Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA)

[burnz34]

I don't think United is dropping off EWR. They've been upgrading the aircraft, and flights have been pretty full. 

[jb1087]

6 hours ago, burnz34 said:

I don't think United is dropping off EWR. They've been upgrading the aircraft, and flights have been pretty full. 

Yeah it was a mis-file of information.  Pretty sure it's still 5 days a week.

[TRB]

My hunch about Spirit continues. In this Bloomberg article, the new CEO (former AirTran CEO) sez be he looking at the Bombardier C Series. That is the closest thing there is to the B 717s that Air Tran used. 100 to 120 seater but now with an incredible layout, range, and full savings to boot. These bad boys can be Transcontinental and darn near Trans Atlantic. It all fits right in with the CEO wanting to go into smaller markets. I hope that XNA lands Spirit even if he goes by his old playbook and services Branson (BKG) too.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-20/spirit-ceo-wants-to-end-airline-s-poor-reputation-for-being-late

 

[jb1087]

3 hours ago, TRB said:

My hunch about Spirit continues. In this Bloomberg article, the new CEO (former AirTran CEO) sez be he looking at the Bombardier C Series. That is the closest thing there is to the B 717s that Air Tran used. 100 to 120 seater but now with an incredible layout, range, and full savings to boot. These bad boys can be Transcontinental and darn near Trans Atlantic. It all fits right in with the CEO wanting to go into smaller markets. I hope that XNA lands Spirit even if he goes by his old playbook and services Branson (BKG) too.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-20/spirit-ceo-wants-to-end-airline-s-poor-reputation-for-being-late

 

Saw that article as well.  Have no idea what they'd actually do with them, but anything at XNA to dent the fares would be welcome  (even in that questionable bumble bee paint scheme ;-p).

I've probably mentioned it on here already, but having Southwest alone doesn't necessarily mean much.  I've shopped fares out of Tulsa and Little Rock on Southwest and the other majors and they aren't that different from XNA, at least to the places I frequent.

Edited June 21, 2016 by jb1087

[TRB]

If Spirit found it's way to XNA, I'd like to see Fort Lauderdale/Miami and  Dallas just for their Latin American connections. I would love to see Orlando just because it flys into MCO and not Stanford.

 

That plane mirrors the 717 in terms of capacity, so you'll see it used in the smaller markets he used them at Air Tran. This guy will target Allegiant's bread and butter.

[jb1087]

19 hours ago, TRB said:

If Spirit found it's way to XNA, I'd like to see Fort Lauderdale/Miami and  Dallas just for their Latin American connections. I would love to see Orlando just because it flys into MCO and not Stanford.

 

That plane mirrors the 717 in terms of capacity, so you'll see it used in the smaller markets he used them at Air Tran. This guy will target Allegiant's bread and butter.

I'm sure American would take issue to both Dallas and Miami, but all the better for fliers if they do and Spirit succeeds.  

Saw an article today that Frontier is looking to double in size in the next 5 years and had to wonder if they'd be a fit for XNA as well.  Though if Spirit struck first, I think Frontier would probably be out unless XNA traffic really started to grow again.

[TRB]

13 hours ago, jb1087 said:

I'm sure American would take issue to both Dallas and Miami, but all the better for fliers if they do and Spirit succeeds.  

Saw an article today that Frontier is looking to double in size in the next 5 years and had to wonder if they'd be a fit for XNA as well.  Though if Spirit struck first, I think Frontier would probably be out unless XNA traffic really started to grow again.

They already do. American has started competing with them at both. Seems, all three majors are offering some sort of basic, stripped down features at lower prices on common routes with the LCCs. 

[jb1087]

8 hours ago, TRB said:

They already do. American has started competing with them at both. Seems, all three majors are offering some sort of basic, stripped down features at lower prices on common routes with the LCCs. 

Oh I just meant if they started at XNA since AA has so much of the market and those are both AA hubs.  AA wouldn't be thrilled to have to offer LCC fares when they have no pressure to now at all.

DL is really struggling on their XNA-LGA flight so far.  Cancelled twice this week.  I took it back to XNA from LGA last week...2+ hours late.  A few days before it was 3+ hours late.  Probably doesn't help that it's the busy summer season, but leaves passengers scrambling to find options late in the day, especially if they're DL-only fliers.

[TRB]

23 minutes ago, jb1087 said:

Oh I just meant if they started at XNA since AA has so much of the market and those are both AA hubs.  AA wouldn't be thrilled to have to offer LCC fares when they have no pressure to now at all.

