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Update.......Little Rock National Airport.


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Sweet! Have they recently added (more) mainline flights?

Yes, I assume. Our flight was on a DC-9 to Memphis. There was a MD-88 going to ATL. There was also another mainline but I'm not sure where it was going...

I have heard on airliners.net that Delta plans to upgrade the Detroit (DTW) flight to mainline, so it could have been to DTW.

Pretty exciting!

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Yes, I assume. Our flight was on a DC-9 to Memphis. There was a MD-88 going to ATL. There was also another mainline but I'm not sure where it was going...

I have heard on airliners.net that Delta plans to upgrade the Detroit (DTW) flight to mainline, so it could have been to DTW.

Pretty exciting!

That would be fantastic if the DTW flight is upgraded to mainline.

Hopefully AA will be able to move back to mainline this year (after canceling the plan last year to bring it back this past spring).

Yes, I assume. Our flight was on a DC-9 to Memphis. There was a MD-88 going to ATL. There was also another mainline but I'm not sure where it was going...

I have heard on airliners.net that Delta plans to upgrade the Detroit (DTW) flight to mainline, so it could have been to DTW.

Pretty exciting!

BTW, I love airliners.net...I frequent that site quite often!

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  • 3 weeks later...

With Southwest & Airtran looking to hook up, i bet we will see a couple new cities pop up from LIT! The big news in relation to LIT is that southwest will now have a smaller plane to fly in and out of "smaller" airports like Little Rock. The 717 seats about 115 vs a 737 which seats about 150 or so. I think that this means that places like Orlando, Atlanta, Kansas city, etc are all possible from LIT because of the new aircraft! But on the other hand, you might see a downgrade in shorter routes like St. Louis and Dallas. There other thing to worry about is now that southwest has a station in Memphis, what does this mean for Little Rock?

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Those renderings for the new addition to LIT are awesome! Has such a modern/contemporary feel... love it! I never knew how close the airport was to downtown either, pretty cool. I saw that news about Airtran the other day as well since Branson has Airtran flights. It would be awesome to have Southwest flying out of Branson and hopefully Springfield soon.

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  • 1 month later...

As the announcement for the beginning of the redevelopment of LIT was taking place yesterday, I found this interested website. Complete with a video showing off the airport's future look.

I really liked the walk-through. The renderings were very nice, but the walk-through let me get a better idea for their vision for the finished product.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I received an email today from Little Rock National Airport announcing the return of American Airlines mainline MD-80 service beginning in April of '11. The current 10 daily regional jet flights will be replace by 6 daily flights - 3 mainline and 3 regional.

As you recall, a similar annoucement was made last year regarding mainline service beginning in April of '10, and it was pulled at the last minute, presumably due to shortage of aircraft. The fact that it's now a reality for this year is a testament to the airport and this market.

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I received an email today from Little Rock National Airport announcing the return of American Airlines mainline MD-80 service beginning in April of '11. The current 10 daily regional jet flights will be replace by 6 daily flights - 3 mainline and 3 regional.

As you recall, a similar annoucement was made last year regarding mainline service beginning in April of '10, and it was pulled at the last minute, presumably due to shortage of aircraft. The fact that it's now a reality for this year is a testament to the airport and this market.

My original attempt to post this afternoon failed, but this was the post:

Mainline service from American returns for DFW!

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2010/dec/10/american-resume-mainline-service-lr/

"American to resume mainline service in LR

American Airlines will bring back mainline air service between Little Rock National Airport and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in 2011, the airline announced Friday.

The mainline service will increase capacity to 620 seats per day from 465. The number of flights will decrease from 10 to six. Three flights per day will be aboard MD-80s.

Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

Thank you for coming to the Web site of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. We're working to keep you informed with the latest breaking news."

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Great news about AA! Great news for Little Rock also. Heavy metal is so much better than the barbie jets we get!

I think 3 mainline, 3 eagle is perfect.

Would love to see them throw a mainline on the Chicago route also, but that maybe asking for too much.

It seems that Delta has taken some of their mainline away though, I'm pretty sure that Memphis is now all regional jets. Such a big downgrade from the A-319/320's we use to get from Northwest. ATL could use some more heavy metal as well.

