joe and see if they can lure 4 SW flights out of there with a similar subsidy from an East Side developer.



From Reuters:



DEAL WITH ST. JOE COMPANY



In Panama City, Southwest forged a deal with St. Joe Co (JOE.N), which owns about 71,000 acres of land surrounding the new airport and has been involved with discussions to open an airport in Panama City for 10 years.



St. Joe will make quarterly cash payments to Southwest to cover shortfalls in the carrier's operations at the airport during the first three years of service, St. Joe said in a securities filing.



St. Joe will also share Southwest's profits from the air service up to the maximum amount of St. Joe's prior break-even payments.



In the filing, St. Joe said there would be four separate flight destinations from the Panama City airport. (Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

I wouldn't expect any "major" airline wanting MidAmerica at this time. Lambert International has plenty to build on especially with the new runway etc... - and connections would be nil - any flights would be point to point and direct serving only a smaller portion of the metro population. although MidAmerica could lure smaller ailrines again (i/e" Alegiant, Suncoast etc...) - however, has not been to succesful in filling and keeping those daily/weekly flights either. In the NW Florida deal - NW Florida International Airport is new http://www.flyvps.com/ and is also the major airport for NW Florida which is the fastest growing area of the state (I lived there for years) - Pensacola, Mobile, Ft. Walton all have regional airports with "express" service on a handful of airlines with very few destinations (3-or-4) - NWFlorida International is the new option serving all of the panhandle with best service. They now have 7 destinations (and three more coming with SWA soon) and 5 carriers all large and mainly on larger planes. This was a prime time for SWA to add this underserved populated coast as well as the lure from St. Joe Corp.



To discuss St. Louis MidAmerica and service at that airport - post in the MidAmerica thread: http://www.urbanstl.com/viewtopic.php?t=4527&start=45



Let's keep this thread focused on Lamert STL International Aiprort. Thanks!

I was there last week and those are still empty. I think some rinky dink carrier uses the very far ones for a couple flights to Mexico or somewhere. Southwest has plenty of room to expand in the terminal. I'll take a walk through tomorrow morning before my flight and let people know how many gates are open entirely.

Actually E gates 39-33 are not "rinky dink" airlines - smaller and less known maybe - but not small planes. In fact, the planes that use those gates are mainly international flights to / fron STL. USA3000 is an excellent airline and doing quite well. They fly daily to Punta Cana, DM / Mexico, and Florida. Daily flights are being added from the gates with AeroMexico this November and other Int. Charters such as Champion and Ryan air fly out of this section. These gates get a good usage. They are not "empty" gates at all - they are just used by less carriers.



BUT YES, SWA could easily expand into D Concourse - but they also to need upgrade the security (more of in terms) at E Councourse - another thing is more luggage area - I have waited many times for baggage far too long because of space problems - or too many people retrieving luggage at one time.



Update: According to KTVI's story this evening... Airport officials say the D Concourse is ready to take on new flights and arrangements from SouthWest Airlines.

matguy70 wrote:Actually E gates 39-33 are not "rinky dink" airlines - smaller and less known maybe - but not small planes. In fact, the planes that use those gates are mainly international flights to / fron STL. USA3000 is an excellent airline and doing quite well. They fly daily to Punta Cana, DM / Mexico, and Florida. Daily flights are being added from the gates with AeroMexico this November and other Int. Charters such as Champion and Ryan air fly out of this section. These gates get a good usage. They are not "empty" gates at all - they are just used by less carriers.

USA3000 operates spotty departures on various days. I consider that a rinky-dink airline, compared to the UA, CO, AA, and SW of the world. Those gates are far, far underutilized, hence my categorization of empty. They could probably consolidate all of those charter services into 1-2 gates maximum with pretty easy turnarounds. They're not small planes, but they're small airlines with limited service. If you have to search them out specifically via their website, I consider them rinky dink. (I know Southwest is similar, but they have a strong route network in the U.S.)



I'll be happy when SW and other major carrier continue adding capacity and fill the east terminal, then the D gates. For right now, part of E is still empty, and a couple of the D/E gates are being used for charter and very limited service.

United announces SFO-STL, beginning February...



http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... ?ana=yfcpc

They keep coming...



after the announcement yesterday of Southwest's major expansion at Lambert STL International - more flights were announced today!



Fantastic!



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United Airlines adds nonstop flight from STL to San Francisco.

The daily flight will begin on February 11, 2010

Service will be on Airbus320's



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Two new airlines to fly from Illinois communities to Lambert Airport

Massachusetts-based Cape Air will offer federally subsidized service to St. Louis from Quincy and Marion. Missouri-based Air Choice One will add new flights from Decatur to St. Louis International.



New service will be added in December 2009.