New City -Just announced, dontcha know

[FlyStorms]

Gary announced today that Southwest Airlines plans to begin service to Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) International Airport in March 2009. While we have not released specific service details or a timeline yet, we are planning a modest opening in MSP with initial service to only MDW this spring.

"Minneapolis-St. Paul’s strategic geographic location complements the vast Southwest Airlines network really well,â€￾ said Gary. “We have studied and been interested in serving Minneapolis-St. Paul for quite some time, and we look forward to bringing our low fares and legendary Customer Service to the people of Minnesota.â€￾

Gary also reaffirmed that though we may not grow our overall available seat mile capacity in 2009, we do have new schedule planning tools which provide the ability to manage our fleet and to adjust our flight schedule in response to opportunities that present themselves. “Offering service to Minneapolis-St. Paul is an excellent opportunity for us to expand our service to a very popular market,â€￾ Gary added.

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

Yumpin' yimminy!



Now when will they open ATL?

 

[does this plane go to paris]

It does surpirse me somewhat that service is only to MDW and not the typical 15-20 initial startup in any new city. But on the other hand DEN started slowly and look at that now. Maybe since they saw that FL and UA capitulated so easy that the new DL/NW is easy pickin's with the new merger. Gary is one smart cookie.

I do remember looking at fare's year's ago, about '95 and seeing that MSP/ORD on UA and NW was getting around 400 bucks and thought at that time why didn't WN try MSP/MDW.

 

[SharoninSAT]

Here we grow again!!!

 

[markkus757]

I think it's the second MSP route will be DEN for some better westbound options.

 

[coolflyingfool]

I just listened to the Red Belly Radio and I got the distinct impression that there are going to be a few more flights coming to MSP in the VERY NEAR future.

 

[BoeingBoy]

It'll be interesting to see if Westjet announces service to MSP.....

Jim

 

[jimntx]

Your conjecture is interesting also, BB. But, I would have to ask, wouldn't it make more sense for Westjet to fly into MDW where there would be infinitely more traffic to connect to?

 

[FA Mikey]

Doesnt SWA usually go in with multiple destinations and flights? Is this a unique situation or typical new city start up?

 

[jimntx]

I'm not sure there is a "typical" WN city startup. They do a lot of research before adding a new city. I think the reason that Minneapolis is going to be a one destination startup is that MDW is so very close and provides a lot of connectivity for passengers.

If the market is there, WN will be more than willing to provide other service to Minneapolis. They will be able to tell from connections booked through MDW. For instance, if enough passengers book through MDW to get to DAL or DEN, then nonstop/direct service to those destinations will emerge.

I know when I commute on WN from/to STL from DAL, the flights into STL from other destinations interest me. I wouldn't have thought there would be the traffic, but evidently there is.

All this being said, I think I read somewhere that WN is not planning to acquire new a/c next year quite as fast as they have been doing. The article also said that they were going to increase utilization of existing a/c. (Their a/c utilization is so efficient now, I guess they are going to go to in-flight fueling to reduce ground time. ) So, lack of equipment may also be a reason that startup service at Minneapolis is so limited.

 

[BoeingBoy]

jimntx,

MDW would certainly make more sense from a connecting opportunity standpoint, but I have no idea if there's capacity to handle many Westjet flights there. The same could be said of BWI. Westjet doesn't have any service to the northern half of the US (except EWR, where WN has no presense) - their U.S. service seems to be aimed more at leisure markets in the Southwest (PHX and LAS) and Florida.

The only advantage that MSP would have, if both carriers had enough service, is that it is in a good location for a connecting point to the northwestern quarter of the U.S. Plus their Canadian service seems to be weighted toward western Canada.

Jim