Jump to content

Big News For Little Rock National Airport


Recommended Posts

AND NB, Memphis wasn't ONCE mentioned to get a flight to Tokyo.

Actually, Memphis International already has signs translated into Japanese along with English and Chinese. The Japanese, in general, seem to love Elvis and their PM is considered a sex symbol so Elvis' popularity in Japan has risen. However, realistically, Memphis won't have daily flights to NRT, and Nashville won't either unless its subsidized. A BNA-MEM with continuing service to NRT three times a week might work though.

Edit-lol is TN airport talk taking over every forum or something?

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 352
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Actually, Memphis International already has signs translated into Japanese along with English and Chinese. The Japanese, in general, seem to love Elvis and their PM is considered a sex symbol so Elvis' popularity in Japan has risen. However, realistically, Memphis won't have daily flights to NRT, and Nashville won't either unless its subsidized. A BNA-MEM with continuing service to NRT three times a week might work though.

Edit-lol is TN airport talk taking over every forum or something?

All the signs at BNA are translated into Japanese and Spanish as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually, Memphis International already has signs translated into Japanese along with English and Chinese. The Japanese, in general, seem to love Elvis and their PM is considered a sex symbol so Elvis' popularity in Japan has risen. However, realistically, Memphis won't have daily flights to NRT, and Nashville won't either unless its subsidized. A BNA-MEM with continuing service to NRT three times a week might work though.

Edit-lol is TN airport talk taking over every forum or something?

Most important behind MEM is the efforts L. Cox has been making with NW on both the European and Asian front. L Cox has one of the best reputations in the business, has been named best operator/director recently and has been named to head the airport directors organization recently as well. Not that that makes getting a flight a sure thing or even easier, but it's a testament to the quality of work that he does. He's not an incompetent dude trying to fly to Mars by throwing a Yugo off a cliff. So the interest and the effort has been expressed; MEM has been in discussions with NW and Japan. That's not to say it's a certainty. But it's at least as much of a possibility as BNA. There are many advantages to MEM just like there are advantages to BNA. Maybe BNA will get it first, but Memphis has been mentioned and discussed; just maybe not in the Tennessean.

Edit: It may have been ARnold Perl getting the accolades. He's also involved in MEM in some capacity. I'm not sure. I just go by memory.

We (hopefully) return you to your discussion of LITTLE ROCK.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back to Little Rock Airport discussion. Anyone watch Katv at 10pm tonight? Scott Inman will be reporting from the airport for the next two days for Daybreak,5,6, and 10 pm. Tonight, the deputy manager of the airport mentioned the possibility of adding two new airlines and once again international flights were mentioned. They will talk about the future expansion of the terminal in later reports. Did anyone read the article in the ADG last Wednesday about the terminal expansion? The new expansion will accomodate 5 million passengers with 18-20 gates instead of the present 12 gates for an estimated cost of 254 million and 4 years to builf verus 225 million and 6 years to renovate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back to Little Rock Airport discussion. Anyone watch Katv at 10pm tonight? Scott Inman will be reporting from the airport for the next two days for Daybreak,5,6, and 10 pm. Tonight, the deputy manager of the airport mentioned the possibility of adding two new airlines and once again international flights were mentioned. They will talk about the future expansion of the terminal in later reports. Did anyone read the article in the ADG last Wednesday about the terminal expansion? The new expansion will accomodate 5 million passengers with 18-20 gates instead of the present 12 gates for an estimated cost of 254 million and 4 years to builf verus 225 million and 6 years to renovate.

I wonder which two airlines. AirTran is a good candidate. I can't think of another airline that's a good candidate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder which two airlines. AirTran is a good candidate. I can't think of another airline that's a good candidate.

Jetblue and United are my guess.

Jeblue is building up their Embraer 180 Fleet and are getting ready to hit the Mid-Sized Markets of America. United could operate United Express with flights to Chicago, Denver, Washington.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jetblue and United are my guess.

Jeblue is building up their Embraer 180 Fleet and are getting ready to hit the Mid-Sized Markets of America. United could operate United Express with flights to Chicago, Denver, Washington.

