Chiquita Brands is moving its HQ from Cincinnati to Charlotte.
The main factor in the move was the airport connectivity in CLT over CVG. With DL pulling back, they had increasingly limited access to European markets where they have lots of sales contacts. Also, Charlotte has much better Latin America connections on US, where the banana farms are.
Jerry Orr and reps from US were reportedly part of the negotations to lure Chiquita to Charlotte, so it will be interesting to see if this results in increased routes to Central/South America. While a lot of their farms are in Mexicao and Costa Rica, which US covers well, they also have farms in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Ecuador, and Columbia.
Didn't US used to fly to Guatemala City?
In order of likelihood, this would seem likely to increase the chances of routes to:
Bogota
Quito
Panama City
Guatemala City
Not so likely:
Managua
Teguicigalpa (sp?)
Edit: I would still expect Lima to occur next after Bogota. Didn't the US and Columbia sign an open-skies agreement that would allow them to start CLT-BOG any time US wanted?
The main factor in the move was the airport connectivity in CLT over CVG. With DL pulling back, they had increasingly limited access to European markets where they have lots of sales contacts. Also, Charlotte has much better Latin America connections on US, where the banana farms are.
Jerry Orr and reps from US were reportedly part of the negotations to lure Chiquita to Charlotte, so it will be interesting to see if this results in increased routes to Central/South America. While a lot of their farms are in Mexicao and Costa Rica, which US covers well, they also have farms in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Ecuador, and Columbia.
Didn't US used to fly to Guatemala City?
In order of likelihood, this would seem likely to increase the chances of routes to:
Bogota
Quito
Panama City
Guatemala City
Not so likely:
Managua
Teguicigalpa (sp?)
Edit: I would still expect Lima to occur next after Bogota. Didn't the US and Columbia sign an open-skies agreement that would allow them to start CLT-BOG any time US wanted?