Clt-Gig Poor Loads

[Lloyds5]

Now that Christmas and Carnivale have come and gone it appears the Clt-Gig Loads are horrible.
With many days in March running at well unde 50% LF. I wonder how long Tempe will hang in there on this route?

 

[dexter]

I Could have warned Tempe a long time ago. No market in CLT and those south apmerican customers prefer EWR/JFK/MIA flights better as the wholesale agents give terrific prices. There is no Latino friendly service in CLT that they are accustomed to. That is fact, not fiction. My family would never connect in North Carolina, heck, they don't even know where NC is. There is not comfort zone for them in the south.

 

[Lloyds5]

I Could have warned Tempe a long time ago. No market in CLT and those south apmerican customers prefer EWR/JFK/MIA flights better as the wholesale agents give terrific prices. There is no Latino friendly service in CLT that they are accustomed to. That is fact, not fiction. My family would never connect in North Carolina, heck, they don't even know where NC is. There is not comfort zone for them in the south.

Not so sure its the South as Delta appears to do well out of Atlanta. Its probably a combination of virtually no O&D out of Charlotte and the US Airways name is not well know in Latin America.

 

[cltflyer1]

give the route some time and give usairways some time make themselves known.

 

[galley princess]

Tempe doesn't give unprofitable flights much time before they axe them.

I would hope that they would move it to PHL before giving it up. I know that they want to make CLT the "South American gateway" but it just doesn't have the origination traffic that PHL does. They get traffic only when they're the cheapest ticket and people have to connect anyway.

I guess that it also probably has something to do with the range of the plane too. Would a 767 make it to GIG from PHL?

GIG is a valuable destination. It just needs a new origination city.

 

[cltflyer1]

let the economy pick back up before slashing the route. 🙁

 

[Dog Wonder]

Non-rev there while you can. Plan ahead on the visa.

 

[HPearlyretiree]

Looks like a $130 visa fee for US citizens! Yikes.

Good thing I have a second passport that doesn't need a visa, that is a huge visa cost.

 

[aptboeses]

I guess the question should be what are the yields that US is getting from that 50% LF? If the Envoy cabin is half full but with full fare pax then the flight might be doing ok. The same goes for the coach cabin. Load factors are poor indicators of whether or not a route is performing well. Is anyone privy to revenue info on this flight that they would care to share?

 

[smoot4208]

Tempe doesn't give unprofitable flights much time before they axe them.

I would hope that they would move it to PHL before giving it up. I know that they want to make CLT the "South American gateway" but it just doesn't have the origination traffic that PHL does. They get traffic only when they're the cheapest ticket and people have to connect anyway.

I guess that it also probably has something to do with the range of the plane too. Would a 767 make it to GIG from PHL?

GIG is a valuable destination. It just needs a new origination city.

While PHL would have more O&D traffic, it would offer few connections. ATL-GIG is established and therefore has about 35 O&D passengers a day I believe, which means the flight still relies on connections. CLT allows for florida (MCO & MIA) and LAX connections. PHL would have to have a very low fare in order to get people from New York; that said if the route is going to work, it will be from CLT. I think it is very premature to say the flight is a mistake. International routes need to be given 2 years to realize the potential

 

[smoot4208]

Also to put it in perspective, many of the transatlantic flights are operating at similar load factors for the month of march....with no LCC comp to Brazil, I would imagine the route does just OK at 50% load factor

 

[notquiteUS]

Tempe doesn't give unprofitable flights much time before they axe them.

I would hope that they would move it to PHL before giving it up. I know that they want to make CLT the "South American gateway" but it just doesn't have the origination traffic that PHL does. They get traffic only when they're the cheapest ticket and people have to connect anyway.

I guess that it also probably has something to do with the range of the plane too. Would a 767 make it to GIG from PHL?

GIG is a valuable destination. It just needs a new origination city.

Whos this guy called Tempe??? He sure seems to have a lot of control over the company these days. He can axe routes like nothing!?

 

[nycbusdriver]

International routes need to be given 2 years to realize the potential

That's an interesting statement from someone who it appears knows what he/she is talking about.

The Tempe brain trust, on the other hand, is willing to pull the plug after 4 months of an international route (PHL-BHX.)

 

[cltflyer1]

The LF is well well well below 50 however.

 

[FWAAA]

I don't have yield data and don't put much faith in load factors, but a quick review of Orbitz shows that US is charging $3,142 all-in for NYC-GIG in Envoy on 3/03, returning 3/06. That matches DL and is a little more expensive than TAM. AA, on the other hand, is charging more than twice that for biz, or $6,772. CO and UA are close to AA's prices. US is via CLT and AA is via MIA. US is charging $7,600 from PHL but is substantially cheaper than CO, UA and AA from most eastern cities. That's not a good sign for DL or US.