S.A. companies successfully lobby for Atlanta flights

necropolis · #1 Posted **Feb 25, 2008, 9:31 PM**

By Sean M. Wood
Express-News Business Writer

San Antonio travelers will have a new way to Atlanta this summer and they have some local companies to thank for it.
AirTran Airways announced Monday it would offer four daily nonstops to Atlanta starting June 11. Lobbying by AT&T Inc., USAA, Harland Clarke and Tesoro Corp. helped convince the carrier to come here.

“AT&T was an important representative and there were others as well,” said AirTran Senior Vice President Kevin Healy. “Getting that commitment in advance was big. That is a barrier to entry in most markets.”

The discount carrier is kicking off service with a $79 fare each way to Atlanta. Passengers must book by April 14 and travel by July 9.

“We feel it’s important to get you a low fare, to get you there on time and get you there with your bags,” Healy said.

AirTran’s new service is the latest for San Antonio International Airport, which has seen announcements for new service this year to Charlotte, N.C., Philadelphia, Indianapolis and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“The momentum is good,” said Aviation Department Director Mark Webb. “We’re continuing on other destinations where we want to go nonstop like Seattle, Oakland and Boston.”

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/met....2932c374.html

Yea, way to go SA's major corporations

Major AWACS · #2 Posted **Feb 25, 2008, 9:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by necropolis

By Sean M. Wood
Express-News Business Writer

San Antonio travelers will have a new way to Atlanta this summer and they have some local companies to thank for it.
AirTran Airways announced Monday it would offer four daily nonstops to Atlanta starting June 11. Lobbying by AT&T Inc., USAA, Harland Clarke and Tesoro Corp. helped convince the carrier to come here.

“AT&T was an important representative and there were others as well,” said AirTran Senior Vice President Kevin Healy. “Getting that commitment in advance was big. That is a barrier to entry in most markets.”

The discount carrier is kicking off service with a $79 fare each way to Atlanta. Passengers must book by April 14 and travel by July 9.

“We feel it’s important to get you a low fare, to get you there on time and get you there with your bags,” Healy said.

AirTran’s new service is the latest for San Antonio International Airport, which has seen announcements for new service this year to Charlotte, N.C., Philadelphia, Indianapolis and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“The momentum is good,” said Aviation Department Director Mark Webb. “We’re continuing on other destinations where we want to go nonstop like Seattle, Oakland and Boston.”

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/met....2932c374.html

Yea, way to go SA's major corporations

Competition is always good news. Good for SA.
The companies thought Delta was charging to much. 4 flights is a bit high on the capacity end up front so I am guessing that corporate contracts were involved in the deal.

Ciao,
AWACS

texastarkus · #3 Posted **Feb 26, 2008, 4:44 PM**

If I'm not mistaken Airtran was at one time called ValueJet...until their plane crashed into the Everglades.

adtobias · #4 Posted **Feb 26, 2008, 6:15 PM**

now all we need is mia jfk who knowns maybe even cdg or lhr

Major AWACS · #5 Posted **Feb 26, 2008, 6:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by texastarkus

If I'm not mistaken Airtran was at one time called ValueJet...until their plane crashed into the Everglades.

Not exactly. ValuJet bought (or merged if you prefer) AirTran and kept their name and type cert.

The everglades crash was due to improper cargo transport (O2) and not maintainers. All US maintainance is overseen by the FAA.

Airtran has been doing very well for some years now.

Some crashes get more pub than others. AA has had several crashes over the last decade and is still the largest int'l carrier in the USA.

The only issue with this, is once the flight goes from 3 to 4 daily, someone, either Delta or AirTran will have to cut capacity a bit. Either way it will bring lower fares and that is a good thing.

Ciao,
AWACS

sirkingwilliam · #6 Posted **Feb 26, 2008, 10:26 PM**

I think the title should be changed to "airTran To Begin Service at SAT" because the current title implies that SA is just now getting flights to Atlanta when SA already has non-stop flights to Atlanta.

potts · #7 Posted **Feb 27, 2008, 3:29 AM**

So, so far this year SAT has gained new flights to

IND (NW Airlink)
CLT (US Aiways Express)
FLL (Spirit)
PHL (Southwest)
ATL (AirTran)

Pretty impressive if you ask me. Am I leaving any out?

potts · #8 Posted **Feb 27, 2008, 3:34 AM**

On a side note, what gates are Airtran and Spirit going to operate out of? I thought Terminal 1 was pretty much at capacity.

Major AWACS · #9 Posted **Feb 27, 2008, 4:08 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by potts

On a side note, what gates are Airtran and Spirit going to operate out of? I thought Terminal 1 was pretty much at capacity.

IIRC they will share the gates ExpressJet uses (8 and 9 I think).

Ciao,
AWACS

verbl · #10 Posted **Feb 27, 2008, 6:45 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capt AWACS

IIRC they will share the gates ExpressJet uses (8 and 9 I think).

Ciao,
AWACS

AWACS. Are you a pilot? If so do you have any advice to a person that has never flown and absolutely terrified of flying, terrified to the point where I drive 24 hours to San Antonio instead of a 2 hour flight. It also limits my potential of landing a career after college due to I cannot get on a plane for the life of me. Any advice will help tremendously.

