jeffrk wrote: ↑May 01, 2018
pdm_ad wrote: ↑May 01, 2018
^ I don't see a continuation flight onto Europe in my schedules from 1997 and 1998 but I wouldn't doubt that they did that at one time.
I checked the July 1997 schedule and there were 5 daily nonstops between STL and JFK using DC9s, MD80s, 727s, 757s, 767s, and the 747. What a lineup of planes!
L10s along with 747s were still in service for TW in 1997 but by February 1998 they had been retired.
I figured as much...
It really seems odd for STL to have no direct flights there. Seems about the largest missing piece of our options.
Jeff
American Eagle and Delta Connecttion have operated it in and off over the years but it’s never been a strong performer for a variety of reasons.
First, STL is within the LGA perimeter range and that’s the preferred airport for domestic O&D going to the city. Running a flight to JFK is undesirable for most traveling to the city and would have terrible yields.
Secondly, the vast majority of the international points STL-originating traffic heads to can be served by the carriers other hubs-DFW/ORD/PHL in the case of AA and ATL/DTW in the case of DL. Sure DL can operate STL-JFK for the two daily STL-NCE or STL-TLV passengers they’d capture, or just have those passengers double connect through another DL hub or across the Atlantic with AF/KL in AMS/CDG. Bottom line is the vast, vast majority of the traffic originating out of STL can be handled over the megahubs that are designed for flow traffic-as opposed to JFK which is clusters of separate terminals and has robust O&D demand in the tri-state area.
Third, while JFK has long been seen as an iconic global gateway as continues to serve many global carriers as their only or most significant US point, with the mega carriers we have today there’s no longer as much a need to fly to connect with interline partners when many points are served within a carriers network or through an established JV.
Specific to AA, the former US Airways leadership team that is running the combined company has continued to de-emphasize JFK’s role in the network to just premium transcons, other hubs, and a small number of European and domestic routes. Pretty much all of the Caribbean mainstays are gone-including San Juan-aside from some opportunistic, easy to make money seasonal flying. Basically JFK has been pruned down to the best performers optimized for O&D and AA’s oneworld partners have backfilled much of the empty space in the large (still underutilized terminal).
I wouldn’t sweat not having JFK service, for STL it really doesn’t add any value in terms of connectivity or NY O&D.
