GSP International

[carolinadude9409]

I'm underwhelmed. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up about JetBlue.

Don't worry. Jet Blue is still coming here along with this airline too. It's just Allegiant Air is going to come here first, but expect Jet Blue to not be far behind. My guess would be Jet Blue will come here sometime in 2007.

Edited August 24, 2006 by carolinadude9409

[carolinadude9409]

Here are some pics of this airline: http://www.allegiantair.com/aaMediaKit.php

-I'm glad GSP is getting an airline that's not well known. It makes our aiport feel like a larger one that can handle these less known airlines.

Edited August 24, 2006 by carolinadude9409

[carolinadude9409]

Also, here is some info about the airline company: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegiant_Air and some consumer comments about the service on the airline: http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/allegiant.htm

[goodbye]

An article a few days ago in the Herald Journal mentioned the steady decline of GSP traffic.

"June's passenger traffic decreased by 25,680, a 15.55 percent decline, and the year-to-date statistics show 150,437 fewer passengers for a 16.64 percent change."

http://www.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...345/1026/NEWS07

That is interesting, especially considering a spokesperson for GSP said yesterday that 2005 was the best year on record - the year Independence Air was here. I think we can expect traffic to pick back up as a result of Allegiant Air's addition. How much additional traffic is still a question to be answered in time.

[carolinadude9409]

The announcement is to come this morning. That would be funny if it turned out not be Allegiant Air. http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs....EWS01/608240336

[carolinadude9409]

It is Allegiant Air. Man, the Greenville News is slow : http://www.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art.../608230366/1026

Edited August 24, 2006 by carolinadude9409

[carolinadude9409]

I said the Greenville News is slow and i'll say it again. Announcement to come at 10 am: http://www.wyff4.com/news/9729299/detail.html

Edited August 24, 2006 by carolinadude9409

[carolinadude9409]

Official announcement: http://www.allegiantair.com/aaNews20060824a.php. It's also on GSP's home page: http://www.gspairport.com/

Edited August 24, 2006 by carolinadude9409

[lifeisajourney]

Official announcement: http://www.allegiantair.com/aaNews20060824a.php. It's also on GSP's home page: http://www.gspairport.com/

According to the official release, there will only be flights from GSP to Orlando, and they will happen just four times a week. Maybe in a few months, Las Vegas will be added.

[RestedTraveler]

You know, if you want jetBlue to fly into and out of GSP, you've just gotta TELL THEM you want them here.

[carolinadude9409]

Good idea, RT.

Edited August 24, 2006 by carolinadude9409

[wellen]

You know, if you want jetBlue to fly into and out of GSP, you've just gotta TELL THEM you want them here.

Done and done.

[Greenville]

I think it will be a few years before Allegiant has flights from G-Vegas to L-Vegas.

[RestedTraveler]

Good. It'll be just about that long before I want to get on a plane again.

[distortedlogic]

According to the official release, there will only be flights from GSP to Orlando, and they will happen just four times a week. Maybe in a few months, Las Vegas will be added.

I was disappointed with just 4 flights a week to only one city. I guess I was expecting something more like what Independance was doing, 8-10 flights a day to a couple of cities. I guess we can only hope these are successful enough to make allegiant consider adding some. It seems odd to me that they are not having flights to their hub (or is orlando a hub?), thereby giving GSP access to all the other cities they serve. Also, if you look at their list of cities, GSP, Orlando, and Colo Spgs are their largest markets. We may have to wait for Jet Blue to get more like what we are looking for.

[Greenville]

My understanding is that Allegiance is based out of Las Vegas, but they have hubs in Las Vegas and Orlando. Interestingly enough, the parent company also owns a bunch of hotels in both cities. I wonder how much they try to tie in the two? You would think they could offer some pretty sweet package deals if they wanted to.

I agree that JetBlue, AirTran, or Southwest is more what we want and need at GSP. However, I will certainly take Allegiance and the flights they offer. It will only improve the offerings available to travelers at GSP, and hopefully cause other airlines to at least think twice about their fares.

[mallguy]

One thing to look at is the types of planes Southwest and Jet Blue fly. Southwest does just B737s, and Jet Blue does E190s and A320s. All of those planes are generally larger than most of the ones that fly into and out of GSP. To me this indicates that most routes out of GSP have enough passenger traffic to profitably support smaller loads, but not loads big enough to adequately fill one of those larger planes, so unless one of those airlines could stimulate enough demand, they would be unlikely to come to GSP. I've seen Web sites that show the route-by-route traffic to and from airports; surely low-cost carriers use such data in their route planning studies as well.

I am confused by Allegiant- based on its website it appears to offer flights only to Orlando and offers only air/hotel packages (? am I missing something?), and sparse flight frequencies.

Edited August 25, 2006 by mallguy

[distortedlogic]

One thing to look at is the types of planes Southwest and Jet Blue fly. Southwest does just B737s, and Jet Blue does E190s and A320s. All of those planes are generally larger than most of the ones that fly into and out of GSP. To me this indicates that most routes out of GSP have enough passenger traffic to profitably support smaller loads, but not loads big enough to adequately fill one of those larger planes, so unless one of those airlines could stimulate enough demand, they would be unlikely to come to GSP. I've seen Web sites that show the route-by-route traffic to and from airports; surely low-cost carriers use such data in their route planning studies as well.

I am confused by Allegiant- based on its website it appears to offer flights only to Orlando and offers only air/hotel packages (? am I missing something?), and sparse flight frequencies.

good point about the plane size, but how do they know it wouldn't work, many of thoses routes have never been tried?

