Why is the Caribbean profitable?

[a320av8r]

Flew a leg from MSP to CLT Monday morning.
Left MSP, snow and temp -9F. We had 60 some customers. Of that 60+, 39 were connecting to the Carribean, and that was a Monday! Thats why we are profitable to the Carribean.

 

[sfb]

One really good reason for an increased emphasis on the Caribbean is that the low-fare carriers have an extremely limited presence there -- and this is likely to continue for quite a while. WN doesn't fly anywhere outside of the Continental U.S., while FL only serves FPO and B6/NK only go to SJU.

And even if average fares to the Caribbean were $350, that's still better than average round-trip fares under $250 to Florida... Being able to sell large blocks of tickets through tour operators helps -- US is better able to guarantee its revenue that way. TWA was doing exactly the same thing with its increased emphasis on the Caribbean before the AA takeover.

 

[ITRADE]

I get the distinct feeling that international travel really would not be in line with the modeling that "fast turn around" carriers like WN employ.

I remember when I was flying to BGI a year or so ago, the plane was about 20 minutes late getting into PHL. The aircraft was originally scheduled to be at the PHL gate for about :50 or so minutes. I figured that with the extra "pad", the flight would still be able to leave on-time.

However, I was told that the plane requires certain inspections before the flight can depart on an international routing. Thus, it seems that is is virtually impossible to do a quick turn on these types of routes. And, since WN emphasises quick turns and maximization of en route time, the necessary hurdles might deter WN from attempting the venture.

BTW....What's the word with Caribbean Star???? I thought that they were supposed to be codeshare linked by now.