Should be interesting to watch the whole Southwest & Airtran merger. I bet we see some B717's on the Dallas route. I would love to see them open up more markets from Little Rock: maybe Orlando, Atlanta, Nashville, Denver, etc.

Same goes for the United and Continental merger. They now serve Denver, Houston, Chicago & NYC(Newark).

Wow, in a little over 2 years, we have gone from American eagle , United express, Delta, Southwest, Frontier, Northwest, USA Airways & Continental to just American/American Eagle, United Express, Delta/Delta Express, Southwest & US Airways Express. We only lost Frontier.

As for Destinations: we lost Orlando, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, D.C. and Minneapolis.

My Hope:

American: Miami on eagle

United: Maybe LAX, Bring Back D.C.

US Airways: Philly(Northeast hub) or Phoenix(Their west hub)

Delta: Salt Lake City, Minneapolis and NYC

Southwest: New Markets

Maybe bring in Republic Airways(Frontier & Midwest Air ) to Kansas City.

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  • 1 month later...

An article in today's Democrat-Gazette says that a new airline into Little Rock will be announced Tuesday as part of the airline's expansion into 20 new markets. The flight or flights would add a new direct-flight city to Little Rock National. The airport would not disclose the airline until the announcement is made Tuesday by the airline. Any speculation? My guess would be JetBlue. Any other thoughts?

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An article in today's Democrat-Gazette says that a new airline into Little Rock will be announced Tuesday as part of the airline's expansion into 20 new markets. The flight or flights would add a new direct-flight city to Little Rock National. The airport would not disclose the airline until the announcement is made Tuesday by the airline. Any speculation? My guess would be JetBlue. Any other thoughts?

Wow...hadn't read the paper yet. This certainly sounds like great news!!

As far as speculation, before SWA bought them, I would have guessed AirTran, or perhaps the return of Frontier. I also would have said JetBlue would be out of the question (generally larger markets/east coast), but there just aren't that many choices anymore with all of the consolidation, so who knows! Surely not Virgin America?! JetBlue would be a total coup.

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Hmmm..did some online research...could be Vision Airlines, which is trying to mimic the Allegiant Air business model, which is weekly service for recreational travel. It's based in Las Vegas.

p.s. The newspaper article states service will be on 737's.

Yeah, they're expanding into several markets in the southeast including Greenville-Spartanburg and Knoxville with an announcement next Tuesday. They have a headquarters office in Atlanta also. Looks like the majority of flights will be to Florida and they'll utilize Boeing 737-200ER, 737-800, and 737-300/400 aircraft to do this. Apparently they received major financing from somebody (not sure who) recently which is how they're able to announce and implement this major expansion.

Edited by citylife
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I'm thinking it could be Allegiant Airlines. They currently serve Springfield (MO), XNA, Shreveport and many other similar-sized airports.

From Springfield, they offer flights to Las Vegas (Monday and Friday), Los Angeles (Monday and Friday), Orlando (Monday and Friday), Phoenix (Sunday and Thursday) and St. Petersburg (Sunday and Thursday).

From XNA, they offer flights to Las Vegas (Sunday and Thursday flights), Los Angeles (Sunday and Thursday flights), Orlando (Friday and Monday flights) and Phoenix (Wednesday and Saturday flights).

From Shreveport, they offer flights to Las Vegas (Sunday and Thursday flights) only.

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I'm thinking it could be Allegiant Airlines. They currently serve Springfield (MO), XNA, Shreveport and many other similar-sized airports.

From Springfield, they offer flights to Las Vegas (Monday and Friday), Los Angeles (Monday and Friday), Orlando (Monday and Friday), Phoenix (Sunday and Thursday) and St. Petersburg (Sunday and Thursday).

From XNA, they offer flights to Las Vegas (Sunday and Thursday flights), Los Angeles (Sunday and Thursday flights), Orlando (Friday and Monday flights) and Phoenix (Wednesday and Saturday flights).

From Shreveport, they offer flights to Las Vegas (Sunday and Thursday flights) only.

It could be Allegiant, but they typically serve smaller airports (like you mentioned), and I'd always assumed that if they were interested in LIT, they'd have already been here. According to what I've uncovered, I'm 90% sure it will be Vision.

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I'm thinking it could be Allegiant Airlines. They currently serve Springfield (MO), XNA, Shreveport and many other similar-sized airports.

