Grand Rapids Airport (GRR) News and Developments

[GR8scott]

Look at it this way.  Say you and your competitor both make widgets that should sell for $10. If you can sell all you can make for $9, why would you sell them for $5 just to make your customers happy?

 

As long as SW can fill their planes at a small discount to Delta and United, they are still the "low cost" carrier and doing well

 

Yes, it makes no business sense to have 3 more airports within 60 miles of GRR

Why pick on us for the higher prices?

 

As far as 3 other commercial airports in the area, 2 of them are a necessity LAN being the capitol, center of the state and a very large D1 university, there will always be a need. AZO has a large business center as well as a D1 university caters to that crowd that are less concerned about price and more about convenience  MKG on the other hand less of a necessity but only offers one flight option, not much of a draw away from GRR. But I think if GRR was placed on the NW side of town there would absolutely be no need for MKG. Look at a state like PA which is littered with commercial serviced airports for towns you've probably never heard of. 

[trongrr]

I just wish that The Parking Spot people would come into the market, but we don't have enough traffic to support their operation.  That long-term rate is just plain painful when you get back from a 5-day trip ($65.00).  I could have parked in the nether-regions lot, but coming back from Florida to a non-snow buried car is a good thing.

[Veloise]

Back when I lived in the 313, and shortly after my on-bike tools were confiscated by high-school graduates TSA, I found out that the Wayne County Airport Authority holds an annual rummage sale of their "collections."

 

Do we have one such in Kent County?

 

thanks!

[trongrr]

RE: Auctions of confiscated stuff

 

Each state in the USA does their own thing - in Michigan, the DTMB auctions off the TSA haul. 

[walker]

. . .  It just goes to show that SW is not THAT cheap and having them here might not drive down prices as much as people think, although I hope otherwise. 

 

Maybe not comparable to GRR because of the size difference, but Atlanta was hoping for lower fares when Southwest moved in and it didn't much happen:

 

http://www.ajc.com/news/business/southwest-effect-muted-in-carriers-first-year-in-a/nWLbn/

[arcturus]

Frontier Airlines axing Grand Rapids.  Hard to compete against the Southwest Air juggernaut.

 

 http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2013/04/02/frontier-will-avoid-southwest-pull-out-of-grand-rapids/2045193/

[Explorer55]

I live in Denver and have always flown to/from GRR on United.  I try to fly Frontier when I can, but the time options for the flights to GRR were awful.  If I recall correctly, I couldn't get to GRR until 11:30 pm.  That's a bit late for me or for whomever would pick me up.  I was also concerned whether I could rent a car that late at night when I would arrive.

 

The price differential wasn't that great, either.  I doubt I'll fly SW.  I've often found that the flights I want to take aren't that cheap when checking out SW vs. other airlines.  And I don't like the standing in line or paying extra to get a decent seat (via the early check in option), either.  I know United often gets dissed, but all in all, I know what I'm getting with UA, and usually that means flights at times I want to fly and a seat I want to sit in without a lot of hassle.  Plus, because I have the Explorer card, I don't have to pay for a checked bag.  I know, I sound like an ad for UA!

[GR8scott]

I live in Denver and have always flown to/from GRR on United.  I try to fly Frontier when I can, but the time options for the flights to GRR were awful.  If I recall correctly, I couldn't get to GRR until 11:30 pm.  That's a bit late for me or for whomever would pick me up.  I was also concerned whether I could rent a car that late at night when I would arrive.

 

The price differential wasn't that great, either.  I doubt I'll fly SW.  I've often found that the flights I want to take aren't that cheap when checking out SW vs. other airlines.  And I don't like the standing in line or paying extra to get a decent seat (via the early check in option), either.  I know United often gets dissed, but all in all, I know what I'm getting with UA, and usually that means flights at times I want to fly and a seat I want to sit in without a lot of hassle.  Plus, because I have the Explorer card, I don't have to pay for a checked bag.  I know, I sound like an ad for UA!

 

Ive flown both airlines on that route and the frontier usually worked better with my schedule when I lived in Denver. It also has tv and lower fares, never had a problem with them. As for SW, they tend to be higher priced than Frontier and I dont like the whole pick your seat thing on the plane so I would refer United over SW  but this probably just means higher prices on that route with SW replacing Frontier, bad news

[joeDowntown]

I liked Frontier. It's unfortunate, but it sounds like they're contracting in general and it may be more of a competitive disadvantage than GRR itself. The flights to Denver were always full (and they had a great GRR -> DEN -> SFO flight). You will be missed.

 

Joe

[arcturus]

You have probably seen SW Air is starting to advertise their service starting shortly at GR.  I'm a bit disappointed with their first leg, non stop options but then again considering we're wedged between Detroit & Chicago it's not surprising.  So far I haven't seen fares all that better either but having more options is certainly nice.  Anyone booked flights yet?  Comments?

[joeDowntown]

I booked a flight to Denver for September. Round trip for $249. I thought it was a pretty good deal!