I also noticed that on allegient's site, but I thnk it will let you click on "flights only", but it automatically puts in flight+hotel othrwise. And yes, the flights are sparse, only four arrivals and four departures per week, and the times appear to be in the middle of the day. And with these flights slated for 150 passenger planes, I am not sure this will last too long. I do not think this is exactly what GSP was hoping for either, but I imagine they will take whatever they can get.

[uptownliving]

The new Allegiant flights are designed purely for tourists going to Orlando. Not the business traveler. Allegiant can afford to charge basement bargain fares and lose money on the flights because they make it up on the vacation packages they sell. Allegiant is really a vacation travel company that just happens to also fly airplanes. It should also be noted that Allegiant flys to Orlando-Sanford...which is not Orlando's main airport.

Allegiant also nikel and dimes you for things such as Seat Assignment ($11 extra each way) and drinks and snacks.

All that being said extra air service is extra air service.

With regards to jetBlue I would say don't expect them anytime soon in GSP. Especially since they are just 45 min down the road at CLT.

[Greenville]

The new Allegiant flights are designed purely for tourists going to Orlando. Not the business traveler. Allegiant can afford to charge basement bargain fares and lose money on the flights because they make it up on the vacation packages they sell. Allegiant is really a vacation travel company that just happens to also fly airplanes. It should also be noted that Allegiant flys to Orlando-Sanford...which is not Orlando's main airport.

Allegiant also nikel and dimes you for things such as Seat Assignment ($11 extra each way) and drinks and snacks.

All that being said extra air service is extra air service.

With regards to jetBlue I would say don't expect them anytime soon in GSP. Especially since they are just 45 min down the road at CLT.

That is too bad that Allegiant isn't what you had hoped, but as you said, at least it's something.

Also, Charlotte is more than a 45 minute drive from Greenville. Quite frankly, I do not see how Charlotte having JetBlue prevents Greenville from having JetBlue. There are 1.2 million people who live in Greenville and the upstate, and JetBlue could capitalize on that. Most of the business they would get at GSP would be new customers.

[dpa]

Count me bewildered at negative reactions to Allegiant Air, a smart young company with a profitable track record. Count me doubly bewildered since their expansion into Greenville, flying MD-80s, will help demonstrate whether the current local market can support larger planes on our most traveled route (to/from Orlando). JetBlue is unlikely to exapand into GSP with its large planes until the current direct flights on small planes between us and NYC are regularly filled. Presently they are not. Until they are, nobody should be hankering for more air travel, the most energy inefficient form of transportation, even when planes are full, to enter a market while routinely empty seats would simply exaggerate the environmental effect locally, and our oil-dependence globally.

[uptownliving]

Please don't infer my comments on Allegient as being negative. I have never flown them, I was just laying out some facts about the airline that I hadn't seen discussed here yet. Allegient has been succusful in the niche travel market it plays in. It really doesn't compete against the big boys of Delta, US Airways, Continental, etc. But don't expect Allegient to ever offer multiple daily flights to any destination it serves, because that is not the business model they are following.

[912]

That is too bad that Allegiant isn't what you had hoped, but as you said, at least it's something.

Also, Charlotte is more than a 45 minute drive from Greenville. Quite frankly, I do not see how Charlotte having JetBlue prevents Greenville from having JetBlue. There are 1.2 million people who live in Greenville and the upstate, and JetBlue could capitalize on that. Most of the business they would get at GSP would be new customers.

It's for that reason that Jet Blue & Airtran won't serve the upstate. We are close to two large airports (Charlotte & Atlanta), and that puts the squueze play on GSP. Low cost airlines are not going to place "stops" in cities that are 2 hours or less from each other, as a general rule. They figure most people would rather drive that distance than fly it, and it doesn't fit into the low cost carriers model.

As far as full fare airlines, most people are willing to drive to CLT or ATL & save $$ on airfares than pay the premium to fly out of GSP.

[RestedTraveler]

I guess I'm not most people, then. Of course, I'm usually not the one paying for my airfare, too. Still, I'd much rather fly out of GSP, if at all possible, than subject my wife to driving 300 miles round trip to drop me off at one of the other airports.

[Greenville]

It's for that reason that Jet Blue & Airtran won't serve the upstate. We are close to two large airports (Charlotte & Atlanta), and that puts the squueze play on GSP. Low cost airlines are not going to place "stops" in cities that are 2 hours or less from each other, as a general rule. They figure most people would rather drive that distance than fly it, and it doesn't fit into the low cost carriers model.

As far as full fare airlines, most people are willing to drive to CLT or ATL & save $$ on airfares than pay the premium to fly out of GSP.

Are you assuming that if JetBlue or AirTran flew out of GSP, that they would connect in Charlotte or Atlanta? Who says that would be necessary? My point is that there is enough demand for a low-cost carrier at GSP (a 1.2 million metro, remember?) that it doesn't matter whether we are within 2 hours of Charlotte and Atlanta.

I used to fly Independence Air a lot out of GSP. All of their flights connected through Dulles International, regardless of your city of origin. They almost always had the most reasonable fares. I felt that their customer service was great, the planes were almost always on time (if not early), and they got me where I needed to go (they connected through Dulles to just about every major US city, plus some mid-sized ones). Despite the fact that Independence also flew out of Charlotte and Atlanta, Greenville had 6 Independence Air flights every day to DC. And what was interesting to me was that Greenville had more Independence flights per day to Dulles than many larger metros. Don't forget that DC was already one of Greenville's most popular destination cities before Independence arrived. Obviously there was a demand in Greenville for what Independence offered. That market still exists in Greenville, and I don't see what Charlotte or Atlanta has to do with it. If the right company gets involved at GSP, they won't be sorry.

Edited September 22, 2006 by Greenville