GSP International

[nmt12318]

First of all I would like to apologize if I offended anyone. I thought that my post was my interpretation of the information I came accross. Also, I thought this is a forum not an agreeium. History is full of what the sociolist calle Groupthink (Bay of Pigs Invasion, Holocaust, etc).

I have lived in Greenville for over 30 yrs. and still have a lot of family there and own a house there, so I do pay taxes there.

I would like to clarify some of my prior comments. When I said $30MM I meant to say that is the portion that GSP wants us to pay. The first part will only consist of $70MM, so they want us to pay more than 40% of the initial cost.

Cities, states and countries have usually only two sources of income, either they tax or they borrow. I understand that now a day they also own companies such as GM, Chrysler, etc. but that is not the norm. If a government spends 100 (lets say 30 for education, 40 for safety and 30 for admin) it must collect 100 or borrow the difference. So when I made my comment about education, what I tried to say was that the 30 that go to GSP will have to come from somewhere, and that means either they will tax us or they will borrow (from whom.......). Issuing bods, is the same as borrowing.

Regarding me been mad about SW going to GSP and not Atlanta, my answer is that I could care less either way, I just do not want to pay more taxes and I feel that an airport is not the source to bring more taxpayers here (if that is the case why doesn't Columbia or Asheville have more new companies in their areas after spending all that money in their respective airports).

I have gone to what is considered the best public school in Greenville and believe, it is nothing to be proud of and based on what I am been told, they have to provide ELS classes now so they even had to discontinue some of the classes because they do not have enough funding to educate the kids there.

As stated before, this airport has handled 1.8MM passengers before without any problems and can do this again.

The benefit of doing this will only be for about 100,000 people (most people who use the airport are repeated customers and travel on average 12 times a year).

Regarding the LEED, GSP has never been concerned with this or any minority programs, seems suspicious that now that they need additional funding suddenly this became important.

So, that is my opinion which I thought this is what this place is for. Remember even the president has some disenters in its cabinet in order to avoid bad decissions.

Again, sorry and I hope I did not offend anyone with my comments.

[gman430]

GSP committee will vote on renovation/expansion plan September 15th. The design phase could take up to 15 months before construction begins: http://www.wyff4.com/news/24835686/detail.html Nice model image of the plan in the article also.

[GvilleSC]

Southwest had LOTS and LOTS of advertisements at the Clemson game yesterday. They've obviously done some heavy investing in marketing through Clemson's athletic program. Each ad celebrated both Charleston and GSP as new outlets for the carrier.

[gman430]

GSP's new website has launched. News article from WSPA: http://www2.wspa.com...site-ar-799153/

Edited September 7, 2010 by citylife

[gs3]

GSP's new website has launched. News article from WSPA: http://www2.wspa.com...site-ar-799153/

I had checked it out earlier today. The imagery is sort of a cross between a Jet Blue type site and an Orbitz site. It is an improvement, though I can't say that it blows me away. Still some work to do it seems, as a couple of pages would not load properly. The history section seems greatly expanded.

[Greenville]

Not bad. Definitely an improvement to the GSP website!

[gman430]

GSP has approved a $1 million upgrade project for Southwest Airlines, a $4 million project for replacement of eight passenger boarding bridges, and new parking rates that are to be more in-line with Charlotte and Atlanta according to the Greenville News. Bids are scheduled to go out in October with construction starting in November of this year. This is on top of the massive renovation/expansion project, Southwest Airlines announcement, new website, road construction project, and Allegiant's increased service during the holidays. Yeah, about that last one: http://www.gsabusine...y-flights?rss=0

What in the world has gotten into GSP lately?

Edited September 16, 2010 by citylife

[gman430]

Regarding Southwest Airlines, this is only a rumor and has not been confirmed yet so take it with a huge bucket of salt:

BWI 2x daily

1. GSP-BWI-MHT

2. GSP-BWI-BUF

BNA 2x daily

1. GSP-BNA-STL-OMA

2. GSP-BNA-LAS-PDX

JAX 1x daily

1. GSP-JAX-FLL

IND 1x daily

1. GSP-IND-DEN

ISP 1x daily

1. GSP-ISP

HOU 1x daily

1. GSP-HOU-AMA

Service to start May 11th.

[gs3]

Regarding Southwest Airlines, this is only a rumor and has not been confirmed yet so take it with a huge bucket of salt:

BWI 2x daily

1. GSP-BWI-MHT

2. GSP-BWI-BUF

BNA 2x daily

1. GSP-BNA-STL-OMA

2. GSP-BNA-LAS-PDX

JAX 1x daily

1. GSP-JAX-FLL

IND 1x daily

1. GSP-IND-DEN

ISP 1x daily

1. GSP-ISP

HOU 1x daily

1. GSP-HOU-AMA

Service to start May 11th.

Yeah, saw this exact listing/info posted on one of the web aviation blogs. Some sounds right, but GSP to ISP? Maybe, but why not just use BWI for NYC area connections instead of Islip? The Indianapolis flight also seems odd, but could be.

[gvillenative]

One wonders how the news of Southwest buying AirTran will affect the biz and area airports. Does this mean all cities served by AirTran will now be served by Southwest or will they keep their name and just mirror their business model...just curious.

[gman430]

One wonders how the news of Southwest buying AirTran will affect the biz and area airports. Does this mean all cities served by AirTran will now be served by Southwest or will they keep their name and just mirror their business model...just curious.