From Springfield, they offer flights to Las Vegas (Monday and Friday), Los Angeles (Monday and Friday), Orlando (Monday and Friday), Phoenix (Sunday and Thursday) and St. Petersburg (Sunday and Thursday).

From XNA, they offer flights to Las Vegas (Sunday and Thursday flights), Los Angeles (Sunday and Thursday flights), Orlando (Friday and Monday flights) and Phoenix (Wednesday and Saturday flights).

From Shreveport, they offer flights to Las Vegas (Sunday and Thursday flights) only.

It could be Allegiant, but they typically serve smaller airports (like you mentioned), and I'd always assumed that if they were interested in LIT, they'd have already been here. According to what I've uncovered, I'm 90% sure it will be Vision.

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I have read many things online that say that Vision will announce LIT along with a bunch of other southern cities tomorrow. It looks like it will be non-stop service to Destin/Fort Walton 3x a week. 737 service. It will be very similar to Allegiant Airlines.

While IMO its not the best because who knows if this route will be around in 3 months or so. Im hoping it sticks around.

Still really excited though about AA mainline.

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As expected, you all were right. The article from the announcement is linked below.

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2011/jan/18/airline-fly-nonstop-florida-20110118/

Excerpt:

Airline to fly nonstop to Florida

Vision Airlines plans LR-Destin service, vacation deals

LITTLE ROCK — Vision Airlines says it will begin nonstop service between Little Rock and Northwest Florida Regional Airport near Destin with three flights per week in each direction in early spring.

Vision will phase in flights to the Florida panhandle from 20 cities, including Little Rock, beginning March 25. Vision’s flights from Little Rock will operate Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with rates starting at $89 each way. A special through Sunday puts the price at $49 each way, according to a news release dated today.

Beginning in April, travelers will also be able to continue on to Orlando from Little Rock, with a stop at Destin.

The flight to Destin will be the only nonstop flight from Little Rock to Florida. Delta Airlines ended a nonstop flight to Orlando in June 2008.

....

The rest at the link.

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As expected, you all were right. The article from the announcement is linked below.

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2011/jan/18/airline-fly-nonstop-florida-20110118/

Excerpt:

Airline to fly nonstop to Florida

Vision Airlines plans LR-Destin service, vacation deals

LITTLE ROCK — Vision Airlines says it will begin nonstop service between Little Rock and Northwest Florida Regional Airport near Destin with three flights per week in each direction in early spring.

Vision will phase in flights to the Florida panhandle from 20 cities, including Little Rock, beginning March 25. Vision’s flights from Little Rock will operate Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with rates starting at $89 each way. A special through Sunday puts the price at $49 each way, according to a news release dated today.

Beginning in April, travelers will also be able to continue on to Orlando from Little Rock, with a stop at Destin.

The flight to Destin will be the only nonstop flight from Little Rock to Florida. Delta Airlines ended a nonstop flight to Orlando in June 2008.

....

The rest at the link.

This will be a nice, added option for travelers/vacationers (in fact, a relative of mine already booked flights for this summer). However, I really wish Southwest would provide direct Orlando service like they do out of Jackson, MS (and other similar markets).

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  • 2 weeks later...

I wounder if southwest will move some of Airtrans 717's into Little Rock. This would be the perfect aircraft for an Orlando flight. But honestly, If Jackson Miss can support an Orlando flight, so can LIT.

I would also think that they will add Atlanta. It will be interesting to see what happens.

I still want my LAX flight. UA/CO please?

Im kind of amazed at how small Delta has gotten. At one point they had(including Norhtwest), Atlanta, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, Orlando, Memphis, Detroit & Minneapolis. Now its just I Atlanta(1 mainline flight), Detroit(1 express flight) and Memphis(Down from 3 mainline to 3 express). Before Katrina, there was talk of a New Orleans flight. Delta use to be king, but now has lost its crown to Southwest.

Im also still surprised that US air hasn't added a flight to Phoenix. The whole reason they merged, beside to stay alive, was to offer a west coast hub. But Memphis just lost their flight so who knows.

By the end of this year, we will be down to 5 airlines.

Delta

United

American

US

Southwest

Vision will be #6, that is if they make it.

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