I thought United already operated in LR. Might be wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

United served LR, left, came back and left again. If I had to guess, it would be United and Airtran. United can provide that direct flight to LA that LR is lacking and really wants. Airtran gives LR another option to Atlanta. I still think that LR is not on the radar for JetBlue, even with the smaller planes. I could be wrong because it could provide LR flights directly into New York instead of Continental's service into Newark.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

United served LR, left, came back and left again. If I had to guess, it would be United and Airtran. United can provide that direct flight to LA that LR is lacking and really wants. Airtran gives LR another option to Atlanta. I still think that LR is not on the radar for JetBlue, even with the smaller planes. I could be wrong because it could provide LR flights directly into New York instead of Continental's service into Newark.

Well I have it on good word that if the Wright Amendment is appealed, Dallas Love Field will become a Jetblue Hub for the central part of the country.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I have it on good word that if the Wright Amendment is appealed, Dallas Love Field will become a Jetblue Hub for the central part of the country.

That might be difficult. Wright will gradually be phased out over 8 years per the current agreement going before Congress but it will be limited to only 20 of its 32 gates. Considering Continental already uses some gates and Southwest will want the remainder, where is JetBlue going to find enough space to be a hub? Southwest will fill every available gate with flights across the country once it's allowed to, I'm quite sure.

There is plenty of room for JetBlue in terminal D of DFW where AirTran is located and Delta vacated a couple of years ago.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That might be difficult. Wright will gradually be phased out over 8 years per the current agreement going before Congress but it will be limited to only 20 of its 32 gates. Considering Continental already uses some gates and Southwest will want the remainder, where is JetBlue going to find enough space to be a hub? Southwest will fill every available gate with flights across the country once it's allowed to, I'm quite sure.

There is plenty of room for JetBlue in terminal D of DFW where AirTran is located and Delta vacated a couple of years ago.

Jetblue won't go into DFW simply because American has too much of a market share there. Jetblue wants to focus on the central and mid-sized markets of the U.S. American seems to dominate the Central, much like America West in the Southwest, Delta in the East, U.S Airways on the East Coast, etc.

When I was in DFW last week, I did notice plenty of gate space that was empty, some parts of the terminals felt like ghost airports.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jetblue won't go into DFW simply because American has too much of a market share there. Jetblue wants to focus on the central and mid-sized markets of the U.S. American seems to dominate the Central, much like America West in the Southwest, Delta in the East, U.S Airways on the East Coast, etc.

When I was in DFW last week, I did notice plenty of gate space that was empty, some parts of the terminals felt like ghost airports.

Jetblue would make a killing at DFW as would AirTran if they expanded to a full hub. Believe it or not, it was considerably cheaper to fly out of Little Rock than it is to fly out of Dallas and this largely because of AA's monopoly at DFW. They can charge whatever fares they choose. It was better when the Delta hub was still there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jetblue would make a killing at DFW as would AirTran if they expanded to a full hub. Believe it or not, it was considerably cheaper to fly out of Little Rock than it is to fly out of Dallas and this largely because of AA's monopoly at DFW. They can charge whatever fares they choose. It was better when the Delta hub was still there.

Exactly, I noticed that too when Delta left. Airtran might be a good choice for flights to the Mid-West and Florida. Jetblue to me just seems to have to much going for it right now yet it's looking at Love Field rather than DFW.

A Large Low Fare Airline Presence is needed at DFW to help bring down fares.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It could work. Airtran has survived and even prospered at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, Delta's largest hub. Maybe a low fare carrier like JetBlue or Airtran can make it at DFW, Delta couldn't (even though part of that was because they filed for bankruptcy and needed to get rid of some expenses). Hopefully we'll hear soon who those carriers may be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It could work. Airtran has survived and even prospered at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, Delta's largest hub. Maybe a low fare carrier like JetBlue or Airtran can make it at DFW, Delta couldn't (even though part of that was because they filed for bankruptcy and needed to get rid of some expenses). Hopefully we'll hear soon who those carriers may be.

I was thinking an AirTran connection to Atlanta and/or Orlando is the obvious next addition that could occur if another airline was added. I think it would be tough to add new cities via AirTran. They could have a big impact in keeping fares low as Southwest already does a good job of that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was thinking an AirTran connection to Atlanta and/or Orlando is the obvious next addition that could occur if another airline was added. I think it would be tough to add new cities via AirTran. They could have a big impact in keeping fares low as Southwest already does a good job of that.

I'm betting on United. I'm not sure I like the idea of Airtran coming in and jeopardizing Delta's mainline service in LR, and I'm not sure that LR would want to ruffle SW either with Airtran. Could be wrong though...