DL is really struggling on their XNA-LGA flight so far.  Cancelled twice this week.  I took it back to XNA from LGA last week...2+ hours late.  A few days before it was 3+ hours late.  Probably doesn't help that it's the busy summer season, but leaves passengers scrambling to find options late in the day, especially if they're DL-only fliers.

Stuggling as in load factors or just on time/performance issues?

[jb1087]

1 hour ago, TRB said:

Stuggling as in load factors or just on time/performance issues?

On the whole, on time/performance.  I think the LGA-XNA is averaging 70% on-time last time I checked and XNA-LGA is averaging 50%.  That's even giving a 15 minute late buffer.  (So 30% and 50% are more than 15 minutes late.)  And I don't want to use my single flight as an example, but there were probably 20 people on the 65 seat plane.  I'd rather give a lot more weight to the performance than just one load factor example though.  

Edited June 23, 2016 by jb1087

[jb1087]

Returned from a trip yesterday and was given a survey card upon paying for my parking bill.  Was very generic except the last question was about covered parking. Asked if I would 1. pay extra for it, and 2. would I pay $2, $4, or $6 more.  Doubt they'll feel good about building a deck if they get a lot of "no's" or $2 responses.  I was under the impression that covered parking was essentially a done deal anyway, so was a little surprised to see that question.  Obviously they should be charging more for it than for uncovered parking.

Edited October 15, 2016 by jb1087

[all2neat]

At DFW we pay an extra $2 for covered parking at the express lots.

[TRB]

The huge parking deck Memphis built as part of trying to keep Delta (it didn't work) charges 6 bucks a day with a free day after 10 paid days. After years of folks thinking it was a waste, it was nearly full over Labor Day weekend. O&D is exploding in Memphis.

Just an observation.

Talking air travel in general, over the summer Norweigian decided to get Airbus A321neo's with a starting range of 4000nm instead A320s. Airbus expects to bump that up to 4200 to 4300nm around 2019 or 2020 with performance updates after launch. That gives them a single aisle with 220 seats that gives them a perfect sized bird for mid market TATL travel, especially on a 2 to 3 times a week type of schedule. Boeing is going to wish they has updated the 757 instead of droppong it. This will give a plane for the Heartland instead of 787s on the coasts. I can easily see these in Memphis, OKC, and Kansas City on a seasonal basis and at sub $500 r/t fares to boot. How will XNA respond if folks make sub 4 hr drives to fly to international destinations instead of connecting thru a traditional hub? 

You are seeing insanely cheap fares via foriegn carriers, i'v seen 500 dollar r/t fares to Beijing from Chicago during the summer this year.

 

I got an email update for Tokyo flights on Singapore from LA for 489 r/t. The trick is getting to LA cheap, usually from Dallas via Virgin America.

Edited October 16, 2016 by TRB

[burnz34]

American Eagle is starting flights to regan National (DCA) starting April 5th. The flight will depart in the morning from XNA and will return at night.

[Architect]

On June 23, 2016 at 5:40 PM, jb1087 said:

On the whole, on time/performance.  I think the LGA-XNA is averaging 70% on-time last time I checked and XNA-LGA is averaging 50%.  That's even giving a 15 minute late buffer.  (So 30% and 50% are more than 15 minutes late.)  And I don't want to use my single flight as an example, but there were probably 20 people on the 65 seat plane.  I'd rather give a lot more weight to the performance than just one load factor example though.  

Interesting metrics.  AA dropped LIT-LGA last year when load factors were right at 65%...they said it wasn't good enough.  I found that pretty odd...actually, I found that number to be pretty good given that AA never promoted the non-stop flight(s).

[jb1087]

Looks like that starting in June, Delta will pull all of the CRJs that don't have a first class cabin from service to XNA.  They'll all be replaced with bigger models.  Seems to result in a 10% increase in seats for the summer...about 15% in the fall.  Generally that kind of upgauging results in fewer flights, but they've kept the same amount of flights afterwards.  Pretty nice development for XNA fliers, regardless of what class you normally choose.

On a personal note, will make me look harder at connections through Minneapolis, especially when going west.  

[TRB]

On 2/19/2017 at 10:09 AM, jb1087 said:

Looks like that starting in June, Delta will pull all of the CRJs that don't have a first class cabin from service to XNA.  They'll all be replaced with bigger models.  Seems to result in a 10% increase in seats for the summer...about 15% in the fall.  Generally that kind of upgauging results in fewer flights, but they've kept the same amount of flights afterwards.  Pretty nice development for XNA fliers, regardless of what class you normally choose.

