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GSP International


gvillenative

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From the official press release:

Southwest Airlines is coming to the Palmetto State! Today, Southwest announced it will begin service to/from Charleston International Airport (CHS) and Greenville-Spartanburg Airport (GSP) on March 13, 2011.

In Greenville-Spartanburg, the airline will begin service with seven daily nonstop flights to five destinations: two to Baltimore/Washington, two to Chicago Midway, one to Nashville, one to Houston Hobby, and one to Orlando. Southwest Airlines will operate from gates A3 and A4 in Greenville-Spartanburg's main terminal.

Interesting they didn't call GSP by its official name.

Edited by Skyliner
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What great photos! Thanks for posting. This was definitely not your average press conference. When the hangar door opened and the Southwest JET came rolling into place behind the stage -- wow. People around me were crying! Great way to welcome Southwest to the Upstate.

And of course, I have to wonder...anyone hear or see what CHS did for their announcement event? Can't imagine theirs was as cool as GSP's. :)

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Excerpt from today's Greenville News article that is worth noting:

The airline didn’t have hard numbers this week on exactly how many seats were sold, but preliminary reports reflected what had been expected: Flights quickly became full, both in Greenville and in Charleston, Southwest spokesman Paul Flaningan told The Greenville News.

“People were just snatching those up pretty quickly,” Flaningan said.

Meanwhile, fares offered by competitors at GSP plummeted, in some cases at below Southwest’s discounted costs, for cities that Southwest announced it will serve beginning March 13 – Nashville, Orlando, Baltimore, Chicago and Houston.

For example, US Airways advertises its cheapest one-way flight from GSP to Nashville on Feb. 17 at $296. On March 17 — four days after Southwest offers its first flight to Nashville — US Airway’s cheapest fare is advertised at $59.

Likewise, Delta advertises its cheapest March 17 flight to Nashville at $59; the lowest fare on Feb. 17 for a one-way ticket to Nashville is $282.

Southwest advertises its cheapest flight to Nashville on March 17 at $92.

Edited by citylife
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Excerpt from today's Greenville News article that is worth noting:

The airline didn’t have hard numbers this week on exactly how many seats were sold, but preliminary reports reflected what had been expected: Flights quickly became full, both in Greenville and in Charleston, Southwest spokesman Paul Flaningan told The Greenville News.

“People were just snatching those up pretty quickly,” Flaningan said.

Meanwhile, fares offered by competitors at GSP plummeted, in some cases at below Southwest’s discounted costs, for cities that Southwest announced it will serve beginning March 13 – Nashville, Orlando, Baltimore, Chicago and Houston.

For example, US Airways advertises its cheapest one-way flight from GSP to Nashville on Feb. 17 at $296. On March 17 — four days after Southwest offers its first flight to Nashville — US Airway’s cheapest fare is advertised at $59.

Likewise, Delta advertises its cheapest March 17 flight to Nashville at $59; the lowest fare on Feb. 17 for a one-way ticket to Nashville is $282.

Southwest advertises its cheapest flight to Nashville on March 17 at $92.

now it's ALL our jobs to actually FLY Southwest, as thanks for making this possible (and not those other airlines who've been holding us hostage for all these years and have suddenly changed their tune...I mean, fares...).

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now it's ALL our jobs to actually FLY Southwest, as thanks for making this possible (and not those other airlines who've been holding us hostage for all these years and have suddenly changed their tune...I mean, fares...).

I'm doing my part. Bought tickets for GSP-Orlando on Southwest in late March 2011. :thumbsup: Will probably fly them again in summer 2011. This coming from a guy who always only flies Delta...until now.

Edited by citylife
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In what is probably a response to Southwest starting service to MCO, Allegiant has announced they are going back to Orlando Sanford Airport for their GSP service.

http://www.wyff4.com...300/detail.html

Allegiant is moving all of their MCO traffic back to Sanford not just GSP's. I imagine this had to do with the Airtran/Southwest merger rather than just Southwest starting service from GSP to MCO.

Edited by citylife
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Allegiant is moving all of their MCO traffic back to Sanford not just GSP's. I imagine this had to do with the Airtran/Southwest merger rather than just Southwest starting service from GSP to MCO.

I am not a fan of Orlando-Sanford. It just feels out in the middle of nowhere and not really close to anything. Oh well, Allegiant still offers flights to other great airports that are convenient and I hope this move pays off for them from a financial perspective.

Edited by Greenville
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I am not a fan of Orlando-Sanford. It just feels out in the middle of nowhere and not really close to anything. Oh well, Allegiant still offers flights to other great airports that are convenient and I hope this move pays off for them from a financial perspective.

Agreed. However, the residents of Orlando who fly to GSP to take a trip to the mountains and what-not might use Sanford instead of MCO due to shorter lines and less crowds.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I wonder what is the signifigance of the announcement today that there were 3 direct one-stop's added to the schedule. I do know tbis doesnt meam they actually added new routes but what is the difference between a direct one- stop and a connection? Never done it before so yeah question sounds idiotic but hey just wondering.

