Express Jet
- Thread starter Hope777
- Start date
Kev3188
Veteran
Thanks for the input Booker. Good luck and I hope you guys make a go of it. Competition is good for everybody, from a consumers point of view. Not so much the competitors though.
AA kind of pizzed me off when they announced all the "reactionary" service from RDU. Lets see they have flown to RDU since the late '80s(?) or earlier. They have had the ability to offer such service but never found it necessary until you guys announced service.
Kick some AA butt!!!
Edit to add this USA Today article I just found:
Is ExpressJet filling its flights?
So, how is ExpressJet doing in its attempt to fly a standalone unit? The News & Observer of Raleigh takes a look at the issue in a story this week that explains the airline's entrance into the crowded Raleigh/Durham (RDU) market. The paper talks to RDU fliers who sound pleased by ExpressJet's new non-stop options.
But the News & Observer also writes that "judging by the paucity of passengers on the first day's flights (from RDU), the two-month-old airline has some marketing hurdles. Only 15 passengers were on the morning flight to Kansas City, and four were booked on the afternoon route. Eight passengers were booked on the first flight to Louisville and four were on the first trip to Jacksonville, a gate agent said. ExpressJet's Embraer aircraft can carry 50 passengers."
Michael Cox, senior director of sales at ExpressJet, would not give the paper information about how well the carrier's flights have been selling, though he did claim that two flights from Jacksonville to other cities had been overbooked during a previous week. Cox also says the airline is airing ads in variety of mediums to lure customers. Express Jet also is facing tough competition from the existing carriers in the markets it's entering.
North Carolina's Triangle Business Journal (free registration) writes ExpressJet's "entrance into RDU drew a strong reaction from a much bigger competitor. American Airlines, through its American Eagle line, added flights to (the competing destinations of) Jacksonville, Kansas City and Louisville on May 1 and announced that day that it would provide double frequent-flier miles from until July 31 to anyone on non-stop flights to those cities."
Of course, it could all come down to price for ExpressJet. Noting that ExpressJet sold her a ticket to Jacksonville cheaper than other RDU airlines, passenger Angela Johnson tells the News & Observer: "If they keep their prices like this, I will definitely use them again."
Indeed, it's certainly not surprising that XJT is drawing competition. Horizon is offering similar service on the west coast in a few markets, although it's operating out of LAX, not ONT.
Thanks for posting the article. It jives with what we've heard out on the line. I still fly for the CoEx side, so I only know what little management has put out and what comes through the grapevine.
From what I hear from buddies still there, Tucson is doing great. It's one of there best cities so far. 
From what I hear from buddies still there, Tucson is doing great. It's one of there best cities so far.
Yeah, the latest scuttlebutt is that certain city pairs are now typically full while others are usually almost empty.
Haven't heard any bad things about OKC...of course there is relatively little competition here on the routes being flown. Looking at some of the fare offerings, the lower levels are getting booked up - so that is a good sign.
The one route that concerns me is the OKC-AUS route. It has the afternoon outbound from OKC in the early afternoon which really kills much same day business traffic to return to Austin. If it left here around 6pm...it would be packed by quite a few Dell-badge employees going between sites. Right now most of that traffic uses Southwest.
The one route that concerns me is the OKC-AUS route. It has the afternoon outbound from OKC in the early afternoon which really kills much same day business traffic to return to Austin. If it left here around 6pm...it would be packed by quite a few Dell-badge employees going between sites. Right now most of that traffic uses Southwest.
