Grand Rapids Airport (GRR) News and Developments

[egrguy]

Question, does anyone remember the last route a legacy carrier added?

[BLUESCRUBS]

Maybe American Airlines GRR to MIA??

[GR8scott]

1 hour ago, egrguy said:

Question, does anyone remember the last route a legacy carrier added?

PHX seasonal on AA was added this year but looks like it only ran for a couple of months, wish that one would be year around. Delta and United have been pretty intact with their destinations for a while and other than Delta adding Bos and perhaps swapping for JFK and allowing AA to have LGA doubt we’ll see any changes but long shot would be Delta adding SLC, SEA or LAX. AA has made a lot of changes and looks like the swapped the full size route to DFW with CLT the downgraded back to American Eagle so no year around mainliners with them right now.

 

The airport really does seem like it’s in a transition right now and they are also marketing a lot so hopefully gaining people who look to use other airports. However there still a void on the West Coast which is much less traffic than Florida but looking for a round-trip between San Diego there’s a lot more cheaper options through Detroit and Chicago right now.  If allegiant would do the LAX route I would have considered that too 

[kwl]

3 hours ago, GR8scott said:

PHX seasonal on AA was added this year but looks like it only ran for a couple of months, wish that one would be year around. Delta and United have been pretty intact with their destinations for a while and other than Delta adding Bos and perhaps swapping for JFK and allowing AA to have LGA doubt we’ll see any changes but long shot would be Delta adding SLC, SEA or LAX. AA has made a lot of changes and looks like the swapped the full size route to DFW with CLT the downgraded back to American Eagle so no year around mainliners with them right now.

 

The airport really does seem like it’s in a transition right now and they are also marketing a lot so hopefully gaining people who look to use other airports. However there still a void on the West Coast which is much less traffic than Florida but looking for a round-trip between San Diego there’s a lot more cheaper options through Detroit and Chicago right now.  If allegiant would do the LAX route I would have considered that too 

Problem with DAL is that we're right in the middle of a ~25-40 minute flight from connecting to probably 95% of their destinations (MSP & DTW). I think the switch from LGA -> JFK could only happen if it meant opening up more international destinations since I can imagine the landing fees are much higher there. SLC, SEA, and LAX couldn't really be accessed via RJ which is a huge component of legacy carriers business through the airport anyways. 

Although MSP and DTW are a pain in the ass because there is no cabin service, the elimination of the MD-88/90s over the past year has made the trips a lot more enjoyable. If there is one thing I'd hope for as part of the airport evolution it's the addition of another airline like JetBlue, Moxy (upstart), or Air Canada connection. 

[arcturus]

Passenger traffic continues its torrid pace, on target for 3.5 mil.

https://www.grr.org/PDFs/stats0519.pdf

[arcturus]

 

[HavingAhoot]

41 minutes ago, arcturus said:

 

Lets keep our fingers crossed for JetBlue or Alaskan. My guess would be on spirit tho. Hope to get a SF, Boston, LA, or San Diego.

Edited August 27, 2019 by HavingAhoot

[BLUESCRUBS]

https://fox17online.com/2019/08/27/airport-to-announce-expansion-new-airline/

 

Also mentions a $90 million expansion as well. Wondering if this is in addition to the projects already underway.

[kwl]

Jet Blue. 

[GR8scott]

8 minutes ago, BLUESCRUBS said:

https://fox17online.com/2019/08/27/airport-to-announce-expansion-new-airline/

 

Also mentions a $90 million expansion as well. Wondering if this is in addition to the projects already underway.

Any expansion is a win in my book but a little surprising given all the added destinations recently and still a few holes the current airlines don’t cover. My guess is either return of Air Canada Express to Toronto or possibly Alaska to Seattle which seems to be expanding eastward to midsized markets. Jet Blue to Boston and JFK would be awesome and really complete eastern US route offerings. I think Spirit is less likely given GRR is sandwiched between 2 of their focus cities in DTE and ORD they would probably only offer more Florida service.

 

The $90 mil project mention makes me wonder if it’s part of something bigger such as new customs for international destinations or a cargo airline / buildings such as Amazon or DHL?

[kwl]

43 minutes ago, GR8scott said:

Any expansion is a win in my book but a little surprising given all the added destinations recently and still a few holes the current airlines don’t cover. My guess is either return of Air Canada Express to Toronto or possibly Alaska to Seattle which seems to be expanding eastward to midsized markets. Jet Blue to Boston and JFK would be awesome and really complete eastern US route offerings. I think Spirit is less likely given GRR is sandwiched between 2 of their focus cities in DTE and ORD they would probably only offer more Florida service.

 

The $90 mil project mention makes me wonder if it’s part of something bigger such as new customs for international destinations or a cargo airline / buildings such as Amazon or DHL?

Agree on Spirit. Seems like it would be brutal to compete with an already saturated ultra-low cost carrier lineup that’s pretty much servicing every existing destination for that demo. 

