I'm not sure that I see US Airways cutting "most of its Boston flights by the end of the year" because of Southwest.
1. Southwest has traditionally operated from non-major airports or has had limited operations from major airports, especially in the Northeast. Examples are Islip and Manchester for serving the New York and Boston areas. The one exception, actually in a Mid-Atlantic state, is BWI and even BWI was a smaller and less restricted airport as far as arrival and departure regulations than DCA.
True, but they are running out of "non-major" airports in areas of the country where the population density would support their style of operation. Hence, their moves into LGA and PHL. One of the most fascinating things about WN has always been their corporate flexibility given their size. They have never been a doctrinaire "that's not the way we do things" kind of company.
2. Southwest's normal mode of operation is high frequency in limited markets, and this method of operations has distinct problems in airports that are traditionally subject to ATC and/or weather delays. That is, in part, why Southwest has had an on, off and on again presence at SFO and has a much larger presence in OAK.
There was a time when their operations could be seriously affected by just a few a/c being stuck on the ground due to weather, etc. I don't think that is still the case.
3. The last I knew, and this could be out of date, someone in a senior position at Southwest had stated that absent a significant investment in expanding it's support network, Southwest was approaching it's maximum capacity under it's existing infrastructure.
However, they are constantly evaluating existing markets--do we have too much frequency/capacity here? I know that they have cut back on DAL-STL frequency--not as severely (percentage-wise) as my company, AA. But, they have reduced frequency on this route. That frees up a/c to fly elsewhere.
Now I am not suggesting the US Airways may choose to perhaps cut some unprofitable flying, but a large-scale departure from a high revenue east coast city with no good alternate airport (I am not considering BDL or PVD as a good alternatives) seems unlikely.
One of the reasons that BOS is a high revenue city is lack of choices for the flying public--see also, BOS-PHL fares. I would suspect that this is a route that WN will start serving almost immediately--on the way to/from somewhere else, of course
🙂lol
🙂.
One thing we all have to keep in mind when competing with WN. It doesn't matter that you and I know that WN is not always the cheapest fare, nor do they make that claim. WN always has a
reasonable fare. It is not their fault that translates in the public's mind to the
cheapest fare.
And, the new Business Select is sheer marketing genius for the short-haul market. I still would not fly WN for a coast to coast, 5-stop, marathon, but... Recently I was commuting to work in STL from DAL. On a flight at 9:45am, there were maybe 45-50 people on the flight which had originated at HOU. Of the 30 or so passengers that boarded at DAL, at least 15 of them were Business Select travelers in suits with briefcase and laptop in hand. None of them appeared to have much in the way of "personal" stuff. I'm guessing that the majority were going to STL for the day on business and were planning to return to DAL the same day. In the past these people have been the bread-and-butter of the AA flights between DFW and STL. I'm not saying that we have lost them entirely, but I do know that the DFW-STL frequency is now 9 flights/day where it used to be 14.
NEVER underestimate the effect that WN can have on your "sewn up" markets.
