Questions About Southwest
Curtis leaves comments from a posting in August about Southwest Airlines:
"It is not true that Southwest won't fly to an MSA of less than 1,000,000 people. It currently flies to 17 of them, not counting any cities in Hawaii. Five of these (Midland/Odessa, Amarillo, Lubbock, Harlingen/South Padre, and Reno) are smaller than Springfield MSA (according to U.S. Census 2006 estimates). I also don't understand why they would only fly to one destination from SGF. The five smaller cities all have direct flights to at least three destinations each."
You're right Curtis, but there's a little more to it...
When Southwest began service in 1971, it was a Texas based airline serving only Texas cities (this was long before the company adopted its "million people in the MSA guideline"). The airline continues to service those small, legacy cities because it has a near monopoly on the service. Shawn Schroeder, the assistant director of our airport, used to work at the airport in Harlingen. The Harlingen MSA has about 378,000 people and Southwest service. He tells me that it's very difficult to entice other airlines to provide service there because they don't want to compete with Southwest. Southwest has no reason to leave Harlingen (or the other small Texas markets) because it has a lock on the market and they've always been there—the airline and Harlingen came to the dance together!
As for the Reno/Lake Tahoe market—its MSA is about the size of ours, but there's at least one very important difference: the tourism and gaming industry. The Reno airport has eleven airlines and moves approximately five million passengers a year. We have five airlines and less than a million total passengers a year. Given these facts, it's easy to understand why Southwest would serve the market. To compare our market to Reno, is to compare apples to oranges.
So, the bottom line is still true: today, in 2007, when people like me call Southwest and inquire about obtaining service, the airline says it generally doesn't consider service to an MSA of less than a million people.
Kent
Jake follows-up on this subject:
"I hear a lot of rumors that Southwest will be flying into the Branson airport when it opens up in 2009. If that's true, how could they get Southwest when they obviously have a smaller MSA that SGF. Is it the same situation as Reno?"
I'm going to answer this question is a roundabout way...
I've worked in six different markets during my career. In four of those markets, maybe five, there were recurring rumors about Disney building a theme park in the area. It has surfaced at least once in the Springfield metro. The last time I remember was back in the mid-1990's. Some people were convinced that Disney would build a theme park near I-44, on, or near, the Exotic Animal Paradise property. And there was always just enough logic in the rumor (depending on who was swearing to it) to make you think it might actually happen. The rumor took root in Joplin earlier this year. You know where I'm going with this...
You ask if this is the "same situation as Reno?" This is another apples to oranges comparison. The two markets strike me as being very different from one another—especially when you consider the gambling difference: legal in Nevada, not so in Taney County. The appeal of Branson and its visitor demographic will need to change considerably before Southwest enters the market.
Bottom line: the rumors about Southwest flying into Taney County are just that—rumors. If the airline decides to fly into Taney, it will break every rule and expectation in the airline industry; it doesn't make sense.
Kent
Arthur follows-up by wondering if we have a better chance of landing the low-cost carriers AirTran and Spirit?
AirTran would be a stretch for us, but not nearly as big a stretch as Southwest. As for Spirit Airlines, it's not likely to come here either. If you look at the list of its destination cities, it's hard to imagine how we would fit in.
6 Comments
Reader Comments (6)
Follow-up to Southwest. I hear a lot of rumors that Southwest will be flying into the Branson airport when it opens up in 2009. If that's true, how could they get Southwest when they obviously have a smaller MSA that SGF. Is it the same situation as Reno?
Isthere any chance of getting a flight or two on airlines like Spirit or Airtran or do the numbers not match-up for that either. I know Spirit has been expanding like crazy and I think Airtran ahss added occasional flight to small destinations. I knwo the problem with Airtran however is that they sue Atlanta and i never doubt a second flight would be added there, but we do it with Chicago so maybo. I know you can't comment on covnerdation i was jsut saying as it results to numbers. mainly whether it is a possibility of totally unlike thos two airlines.
sorry for the awful writing: here it is correctly
Is there any chance of getting a flight or two on airlines like Spirit or Airtran or do the numbers not match-up for that either. I know Spirit has been expanding like crazy and I think Airtran has added occasional flights to small destinations. I know the problem with Airtran however is that they use Atlanta and i doubt a second flight would be added there, but we do it with Chicago so maybe. I know you can't comment on covnersations i was jsut asking how it results to numbers. mainly whether it is a possibility or totally unlike those two airlines could one day soon fly into the area.
It seems to me that if we are going to grow passenger boardings significantly out of SGF that we MUST attract a low fare carrier with a hub/spoke system (unlike Allegiant or Skybus) which allows connections at the hub city(cities). Currently it is just too expensive for anyone but those who have businesses paying for their airfares to utilize SGF on a continual basis.
I fly about four round trips a month. Only one of those is boarded out of SGF. The other three are driving trips to Kansas City, St. Louis or Tulsa because the airfares are significantly lower(by about $150) to do that. I will bet that there are plenty of other passsengers that should be SGF enplaners who are doing exactly waht I am doing. Lower fares at SGF would double passenger boardings here in a year...look what happened in Providence, for example, when Southwest began flying there.
Thoughts about the new Branson Airport scheduled to open in 2009. I have heard through reliable sources that Branson will entice a low fare carrier or two through incentives like no or low landing fees, and other subsidies initially. Money talks but I doubt if SGF officials and Springfield politicians are far-sighted enough to see that money spent now in enticing new airlines, low fare and otherwise, will reap profits in the future. More airlines at SGF will increase competition and lower airfares.
By the way, my first career for some twenty years was in both the rank and file and in management for the airline industry.
Interesting the comments about Southwest and Reno Nevada. I am sure if you put Springfield together with the Branson Market the amount of air travel between the two would be much greater than Reno Nevada. However, the ability to educated the airlines on the actual impact of Branson, MO has gone on deaf ears. According to the Nevada Commission on tourism. Reno, Nevada attacted 300,000 tourists in 2006. Far far less than Branson, MO which is deep in the millions of
tourists and coming third or fourth with only citis like Orlando and Las Vegas ahead of it. Yes, many come on buses, but only because of the lack of understanding that air transportation is so close. For instance, it takes longer to get from Orlando-Sanford to Disney World than it does to get from Springfield Branson National Airport to the City limits of Branson. I'm just not sure people understand the true amount of people visiting Branson, MO and how truly easy it is to get there from Springfield.
The following link show the Reno tourist numbers
http://travelnevada.com/content.aspx?ID=134