I think JetBlue makes sense because they’re aggressively attacking DAL and have ambitions to launch international service. They also have a fleet of E-175s which would allow they to effectively service GRR from BOS/JFK. 

Alaska would feel like a stretch to be honest. Servicing GRR from the WC would require a pretty big plane and I’m unsure if we’re at the point where demand is there  

 

[GRDadof3]

10 hours ago, BLUESCRUBS said:

https://fox17online.com/2019/08/27/airport-to-announce-expansion-new-airline/

 

Also mentions a $90 million expansion as well. Wondering if this is in addition to the projects already underway.

$90 Million is huge. It sounds like the new airline and the expansion are not necessarily related. Moving up some of the expansion plans we saw earlier this year?

[destijl]

The new airline is probably good news for people wanting to fly to Milwaukee (just my guess). The expansion is the bigger news, IMO.

[GR8scott]

5 hours ago, destijl said:

The new airline is probably good news for people wanting to fly to Milwaukee (just my guess). The expansion is the bigger news, IMO.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.woodtv.com/news/kent-county/ford-airport-teases-expansion-new-airline/amp/

sounds like you may be right about Milwaukee as a destination on a new airline....that would be underwhelming since so many of those fail but sounds like the expansion project will extend/add 8 gates to concourse A. 

[ChevalierNoir]

8 hours ago, destijl said:

The new airline is probably good news for people wanting to fly to Milwaukee (just my guess). The expansion is the bigger news, IMO.

https://fox6now.com/2019/08/27/midwest-express-ready-to-announce-initial-flight-destinations-on-wednesday-aug-28/

Latest news from Milwaukee... Midwest Express is coming back and announcing their first routes on... August 28th.

[walker]

Because the big lake makes it a hard drive, Milwaukee–Grand Rapids is a good route choice for a new small airline.  I’d rather Grand Rapids be the hub than Milwaukee but since it’s not my airline, I don’t get to choose. 

While GRR has gained a number of desirable new mostly vacation routes the last few years, it has also lost several less glamorous nearby business destinations because of loss of hubs caused by airline consolidation and because higher fuel prices have made smaller aircraft not so profitable.  I’m thinking of Milwaukee for sure but also Cleveland, Pittsburg, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and maybe Indianapolis.  Back when I used to travel on business, I’d hit all of these.  The trick with these relatively nearby but still farther than you want to drive destinations is that you need frequency (at least three or four trips a day) but still enough non-hub connecting point-to-point demand to spread over that many flights.

Still, I can’t help thinking this will be marginal unless they can generate a decent amount of hub connection activity and fuel remains cheap.  At the moment I think they can pick up a lot of fifty-seat used aircraft cheap that are sitting out in the desert.   
 

[GR_Urbanist]

I dont get it. Was all of this hype just for a puddle-jumper flight to Wisconsin? Are we still waiting for an official announcement?

[joeDowntown]

When I read Midwest express, their old jingle immediately popped into my head. I barely remember Midwest express, and never realized my brain decided to hold on to this little “gem” of a jingle.

im excited to hear about the expansion. 

Joe

[ChevalierNoir]

29 minutes ago, GR_Urbanist said:

I dont get it. Was all of this hype just for a puddle-jumper flight to Wisconsin? Are we still waiting for an official announcement?

The airport has two announcements today. One right now is supposed to be about the $90M expansion. Number two at 1:30 will be about the "new airline" which hasn't been officially announced yet but by inference based on the Milwaukee announcement later this morning will be the rebirthed Midwest Express.

Edited August 28, 2019 by ChevalierNoir
Wrong time was posted for airline announcement

[GRDadof3]

Adding 8 gates to concourse A would go along (somewhat) with part of these expansion plans that we saw earlier this year in the long-range growth plans. It will actually start to feel like a real airport.   Concourse A would be about 1000 feet long (or 3 football fields) by my rough math. 

[mpchicago]

1 hour ago, joeDowntown said:

When I read Midwest express, their old jingle immediately popped into my head. I barely remember Midwest express, and never realized my brain decided to hold on to this little “gem” of a jingle.

im excited to hear about the expansion. 

Joe

"The best care in the air....Midwest Express."  

[joeDowntown]

Midwest Express is confirmed. Also, I snapped this from Wood TV's twitter account.

Looks like new (moved) control tower, expanded concourse A (8 new gates), FIS (Federal Inspection Station), which will allow flights to Mexico, etc.  

Unfortunately, you can't read it all, but it looks like there may be more "amenities".

Joe

 

 

 

[walker]

2 minutes ago, joeDowntown said:

 

Unfortunately, you can't read it all, but it looks like there may be more "amenities".

Joe

Here it is:

https://www.grr.org/PDFs/NRs/nrProjectElevate.pdf

 

[kwl]

Confirmed Elite Airways CRJ-200 is scheduled to arrive at GRR this afternoon. Midwest Express is using Elite’s planes through an existing agreement. 

[cstonesparty]

Didn't they just finish renovating the concourses?