On a personal note, will make me look harder at connections through Minneapolis, especially when going west.  

I have young teens and ad we plan on a few out of country trips, I look at the Minny connection opportunities via Delta, most our pond jumping flights leave late and are red eyes so that 11am-ish Minny flight gives you 5+ hours for them to burn energy at the MOA with the very quick train between the two in helping them get some rest on the way over.

[Sammy00]

Speaking of, XNA just posted its best January on record.

Stats

[jb1087]

6 hours ago, TRB said:

I have young teens and ad we plan on a few out of country trips, I look at the Minny connection opportunities via Delta, most our pond jumping flights leave late and are red eyes so that 11am-ish Minny flight gives you 5+ hours for them to burn energy at the MOA with the very quick train between the two in helping them get some rest on the way over.

Lol, wouldn't have thought of that, but good point!

[TRB]

12 hours ago, jb1087 said:

Lol, wouldn't have thought of that, but good point!

There's a two connection route that pops up from time to time at fare of around 800 bucks per person on the front end of and open jaw trip.

It is XNA to Minny to Amsterdam to Copenhagen. You leave here at 11:10 get to Minny and you have a 81/2 layover for the MOA then a overnight to Amsterdam where you have a 7 hour layover from late morning to evening that gives you about 5 hrs to do something then to Copenhagen for the night to crash.

That routing seems to get fairly cheap from time to time. It also puts you in a airport that is fairly cheap to fly from via Europe's LCC airlines like Norwegian and Easyjet. The back end of that it energy is leaving from London or Paris.

 

Norwegian is about to start bombarding the US with low cost TATLs, 2019 looks to be the ayear for afull frontal assault after they have already entered large coastal airports. I wouldn't be shocked to see them hit Memphis and Kansas City by 2020 especially if the A321LRs they have ordered really do have a 4000nm range they start doing TATL like Allegiant does domestic leasure routes, twice weeklys on a seasonal basis that may grow to year round or more frequencies.

Edited February 21, 2017 by TRB

[TRB]

On 2/19/2017 at 10:09 AM, jb1087 said:

Looks like that starting in June, Delta will pull all of the CRJs that don't have a first class cabin from service to XNA.  They'll all be replaced with bigger models.  Seems to result in a 10% increase in seats for the summer...about 15% in the fall.  Generally that kind of upgauging results in fewer flights, but they've kept the same amount of flights afterwards.  Pretty nice development for XNA fliers, regardless of what class you normally choose.

On a personal note, will make me look harder at connections through Minneapolis, especially when going west.  

Delta is dropping frequencies to atlanta from 6 to 5 in April, so there you go.

Love for all 5 of those being a 717 or one of the new CS100s in the future. That should be a good goal, 100 seater mainines to Atlanta.

[wmr]

New monthly and YTD numbers out today for XNA.  It looks like it will definitely be another record year.

Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) in Highfill, the second-largest airport in the state, totaled 263,484 in January-May, up 4.79% from 251,427 in the year-ago period. May enplanements totaled 61,847, up 1.4% from 60,977 enplanements in May 2016.

http://talkbusiness.net/2017/07/arkansas-transportation-report-year-to-date-traffic-up-at-arkansas-three-largest-airports/

 

Where is that discount carrier???

Edited July 5, 2017 by wmr

[TRB]

26 minutes ago, wmr said:

New monthly and YTD numbers out today for XNA.  It looks like it will definitely be another record year.

 

 

http://talkbusiness.net/2017/07/arkansas-transportation-report-year-to-date-traffic-up-at-arkansas-three-largest-airports/

 

Where is that discount carrier???

Hell, if I know. Why is Allegiant so stagnant on new routes? 

 

My Niece is starting at Purdue in the fall. They have done comparision pricing and flying out of Tulsa to Indy or Chicago seems to be their preferred way of transit over XNA pricing. 

 

[RemusCal]

I have heard that AA is has been taking over space intentionally at XNA to block a potential discount airliner from coming in.  I don't understand why the board at XNA just pushes back.  XNA is losing so many travelers to Tulsa.

I'm surprised Walmart hasn't put their foot down and said they demand one for lower prices on Biz travel.  All in all, there is no reason our air ticket prices should be as high as they are.  And we need a discount airliner pronto!

[Sammy00]

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine at Walmart - not based in Bentonville.

Loves the town, has come down numerous times for business. He's toying with the idea of transferring to NWA, but he can't even get his significant other to visit. 

"I can't convince him to tag along when he can visit Paris for the same price."

 

Edited July 17, 2017 by Sammy00