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I wonder what is the signifigance of the announcement today that there were 3 direct one-stop's added to the schedule. I do know tbis doesnt meam they actually added new routes but what is the difference between a direct one- stop and a connection? Never done it before so yeah question sounds idiotic but hey just wondering.

Non-Stop: Flight 378 goes from point A to point B period.

Direct / Same Plane: Flight 378 goes from point A to hub (ie: Nashville). If you boarded at point A, you can stay on the plane while the plane is serviced and new passengers board in (ie: Nashville). Plane takes back off from hub, still carries the Flight 378 number then lands in point B.

Connection: Flight 378 takes off from Point A to hub. You deplane at the hub. Get on a different plane, flight 1167, flight takes off, lands at point B.

The three new direct cities for Southwest are Boston, Denver and Las Vegas, but the flights to take us there, will still be one of the 7 through Nashville, Midway, Baltimore, Houston or MCO.

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In addition to the convenience of not having to change planes, the other nice thing about one-stops is that you definitely, definitely won't miss your connection.

I have no idea if it really works this way, but (for example) it would seem that if Southwest sees particularly high traffic on those GSP-BWI-BOS flights, it could impact their decision to add a GSP-BOS direct flight in the future.

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In addition to the convenience of not having to change planes, the other nice thing about one-stops is that you definitely, definitely won't miss your connection.

I have no idea if it really works this way, but (for example) it would seem that if Southwest sees particularly high traffic on those GSP-BWI-BOS flights, it could impact their decision to add a GSP-BOS direct flight in the future.

Very accurate. Laurel Moffat, a spokesperson for Southwest said:

"Moffat said the company comes into a city small and builds out based on customer need, and that ticket sales generated after the company’s announced it would come to GSP last month showed the company would offer more flights out of the airport soon."

http://www.independentmail.com/news/2010/nov/04/southwest-bring-30-40-jobs-upstate/

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Very accurate. Laurel Moffat, a spokesperson for Southwest said:

"Moffat said the company comes into a city small and builds out based on customer need, and that ticket sales generated after the company’s announced it would come to GSP last month showed the company would offer more flights out of the airport soon."

http://www.independentmail.com/news/2010/nov/04/southwest-bring-30-40-jobs-upstate/

Excellent news! GSP will not disappoint Southwest. :thumbsup:

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Call me crazy, but it seems the "Southwest Effect" has gone international foe GSP. Before I came over here I was pricing tickets from GSP to Frankfurt, just to see how much I didnt have to spend for the tickets. At that time tickets were going for a minimum of like $1200, just for the fun of it I checked prices for the week after they start service to GSP and the prices have plummeted about $400. I found tickets for as low as $800. Just saying that I noticed a downward trend of ticket prices since the announcement, coincidence maybe or it could very well be the "Southwest Effect". Just a thought.

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  • 3 weeks later...

An interesting map showng available airline "seats" available on a daily basis from all commercial airports in the U.S. Example, a CRJ has 50 seats, so three CRJ flights would equal 150 available seats.

Click on South Carolina and seats by city show up in the column on the right. All SC cities have a year over year increase in available seats except one. Take into account, this map does not include Southwest. When Southwest starts, if they start with their smallest 737 which has around 140 seats, at 7 flights a day, that will add about 980 available seats to GSP's daily availability.

http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/airline-capacity-map.htm

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An interesting map showng available airline "seats" available on a daily basis from all commercial airports in the U.S. Example, a CRJ has 50 seats, so three CRJ flights would equal 150 available seats.

Click on South Carolina and seats by city show up in the column on the right. All SC cities have a year over year increase in available seats except one.

Two (MYR and CAE).

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've been meaning to post for several weeks now about the new parking payment / ticket / entrance & exit gate system the airport has installed. Fantastic system. :thumbsup: The self pay is now lightning fast...ticket in, card in and gate up with receipt in about 5 seconds. The system looks great...the pylon shaped stands that hold the tickets dispensers / lift gates are clean and modern with only one small backlit blue button.

When I flew in Friday night, I went through a regular pay exit (with an attendant)....apparently this new system will also allow transponders to be purchased by frequent flyers with entry and exit just by nosing your car up to the gate. Your credit card will automaticlaly be debited (much like the Southern Connector). Attendant wasn't sure when this would actually be available, but apparently system is set-up to accept this feature.

Can't wait for the full airport remodel to start.

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I've been meaning to post for several weeks now about the new parking payment / ticket / entrance & exit gate system the airport has installed. Fantastic system. :thumbsup: The self pay is now lightning fast...ticket in, card in and gate up with receipt in about 5 seconds. The system looks great...the pylon shaped stands that hold the tickets dispensers / lift gates are clean and modern with only one small backlit blue button.

When I flew in Friday night, I went through a regular pay exit (with an attendant)....apparently this new system will also allow transponders to be purchased by frequent flyers with entry and exit just by nosing your car up to the gate. Your credit card will automaticlaly be debited (much like the Southern Connector). Attendant wasn't sure when this would actually be available, but apparently system is set-up to accept this feature.

Can't wait for the full airport remodel to start.

If only it and the Southern Connector were EZ-Pass members.... Ahh, I can dream, right?

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