GSP International

[Spartan]

So what is the second busiest airport in SC?

[gvillenative]

I would venture to say Charleston because of the beaches and all the sites it gets a lot of tourism, and also the Air Force base, theres always planes flying in and out of there. For GSP to be busier than Charleston honestly suprised me, pleasantly I might add, theres a lot of cargo planes flying in and out of Charleston which I believe comprises most of its flights.

[jfl25]

What about Columbia its the states capital there has to be a lot of flights in and out for political reasons.

[gvillenative]

Brad I have a question for ya, where do you find this Count Line News at? Also has anyone heard anymore about Jet Blue?

[gvillenative]

Columbia may have a lot of traffic but I do believe Charleston has got it beat. Theres always something in the air waiting to land or just took off. Columbia could be 4th.

[Spartan]

I was thinking Columbia Metro as the second palce, but I am not sure on that one. There were planes fling over all the time when I lived there.

GSP gets just as much, if not more, cargo planes that Charleston, which has the port for the vast majority of its cargo.

[gvillenative]

I know thats why GSP is first, most of the cargo in Charleston is military not so much civilian although some civilian 747's like Polar Air, and Evergreen to mention a few use the Air Force base to off-load their cargo. I was just speaking in generalities as far as air traffic goes Chas is right up there in 2nd place, I'm not trying to dethrone GSP because as a citizen of this great region we call The Upstate it's a source of pride that we have 2 of the busiest airports in the state and are one of the fastest growning regions in the country. I just don't see Columbia having as much air traffic as GSP and Chas repsectively. I'm not stating a fact that Columbia is forth, just basing my judgement on personal experience. Sorry for the confusion. GSP is the Greatest in my own personal opinion, and I've been around the world Atl, Chicago, LAX, Sea-Tac, Osaka, DFW, and the list goes on and on and GSP is 2nd to NONE. Keep up the marvelous work. I hope they break 2 million this year and continue on the up and up.

Edited July 31, 2005 by gvillenative

[ROBTEX]

The state's four "busiest" commercial airports are really very close in numbers...and still quite small. In terms of annual passengers in 2004 (the most common definition of "busiest," other than total aircraft movements, the constant battle/debate between Hartsfield and O'Hare), CHS was 1st; GSP was 2nd; MYR was a VERY close 3rd; and Columbia was 4th.

Edited August 1, 2005 by ROBTEX

[Spartan]

^ what is your source Rob?

[Eastside]

What about Columbia its the states capital there has to be a lot of flights in and out for political reasons.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I doubt that there are too many flights into Cola for political reasons. You can drive to Cola in three hours or less from just about anywhere in the state. I do know that a large percentage of Cola's flights are from the UPS airhub at the Cola airport. Other than UPS there really isn't a whole lot to their airport.

[goodbye]

I was just traveling down Congaree Road and saw another C-5 approaching the GSP runway. Those are so impressive! B)

[NYTransplant]

I was just traveling down Congaree Road and saw another C-5 approaching the GSP runway.  Those are so impressive! B)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

One flew right over my house at about 5k feet around 5:30-6:00. May have been the same one. Talk about huge! It looked like I could reach up and touch it.

[NYTransplant]

A little bad news in todays Greenville News. Independence Air is expected to file Chapter 11 citing high fuel prices and price wars.

[Greenville]

NOOO! I love Independence Air! Their prices are always reasonable, and they have more leg room than other, more expensive airlines. As a student with a limited budget, they have allowed me to travel without breaking the bank. B)

As far as Greenville is concerned, I think Independence Air deserves a lot of credit for lower fares (and therefore, increased passenger numbers) at GSP. Hopefully we will be getting someone like JetBlue and/or Southwest soon to keep the other airlines from jacking up their rates too much.

[ROBTEX]

The 2005 rankings for SC's 4 "busiest" commercial airports, as measured by total airport passengers through July 2005, are looking much like the 2004 rankings...CHS still 1st, GSP still 2nd, MYR still 3rd, CAE still 4th...only CAE is closing in on MYR. The passenger stats are from the airports' respective web sites, and I have rounded the figures to the nearest 1,000.

CHS...1.289 million

GSP...1.068 million

MYR...0.784 million thru June 05, so likely @0.925 million thru July 05

CAE...0.851 million

I think the final rankings for 2005 will remain the same, and I'm guesstimating the following final numbers for 2005:

CHS...2.1 - 2.2 million passengers

GSP...1.9 - 2.0 million passengers

MYR...1.7 - 1.8 million passengers

CAE...1.5 - 1.6 million passengers

[Spartan]

Where did you find these numbers?

[ROBTEX]

The passenger stats are from the airports' respective web sites, and I have rounded the figures to the nearest 1,000.

CHS...1.289 million

GSP...1.068 million

MYR...0.784 million thru June 05, so likely @0.925 million thru July 05

CAE...0.851 million

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just check the web sites for the airports.

[gvillenative]

The news about Indepenance is not cool. I would hate for this to happen, but if it does where they have to cut airports from list, does anyone think that JetBlue or Southwest would be waiting to jump right in and snatch up GSP or would have an adverse effect on the airlines? That worries me if they leave then the prices will skyrocket and I'll have to drive to Atlanta or Charlotte to fly again. Can someone ellaborate on this one?

[MikesLogic]

Same thing happened here in Charleston with Independence Air prices here have come down to a respectable level.

[ROBTEX]

I'm not sure about Jet Blue, but I really don't anticipate Southwest landing in South Carolina in the near future...the markets are still too small.

[RestedTraveler]

I'm not sure about Jet Blue, but I really don't anticipate Southwest landing in South Carolina in the near future...the markets are still too small.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Aren't small markets what airlines such as Southwest and AirTran thrive on though? Smaller markets and smaller airports in larger markets?

[NYTransplant]

The news about Indepenance is not cool. I would hate for this to happen, but if it does where they have to cut airports from list, does anyone think that JetBlue or Southwest would be waiting to jump right in and snatch up GSP or would have an adverse effect on the airlines? That worries me if they leave then the prices will skyrocket and I'll have to drive to Atlanta or Charlotte to fly again. Can someone ellaborate on this one?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The problem is, with fuel prices where they are, if fares don't go up, there will be more and more airlines folding. The airlines that are left after the dust settles will raise fares to cover fuel costs. The smaller airlines should just raise fares now and save themselves, but the consumer expects unrealistically low prices.

I heard on WYFF this morning that we can expect Delta to file Chapter 11 any day now.

[jarvismj]

I can see AirTran coming in and running flights from GSP to BWI, and maybe PHL and BOS if we're lucky. They wouldn't compete with Delta on the GSP to ATL, it would be a death blow to Delta, which seems to want to expand service at GSP.

[RestedTraveler]

I saw on Bloomberg this morning where Delta is selling it's Atlantic Southeast Airlines (i.e. the company that operates most of its southeastern Regional Jet service) to SkyWest for $425 Million.

Delta could still file bankruptcy even after selling this branch off, though.

[gvillenative]

What does this mean for GSP, if they sold the airline that operates the flights out of there to AirWest? Does that mean AirWest will take thier place there or will they just be gone altogether?