As an aside, United use to have mainline service to Denver and Chicago out of LR in the early 90's. Of course, everyone had mainline service in LR at the time, including US Air to Charlotte, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm betting on United. I'm not sure I like the idea of Airtran coming in and jeopardizing Delta's mainline service in LR, and I'm not sure that LR would want to ruffle SW either with Airtran. Could be wrong though...

As an aside, United use to have mainline service to Denver and Chicago out of LR in the early 90's. Of course, everyone had mainline service in LR at the time, including US Air to Charlotte, etc.

I'm not real familiar with United. It would be nice to add them as it might add different destination cities.

AirTran has a hub in Atlanta and is HQ'd there. They could cause problems with Delta, I guess, and that would be bad because you can't link to nearly as many places on AT as Delta.

LR still had U.S. Airways to Charlotte, their main hub, about a year ago and about 1/3 of the time it was the cheapest airline to East Coast destinations. I used them a lot over the last 5 years. Weirdly, US Airways seemed to always be the cheapest or most expensive airline. It was never in the middle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not real familiar with United. It would be nice to add them as it might add different destination cities.

AirTran has a hub in Atlanta and is HQ'd there. They could cause problems with Delta, I guess, and that would be bad because you can't link to nearly as many places on AT as Delta.

LR still had U.S. Airways to Charlotte, their main hub, about a year ago and about 1/3 of the time it was the cheapest airline to East Coast destinations. I used them a lot over the last 5 years. Weirdly, US Airways seemed to always be the cheapest or most expensive airline. It was never in the middle.

Yes, US Air still has service to Charlotte - I was commenting that it used to be mainline service.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not real familiar with United. It would be nice to add them as it might add different destination cities.

AirTran has a hub in Atlanta and is HQ'd there. They could cause problems with Delta, I guess, and that would be bad because you can't link to nearly as many places on AT as Delta.

LR still had U.S. Airways to Charlotte, their main hub, about a year ago and about 1/3 of the time it was the cheapest airline to East Coast destinations. I used them a lot over the last 5 years. Weirdly, US Airways seemed to always be the cheapest or most expensive airline. It was never in the middle.

United is a moderately priced airline, provides flights to Denver, Chicago, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Of course, I could only see Chicago and Denver in the distant future.

I don't think Airtran would cause too many problems with Delta, in fact it could bring healthy competition into the market. Atlanta isn't a final destination city, it's just a hub. Airtran flies a lot to Florida and the Southeast Coast. Now, Airtran could have trouble in the LR marketplace seeing as how Frontier and Southwest are already present.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

United is a moderately priced airline, provides flights to Denver, Chicago, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Of course, I could only see Chicago and Denver in the distant future.

I don't think Airtran would cause too many problems with Delta, in fact it could bring healthy competition into the market. Atlanta isn't a final destination city, it's just a hub. Airtran flies a lot to Florida and the Southeast Coast. Now, Airtran could have trouble in the LR marketplace seeing as how Frontier and Southwest are already present.

What I meant is that AirTran won't add cities you can't already fly to via Delta and Delta links to far more cities in Atlanta than AirTran does.

FYI, AirTran and Southwest signed an alliance agreement and they are phasing in the ability to connect via each other's airlines and use the same gates in some markets. I don't know how that would influence things, but it could.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I meant is that AirTran won't add cities you can't already fly to via Delta and Delta links to far more cities in Atlanta than AirTran does.

FYI, AirTran and Southwest signed an alliance agreement and they are phasing in the ability to connect via each other's airlines and use the same gates in some markets. I don't know how that would influence things, but it could.

You may be talking about the agreement they have with ATA Airlines. Southwest basically bailed out ATA to gain access to cities it doesn't currently fly with a code share agreement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

United is a moderately priced airline, provides flights to Denver, Chicago, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Of course, I could only see Chicago and Denver in the distant future.

I don't think Airtran would cause too many problems with Delta, in fact it could bring healthy competition into the market. Atlanta isn't a final destination city, it's just a hub. Airtran flies a lot to Florida and the Southeast Coast. Now, Airtran could have trouble in the LR marketplace seeing as how Frontier and Southwest are already present.

I have family who work at the airport in LR and after talking to them it is my understanding that United Express will operate flights to Chicao O'Hare and to Denver. Now, that is not in 100% certain yet, however, very good chance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.