I doubt it will affect GSP at all. If anything, it could help lower the fares even more due to Southwest being able to fly to more destinations nationwide. All cities served by Airtran will be changed over to Southwest pending regulator approval except for DFW (Dallas). That airport will be dropped by Southwest which was served by Airtran.

Edited September 27, 2010 by citylife

[gvillenative]

So this must mean Asheville will kinda back into getting Southwest Airlines, I wonder though with the proximity of Patrick Henry in Newport News to Norfolk Intl. if they will change over or get dropped.

[gs3]

So this must mean Asheville will kinda back into getting Southwest Airlines, I wonder though with the proximity of Patrick Henry in Newport News to Norfolk Intl. if they will change over or get dropped.

Southwest is buying AirTran to grow, not to drop cities. Routes will obviously change, but most all cities will stay and many will see expanded service.....example, Knoxville, that only had AirTran to Orlando, will probably gain multiple new routes. Southeast wants to dominate the East Coast market as well as start branching into smaller cities. Not having a regional feeder (connection carrier) aligned with them, the 717's currently of AirTran will perform the job of service to smaller markets quite nicely with a Southwest paint job.

In the case of Newport News and Norfolk.....with the horrible traffic between the two areas of the metro, and the population, I could actually imagine both keeping Southwest service, but who knows.

What is factual, Southwest isn't about shrinking, they are about growing.....real income growth, not just eliminating a competitor.

[westsider28]

Let me see if I understand this correctly. Will airports currently served by AirTran (like Charlotte, Asheville, and Atlanta) now be served by Southwest? If so, doesn't that have the potential to hurt GSP as we would not be the only airport in the area to have Southwest service, and so less people would have to drive here just to fly Southwest? In other words, we wouldn't have the Southwest "exclusivity" that we anticipated?

Edited September 28, 2010 by westsider28

[gs3]

Let me see if I understand this correctly. Will airports currently served by AirTran (like Charlotte, Asheville, and Atlanta) now be served by Southwest? If so, doesn't that have the potential to hurt GSP as we would not be the only airport in the area to have Southwest service, and so less people would have to drive here just to fly Southwest? In other words, we wouldn't have the Southwest "exclusivity" that we anticipated?

Yes, Charlotte, Atlanta, Asheville will get Southwest with this merger as AirTran becomes Southwest. That should happen sometime in 2012. Will it hurt GSP? Doubtful. GSP is the center of a 1.2 million area in Upstate. Currently the airport handles about 1.4 million people a year and that is with 60% "leakage" to other airports due to price. Just getting the 60% leakage back and serving the immdeiate population with Southwest lower fares is way more than Southwest or GSP needs for success.

It was never about "exclusivity", but simply about fare cost.

Edited September 28, 2010 by gsupstate

[Greenville]

Let me see if I understand this correctly. Will airports currently served by AirTran (like Charlotte, Asheville, and Atlanta) now be served by Southwest? If so, doesn't that have the potential to hurt GSP as we would not be the only airport in the area to have Southwest service, and so less people would have to drive here just to fly Southwest? In other words, we wouldn't have the Southwest "exclusivity" that we anticipated?

Southwest's success in Greenville is based on retaining more of the 66% of Greenville-area travelers who currently drive to ATL or CLT for a flight instead of flying out of GSP. I don't think anyone expected for a lot of Atlanta and Charlotte residents to drive to GSP for a Southwest flight. If it happened, great, but that was way down their list of requirements for success.

GSP got Southwest because of the Greenville-Spartanburg metro area, its population, its business climate, etc., not because Southwest doesn't have a presence at ATL or CLT.

[gman430]

Announcement next Wednesday. Grab your bags...it's on.

[gs3]

Announcement next Wednesday. Grab your bags...it's on.

Both the Greenville News and the Charleston newspaper are reporting that indeed Weds. Oct. 20th is the day Southwest will announce the routes / cities. Apparently the announcement will be simultaneous at both CHS and GSP. Great day for SC!

[gman430]

10am announcement for Southwest Airlines. Bid information here for improvements to be made for SWA: http://gspairport.com/site/user/files/GSP%20-%20SWA%20Tenant%20Buildout%20Project_Notice%20to%20Bidders%20Advertisement.pdf

GSP voted yesterday to move forward with the $99 million renovation/expansion: http://www.goupstate.com/article/20101014/ARTICLES/10141023/1083/ARTICLES?Title=GSP-board-OKs-starting-terminal-designs

[gman430]

BOOM! goes the dynamite:

[gs3]

BOOM! goes the dynamite:

Fanfrickintastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Greenville]

Excellent news!

I am as excited (probably more excited) about the renovations as I am Southwest. Our airport is going to be the standard other mid-size metros aspire to!

[RiverWalker]

I am as excited (probably more excited) about the renovations as I am Southwest. Our airport is going to be the standard other mid-size metros aspire to!

Just like our city.

[StrangeCock]

Can't say this is a general phenomenon...but I've been searching for tickets from Greenville to Minneapolis over the last month. And prices have plummeted over the last few days. Coincidence? I think not...

[gman430]

Tune in here beginning at 10am on Wednesday for a live video stream of the announcement: http://www.gspairport.com/

I was invited to the event so I will be there and try to take lots of pics for you guys.