 

Joe

 

You have probably seen SW Air is starting to advertise their service starting shortly at GR.  I'm a bit disappointed with their first leg, non stop options but then again considering we're wedged between Detroit & Chicago it's not surprising.  So far I haven't seen fares all that better either but having more options is certainly nice.  Anyone booked flights yet?  Comments?

[GR8scott]

250 rd trip is no better than Frontier

 

in more bad news.....also noticed air canada will be ending flight to Toronto

[organsnyder]

Southwest isn't really a budget carrier anymore - they're a full-featured carrier that tends to be reasonably priced (and doesn't nickel-and-dime for extras).

[wingbert]

250 rd trip is no better than Frontier

 

in more bad news.....also noticed air canada will be ending flight to Toronto

 

Does that mean it will no longer be called Gerald R. Ford International Airport?

[RegalTDP]

Does that mean it will no longer be called Gerald R. Ford International Airport?

 

An airport is "international" as long as it's equipped to accommodate an international flight (i.e. it has immigration and customs facilities), which still applies to GRR, even without scheduled service.

 

General aviation and charter flights can still fly internationally out of there, AFAIK.

Edited August 1, 2013 by RegalTDP

[GR8scott]

An airport is "international" as long as it is equipped to accommodate an international flight (i.e. it has immigrations and customs facilities), which still applies to GRR, even without scheduled service.

 

General aviation and charter flights can still fly internationally out of there, AFAIK.

Right, in fact it seems MOST "International" airports in the US do not have direct flights internationally only an on-site customs and in Michigan theres Flint, Lansing, Saginaw, Traverse, Sault ste marie, even Oakland county with no commercial flights is "International" 

[joeDowntown]

That doesn't mean it isn't a good price. Frontier was a good airline. They had a good flight from GRR>DEN>SFO. Kind of bummed they moved out of town but it's obvious they don't want to go head-to-head with Southwest.

 

Joe

 

250 rd trip is no better than Frontier

 

in more bad news.....also noticed air canada will be ending flight to Toronto

[walker]

A press conference at the airport Monday, May 5, will announce new non-stop service twice daily between Grand Rapids and Charlotte on American Airlines commuter contractor PSA (I would guess under the American Connect name.)  The service will start September 3.  Also service will be announced to and from Philadelphia, I don't know any details about the Philadelphia service. 

 

http://nc.jansaviation.com/news.php?art=charlotte-to-be-connected-to-michigan-city  

 

As very old time frequent flyers may remember, there used to be full size jet once a day service to Charlotte from Grand Rapids on US Air around twenty years ago and multiple commuter flights to Philadelphia on US Air Express that ended about ten years ago when US Air pulled out of GRR.  Charlotte and Philadelphia were hubs of US Air and continue to be a hubs for the new American Airlines, which is the bankrupt American merged with US Air.

 

So that's the good news.  The bad news which they have not as far as I know called a news conference to announce is that Grand Rapids will be losing its non-stops to and from Cleveland on United Express no later than June 5.  Cleveland was a hub for Continental Airlines.  When Continental merged with United the Cleveland hub became considered redundant and Cleveland is in the process of being de-hubbed by United.  In some cases the dropped flights to and from some cities and Cleveland have been picked up by other airlines.  As far as I know, no other airline is picking up GRR-CLE flights, but I don't know everything so who knows?  

 

EDIT: here's some additional details about the Philadelphia service -

 

http://pa.jansaviation.com/news.php?art=philadelphia-to-be-connected-to-michigan-city    

Edited May 4, 2014 by walker

[jas49503]

so how many different direct destinations do we have now?  I was surprised to be able to go to Dallas recently.

[Veloise]

so how many different direct destinations do we have now?  I was surprised to be able to go to Dallas recently.

There're also direct flights to Houston, and Atlanta.

[MJLO]

It's good to see the US Air hubs being brought back to GR,   I wish we could get service to the US Air fortress hub at PHX.

[GR8scott]

there have been direct flights to Dallas, Houston and ATL for years but its great news to see returned service to CTL and PHL and possibly Washington national now? at least that was mentioned a while ago when Delta traded slots there and US merged into American. PHX seems natural, I mean Des Moines has that service. 

[walker]

so how many different direct destinations do we have now?  I was surprised to be able to go to Dallas recently.

 

Here's a nice map that shows and lists the current non-stop destinations:

 

http://www.grr.org/DestCarry.php 

 

It's a little more impressive than the reality though since all the Allegiant flights are only twice a week and almost all the Florida destinations are seasonal. 

[GRDadof3]

I looked into flying to Denver recently and it was GRR > ORD > Cleveland!!! > Denver. I refuse to go backwards when I'm traveling. And it was still about $580 not including bags.

 

Spirit Airlines out of Detroit to Denver was $329/round.

[organsnyder]

I looked into flying to Denver recently and it was GRR > ORD > Cleveland!!! > Denver. I refuse to go backwards when I'm traveling. And it was still about $580 not including bags.

 

Spirit Airlines out of Detroit to Denver was $329/round.

Did you look at Southwest? I just put together a roundtrip, nonstop both ways, for $373. Since this was just an exercise, I was just looking for cheap fares - the dates didn't matter - but I didn't have to pick any strange times or anything.