New European Destination In 2005?

PHX Flyer

Member
Sep 23, 2002
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Phoenix, AZ
www.usaviation.com
This is a rather wild rumor, but it's from a source that seems trustworthy for all I can tell, so I thought I share this with you:

Northwest is said to be mulling a move of its daily flight to Germany from Frankfurt to Cologne (CGN), which is located 100 miles north of Frankfurt in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The city itself is much larger then Frankfurt, and both greater metropolitan areas are fairly comparable. Also, Cologne is the headquarters of Ford Europe and Ford Germany.

The rationale is supposedly that
  • NW does not have connecting traffic at FRA, so it does not really matter at which end of the Rhine valley the planes touch down.
  • CGN is significantly cheaper then FRA in terms of landing and handling fees.
  • Ford provides a large, steady flow of business pax, who are not happy having to ride a Fokker 50 to AMS for a connection to DTW.
  • The airport has an underground train station served by bullet trains, which reach downtown Frankfurt in approx. 50 min., about the same time as a cab ride from FRA airport.
  • There would be no immediate competition from other carriers.
  • One third of of all O&D traffic at FRA is generated by North Rhine-Westphalia, and these folks would find it much more convenient to catch a flight in CGN.
Has anybody else heard about this?
Personally, I find it hard to believe that NWA would seriously consider giving up the coveted slots in FRA, given that until now they have served only the largest hub airports in Europe. On the other hand, these are very compelling reasons.
 
I have not heard a word about this, though your source makes some good points. I do know that we've been setting some records for freight carried out of FRA over the last few weeks. Wonder how much of that volume would be affected by a move?
 
As an addendum, what about 757-300 service to, say, BOS? Would that work? Do these A/C have the range? I wouldn't want to sit in coach in one going over the pond, but maybe it's feasible.
 
Kev3188 said:
As an addendum, what about 757-300 service to, say, BOS?
Continental seems to be having success using their 757s on transatlantic flights. Hence the acceptance of narrowbodies on long hauls must be better than one might think.
ATA does use the 757-300 to Europe too, so range is apparently not an issue.
However, I doubt that introducing point-to-point international service would be a viable option for Northwest. It appears that if their is no hub with feed at either end, it's more or less impossible to generate enough revenue to support this type of operation, at least as far as full-service airlines are concerned.
 
I heard from a pretty good source, (The head of the F/A Hotel Committee), that NW is looking into starting service to Dusseldorf next year along with seasonal service to Birmingham or Manchester and also Glasgow. And Rome will go year-round next year with the admission to the SkyTeam alliance.
 
Here is a cut-and-paste of an e-mail I received from Richard Anderson about this (be sure to throw slat over you shoulder while reading) :lol:

__________________________________________________________________
Kevin - Thanks for your email concerning both our operation at FRA and
trans-Atlantic destinations flying the 757-300, I appreciate hearing from you.
Because of the uncertainties of the economy, and in the competitive environment
of our industry, it is extremely important that we use our limited resources to
develop and expand the most profitable routes possible, joining with our
alliance partners when we can.

With respect to FRA, while Cologne has Ford, we have no plans to move our German
operation from FRA to CGN, as CGN is a smaller city than Frankfurt and does not
have the business base that FRA has. With respect to expanding our schedule to
so-called secondary markets, ETOPs certified 757-300s may offer new
opportunities and our scheduling department is continuously studying markets to
determine how we can best use our aircraft assets. However, there are no plans
to start BOS-SNN/DUB service at this time or in the near future. The good news
is that most European destinations can be reached flying on our alliance
partners, particularly KLM. Thanks.

Richard

_________________________________________________________________
 
If it's acceptable, I'll just throw some salt over my shoulder and keep the slats where they belong. (They're pretty hard to throw) ;)

All kidding aside, thanks for the information.
 
NWA/AMT said:
If it's acceptable, I'll just throw some salt over my shoulder and keep the slats where they belong. (They're pretty hard to throw) ;)
Hey, at least I'd trust an AMT to be able to throw a slat over the shoulder safely. :lol:
 
PHX Flyer said:
This is a rather wild rumor, but it's from a source that seems trustworthy for all I can tell, so I thought I share this with you:

Northwest is said to be mulling a move of its daily flight to Germany from Frankfurt to Cologne (CGN), which is located 100 miles north of Frankfurt in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The city itself is much larger then Frankfurt, and both greater metropolitan areas are fairly comparable. Also, Cologne is the headquarters of Ford Europe and Ford Germany.

The rationale is supposedly that
  • NW does not have connecting traffic at FRA, so it does not really matter at which end of the Rhine valley the planes touch down.
  • CGN is significantly cheaper then FRA in terms of landing and handling fees.
  • Ford provides a large, steady flow of business pax, who are not happy having to ride a Fokker 50 to AMS for a connection to DTW.
  • The airport has an underground train station served by bullet trains, which reach downtown Frankfurt in approx. 50 min., about the same time as a cab ride from FRA airport.
  • There would be no immediate competition from other carriers.
  • One third of of all O&D traffic at FRA is generated by North Rhine-Westphalia, and these folks would find it much more convenient to catch a flight in CGN.
Has anybody else heard about this?
Personally, I find it hard to believe that NWA would seriously consider giving up the coveted slots in FRA, given that until now they have served only the largest hub airports in Europe. On the other hand, these are very compelling reasons.
FRA has the same Underground train station as CGN if not a bigger and better one. From FRA you can reach CGN & DUS (to the NW) in one direction and HAJ & HAM (to the N) BER (NE) and MUC (SE). From CGN you have to go via DUS, BRE & HAM to BER and via FRA to MUC. It would be more of an inconveniance for PAX.

Also KL and AF need a partner in FRA to keep LH some company.
 
Also FRA airport is VERY close to downtown FRA. The 50-minute figure in the original post is way off-- more like 15.