More Competition

[700UW]

WASHINGTON - Low-fare carrier AirTran Airways plans to announce new nonstop service between Charlotte and Chicago's Midway International Airport today, the airline told the Observer on Monday. United Airlines, American Airlines and US Airways already fly nonstops to Chicago's larger airport, O'Hare International.AirTran said it will offer two daily flights between Charlotte and Chicago Midway aboard Boeing 717 aircraft, beginning May 9. With the addition of Charlotte, AirTran will fly to eight cities from Chicago Midway, including Dallas, Minneapolis, Newark and Boston.

AirTran's one-way fares to Midway will range from $79 to $199. (The airline does not require a round-trip purchase for its cheapest fares.) The cheapest nonstop to Chicago available on other airlines Monday cost $302 round-trip.
From Charlotte, AirTran already flies nonstop to Baltimore

 

[Hope777]

This was one of the routes Mainline was to start Pre-9/11. I wonder how Marketing will respond.

 

[700UW]

They flew for a few months with RJs then ended service.

 

[jimntx]

Bad part is that MDW is not the "bus station" it used to be. The city of Chicago has fixed it up nicely. And, there are better food vendors there than at ORD.

Plus, it's much closer to the Loop. Hope US Airways responds in kind.

 

[coolflyingfool]

MDW-CLT was hotly contested with TZ and US as I recall. I think 2 r/t a day will do fine. I do not look for more than 3 a day down the road. just my thoughts.......

 

[tadjr]

We currently dont serve MDW. We (and UA) have many flights a day to ORD from CLT. Do we really need to start service to an airport that we have tried (numerous times) to fly to with obvious results just because FL is starting? I agree we need to do something, but just dont think that starting MDW again is necessarily the right answer.

 

[flyingcat]

Anyone know if it there is even room to start up in MDW, i.e. gate space, counter space?

 

[SegmentKing]

Well, I wouldn't think that 2 717's is much of a threat --- ATA had 4 or 5 flights a day with 737-800s that weren't quite full, so they started to yield the market (lower fares) and just got aweful.

 

[FCYTravis]

I'm pretty sure all the MDW gates are taken and, to be quite honest, I don't see how starting MDW service up in the face of the vast WN hub makes any sense. The New US should play to its strengths, not respond to every move taken by every other carrier.

Playing copy-cat is what got us MetroJet and we all know how successful that was in fending off WN.

 

[ringmaruf]

I think FL is making a big mistake at starting this market at only 2x. That's not enough to attract business customers, they should've started at 3x. They did the same thing with PHL-RIC, and PIT-PHL, and PIT-MDW, not offering enough frequency to be competitive, and those routes all failed for them. On the other hand, look at PHL-BOS: they were doing poorly until AA and DL left the route and they added frequencies, and now that they're a viable option for business travelers, they're doing well. You'd think they'd have learned their lesson by now, but their route planning department seems to be big on just throwing darts; I've never seen another airline announce so many new routes all the time, and then drop half of them.

 

[ClueByFour]

I think FL is making a big mistake at starting this market at only 2x. That's not enough to attract business customers, they should've started at 3x. They did the same thing with PHL-RIC, and PIT-PHL, and PIT-MDW, not offering enough frequency to be competitive, and those routes all failed for them. On the other hand, look at PHL-BOS: they were doing poorly until AA and DL left the route and they added frequencies, and now that they're a viable option for business travelers, they're doing well. You'd think they'd have learned their lesson by now, but their route planning department seems to be big on just throwing darts; I've never seen another airline announce so many new routes all the time, and then drop half of them.

When Airtran threw PIT-PHL/MDW/LGA, US was in a much stronger position. That's not true anymore.

 

[ringmaruf]

When Airtran threw PIT-PHL/MDW/LGA, US was in a much stronger position. That's not true anymore.

Did you read what I wrote? I didn't mention US once. I'm not saying that the routes failed because of US, I'm saying they failed because FL should have offered more frequency on them and doomed them from the start. And you certainly can't claim that US was in any sort of strong position when FL tried PHL-RIC.

I used those routes as examples because I'm more familiar with them, sure, but FL has added and dropped scores of other routes, including several each from MKE and DFW.

 

[TravelGirl21]

Has been there and done that,(at least 4 times that I can remember)====== how many times can Usairways get in mdw and then pull out... i guess if us shows the money to the city ... hell they will let anyone in... granted we didn't burn those bridges when we left.. just a thought B)

 

[N905TW]

Anyone know if it there is even room to start up in MDW, i.e. gate space, counter space?

Flew into MDW about a month and a half ago commuting home... (our ORD flights were overbooked and went home on "you know who"), and at least at that point, our Baggage Service office on the lower level was still intact and lit up, complete with the USAirways signs behind the counter. The door was closed and locked of course. Not sure if that means we still have dibs on some real estate there or not....

 

[ringmaruf]

Flew into MDW about a month and a half ago commuting home... (our ORD flights were overbooked and went home on "you know who"), and at least at that point, our Baggage Service office on the lower level was still intact and lit up, complete with the USAirways signs behind the counter. The door was closed and locked of course. Not sure if that means we still have dibs on some real estate there or not....

I took a quick search of the list of assumed contracts from the bankruptcy plan of reorganization, and there don't appear to be any MDW leases or contracts on there.

That said, I'm sure US could get a single gate if it wanted one. I can't imagine they'll want to fly there again, though; they'll likely just match the fares at ORD instead.