DFW-EZE, FLL-SDQ, FLL-PAP

[MAH4546]

FLL-SDQ/PAP start 1Nov03, daily 738.

DFW-EZE starts 02Nov03; 3x weekly 763.

Plus more frequency on MIA-BGI/SXM/SAP/SAL/BZE/MGA, DFW-SJO, JFK-SJO/SXM/STT

Great news!

 

[SANman]

Interesting stuff.... is the DFWEZE in Sabre yet? I can''t find it online anywhere.

 

[MiAAmi]

The new FLL international flights are very interesting if not a complete surprise. They talked about FLL-CCS a while back but it never materialized.

 

[jj]

Maybe this will keep Spirit Air from starting their FLL-South America ops.

 

[WingNaPrayer]

I don''t know if FLL realizes it yet but they are going to need a butt load of new counter positions to handle Haiti traffic.

Personally, I think the announcement may be politically motivated in order to keep others from entering the same market. We''ll know more as the launch date gets closer, and I''ll be surprised if they don''t cancel them a week or two out and try to move all the pre-books to MIA where the flights are already miserably oversold and AA pays out the hind end for oversales.

*****


American Begins International Service From Fort Lauderdale
Flights to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, To Start Nov. 1
MIAMI, Jul 21, 2003 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- American Airlines will begin international service from Fort Lauderdale to the Caribbean with two new flights. Effective Nov. 1, American will add daily service from Fort Lauderdale to Port-au- Prince, Haiti, and to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
The airline will use a Boeing 737-800 aircraft with capacity for 20 Business-Class and 114 Coach-Class passengers.
"We have made it easier for our customers to travel to the Caribbean by offering this convenient nonstop service from Fort Lauderdale. Expanding our Caribbean service from Fort Lauderdale is something that the growing Haitian and Dominican communities in the area have been requesting," said Peter Dolara senior vice president-Miami, the Caribbean and Latin America. "This new service is part of our continued commitment to the Caribbean, a market we have served for more than 30 years."

     Following is the new schedule, effective Nov. 1:

     From Ft. Lauderdale                    From Port-au-Prince
     to Port-au-Prince:                     to Ft. Lauderdale:

     Flight   Departure   Arrival           Flight   Departure   Arrival
     807      8:00 a.m.   9:49 a.m.         788      10:44 a.m.  12:46 p.m.

     From Ft. Lauderdale                    From Santo Domingo
     to Santo Domingo:                      to Ft. Lauderdale:

     Flight   Departure   Arrival           Flight   Departure   Arrival
     845      2:16 p.m.   5:18 p.m.         846      6:13 p.m.   7:36 p.m.

 

[MiAAmi]

Low and behold there is a negative spin on everything AA does.
Welcome back Whine and Prayer!

 

[WingNaPrayer]

The "negative spin" as you call it comes from AA's own history. How many times has AA announced a new market, then yanked it just days before it's maiden voyage? I'd need a calculator to count the times in my own personal experience, let alone their markets that I don't fly. Haiti is one of the markets I fly, and I know what a rat's nest those flights are in MIA, they are always oversold and yield is out of control. My concern is they announce matching flights from FLL then days before launch, they cancel and bus everyone into MIA where the flights are already at capacity and oversold to boot, but at least they can hold them hostage in the airport until a slot opens up on a future flight. That's called "snappin' up the revenue at any cost" and they do it quite a bit on these routes. When I see the first flight go wheels up from FLL, then I'll believe it. It's a great market, and AA definitely needs more tin on it, but the oversales are raping the bottom line in that market as well. Meals, lodging, transportation, phone cards and vouchers for free future travel add up when you oversell a flight by 30-40 people every time.

 

[MiAAmi]

Your numbers are crap! I work the flights to Haiti and we hardly ever leave revenue pax at the gate. In fact we actually get non-revenue pax on most of the time. I will give you that the flights to Haiti are full most of the time but we are not spending a great deal on oversales. Check your numbers with the station manager. He might be able to tell you that Haiti is one of if not the #1 profitable route out of MIA.

 

[FA Mikey]

When AA numbers show only 15% of those vouchers are ever actually used. Its a revenue saver not a drainer.

 

[SANman]

For someone whose "market is Haiti", WNP knows very little about PAP traffic. I''d be surprised if MIAPAP took more than 40 oversales the last 6 months combined - it''s never that full. And certainly not in November, when the alleged "dump from FLL" would take place.... that market will peak in mid-December, when all the Haitians go home for Christmas. But I''d be surprised if it were more than half full mid-week in November. But I sure did miss the inane spins WNP puts on everything....

 

[MAH4546]

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On 7/22/2003 5:17:49 PM SANman wrote:

For someone whose "market is Haiti", WNP knows very little about PAP traffic. I''d be surprised if MIAPAP took more than 40 oversales the last 6 months combined - it''s never that full. And certainly not in November, when the alleged "dump from FLL" would take place.... that market will peak in mid-December, when all the Haitians go home for Christmas. But I''d be surprised if it were more than half full mid-week in November. But I sure did miss the inane spins WNP puts on everything....

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Ft. Lauderdale has 62,000 Haitains. Needless, that''s less than half of Miami''s, but such a large immigrant group, especially considering how Haitians are a group that travel to and from thier country often, should not have a problem filling 134 seats.

 

[MAH4546]

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On 7/21/2003 1005 AM MiAAmi wrote:

The new FLL international flights are very interesting if not a complete surprise. They talked about FLL-CCS a while back but it never materialized.

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FLL-CCS was announced back on 10 September 2001. Was to start 15Dec01, pushed back to 15Jun02, pushed back to 15Dec02, and then just canned. A lot of it had to with the crisis in Venezuela. But with CCS traffic now back to normal levels, I would not be shocked to see an FLL-CCS announcement in time for the summer 2004 travel season.

One major reason for it is to protect thier market and share and yield from Spirit Airlines, which is planning both FLL-SDQ and FLL-PAP. Thier first Caribbean/LatAm route (excluding the domestic MCO/FLL-SJU service), FLL-CUN, launches this fall. Spirit has been talking about this for a while, but they are finally taking the steps towards making it happen. They are also finally looking at replacing thier aging MD80s. AA is very protective of FLL, which is a good money maker for them because, once again, they have the huge Miami area FF base to work on and can run a very nice point-to-point route structure out of FLL because of it. When jetBlue announced FLL-LGB (which has been a smash hit and they are upping to two daily on 09Sep03 at the expense of an ATL-LGB flight), it took only a week for AA to add a midday FLL-LAX departure.

Another is simply to offer the huge FF base in Miami a more convienent option by way of Ft. Lauderdale. Also to note is that while Ft. Lauderdale''s Haitian and Dominican populations are smaller than those in Miami (62,000 Haitains in Lauderdale; probably about 40,000 Dominicans), but much wealthier (more than half of Lauderdale''s Dominican population is middle/upper class).

In addition to this new service, while FLL-STL goes from 3x to 1x daily, FLL-BOS goes from 1x to 3x daily (01Nov03 and then on 01Feb04).

 

[FA Mikey]

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On 7/21/2003 8:39:34 AM MAH4546 wrote:

FLL-SDQ/PAP start 1Nov03, daily 738.

DFW-EZE starts 02Nov03; 3x weekly 763.

Plus more frequency on MIA-BGI/SXM/SAP/SAL/BZE/MGA, DFW-SJO, JFK-SJO/SXM/STT

Great news!

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Should help to get our staffing closer to where it was six months ago.