Major AWACS · #11 Posted **Feb 27, 2008, 1:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by verbl

AWACS. Are you a pilot? If so do you have any advice to a person that has never flown and absolutely terrified of flying, terrified to the point where I drive 24 hours to San Antonio instead of a 2 hour flight. It also limits my potential of landing a career after college due to I cannot get on a plane for the life of me. Any advice will help tremendously.

see PM, thanks.

texboy · #12 Posted **Feb 27, 2008, 6:02 PM**

Good news for SA for sure! Can anyone enlighten me on the top 10 destinations for travelers originating out of SAT?

potts · #13 Posted **Feb 27, 2008, 9:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by texboy

Good news for SA for sure! Can anyone enlighten me on the top 10 destinations for travelers originating out of SAT?

No...but I can specultate the top 5!

1. DFW
2. IAH
3. HOU
4. DAL
5. ATL

sirkingwilliam · #14 Posted **Feb 28, 2008, 5:55 AM**

Number 1 is actually Las Vegas.

LoneStarMike · #15 Posted **Feb 28, 2008, 2:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by texboy

Can anyone enlighten me on the top 10 destinations for travelers originating out of SAT?

The Department of Transportation's Consumer Airfare Report (Table 6) shows how many passengers per day on average travel between two cities.

A couple of notes about the data:

A) These numbers are Origin & Destination (O&D) passengers traveling in either direction between two cities.

Example: San Antonio - Dallas/Ft. Worth is 2,128 daily passengers. This is the average number of people per day who either start their trip in San Antonio and end their trip in Dallas/Fort Worth, or start their trip in Dallas/Fort Worth and end their trip in San Antonio. (Local traffic) The 2,128 number does not include people flying from San Antonio to DFW in order to change planes and continue on to somewhere else. (Connecting traffic)

B) In some large metro areas, (like Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago, and Houston) multiple airports are combined and shown as a single market. The Chicago market, for example, includes passengers flying out of O'Hare and Midway. In other metro areas like Southern California, and South Florida, each airport is shown as a separate market. In South Florida, Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach are three distinct and separate markets. The Washington DC market includes Dulles and Reagan National, but Baltimore is a separate market. I don't know what criteria the DOT uses in deciding whether to lump multiple airports together as a single market, or whether to show each airport as a separate market.

For markets that include multiple airports, you can go to the above report and look at Table 1a. That table provides information for airport pair markets rather than city pair markets. This table only lists airport markets where the origin or destination airport is an airport that has other commercial airports in the same city. If you wanted to know how many of the 844 daily passengers who traveled between San Antonio and Chicago used O'Hare versus Midway, you'd look in Table 1a.

These were the San Antonio city-pairs with the highest number of daily travelers in 2Q 2007 - the latest period for which statistics are available on DOT's Consumer Airfare report.

01. Dallas/Fort Worth (includes DFW and Love Field) - 2,128 daily passengers
02. Chicago - (includes O'Hare and Midway) - 844 daily passengers
03. Houston (includes Bush-Intercontinental and Hobby) - 721 daily passengers
04. Las Vegas - 690 daily passengers
05. New York City (includes JFK, La Guardia & Newark) - 687 daily passengers
06. Baltimore - 554 daily passengers
07. Los Angeles (LAX only) - 533 daily passengers
08. Washington DC (includes Dulles and Reagan National) - 478 daily passengers
09. Denver - 452 daily passengers
10. Phoenix - 437 daily passengers
11. Atlanta - 410 daily passengers
12. El Paso - 404 Daily passengers
13. Orlando - 372 daily passengers
14. St. Louis - 363 daily passengers
15. San Diego - 301 daily passengers
16. Nashville - 300 daily passengers
17. Seattle - 280 daily passengers
18. Detroit - 274 daily passengers
19. Philadelphia - 250 daily passengers
20. Tampa - 246 daily passengers
21. Harlingen - 226 daily passengers
22. Minneapolis/St. Paul - 219 daily passengers
23. Kansas City - 215 daily passengers
24. San Francisco - 194 daily passengers
25. Raleigh/Durham - 175 daily passengers
26. Boston - 174 daily passengers
27. New Orleans - 172 daily passengers
28. Albuquerque - 170 daily passengers
29. Fort Lauderdale - 166 daily passengers
30. Salt Lake City - 164 daily passengers

At any rate - great news for San Antonio that Air Tran will begin service there. Lower fares should stimulate more demand and Atlanta will probably move higher up on the above list.

Limestone · #16 Posted **Feb 29, 2008, 2:41 AM**

>>At any rate - great news for San Antonio that Air Tran will begin service there. Lower fares should stimulate more demand and Atlanta will probably move higher up on the above list.

Yep, look at Baltimore. Probably wasn't even a top 15 market until Southwest started nonstop service...of course Atlanta-SAT has been well served since the 60s - if calling Delta's stranglehold on O&D (since Eastern's demise) being well-served.

atlantaguy · #17 Posted **Feb 29, 2008, 5:17 PM**

The nice thing about you guys getting AirTran flights to Atlanta first is that this is their major hub, so it will give you a lot of connecting options with good fares. A lot of people compare them to Southwest, and there are some similarities - particularly fares that are not outragous, even for last minute travel.

What I like about them is that they fly a very new fleet of all Boeing 717's & 737's. They have a nice Business Class for just a little bit more than coach, reserved seats with advance boarding passes and free satellite radio at each seat. I think San Antonio will embrace them, and I'm really happy to have a new city to explore without having to pay a fortune to get there nonstop.