AUSTIN | ABIA Updates

[Major AWACS]

Originally Posted by texboy

May I ask where that info is coming from?

It's no secret. Express Jet branded ops will not make it through the end of the year, most likely gone by the end of August.

read their financials, press releases, and aviation websites like airliners.net and flyertalk.com Delta is dropping ExpressJet for regional ops, and Continental is lowering their capacity purchase agreement. XJET will furlow at least 200 pilots soon. The branded ops is losing a ton of money. You can also see this number through the BTS.gov website.

Austin will lose all those routes via expressjet. Expressjet will still fly to Austin as Continental Express.

Ciao,
AWACS

[Trae]

That sucks. Houston loses a Fortune 1000 company. I don't think they were doing much anyway. I was thinking they may become the new Southwest, just smaller.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by Capt AWACS

Austin will lose all those routes via expressjet. Expressjet will still fly to Austin as Continental Express.

Other than AUS-CLE - which is being dropped - where else does Continental Express fly to from AUS? Aren't all of Continental's flights to Newark and Houston on mainline jets?

By the way, I e-mailed the airport and asked a few questions. Their answers are in bold.

Q: The press release states that Viva Aerobus carried 22,040 passengers at AUS during May. Based on their schedule and seating capacity, they should have only had 18,352 seats for sale in May. I suspect the correct number of Viva Aerobus AUS passengers was 12,040. Could you please verify?

A: The airlines self report all monthly activity to ABIA (aircraft type, weight, # landings, passenger and cargo stats). VivaAerobus submitted a total of 22,040 passengers. Based on what vivaAerobus submitted , the stats on page 15 are correct. However, staff is checking with the carrier for clarification, as capacity does not match the self-reported figure. If the carrier's provided submission is incorrect, a revised May 08 activity report will be posted.

Don't be surprised to see a revised activity report posted in the near future, and if so, May 2008 will not be the all-time mothly record they said it was.

Q: Where can I find a copy of the airport's current competiton plan? The newest one on the airport's website is from 2002.

This is the last plan the department was required to file.

Q: The 2001 competition plan mentions an Airline Use Agreement that expired in October 2003. It stated that if an airline fell below four departures per day per gate, the airport could possibly re-assign the gate to another carrier. Does the current Airline Use Agreement have a minimum requirement, and if so, is it still 4 departures per gate per day or has that been increased?

A: The current airline Use agreement has the same minimum use requirement of four departures per day as did the original ABIA Use agreement.

Q: When does the current Airline Use Agreement expire?

A: September 30, 2008

Q: It was my understanding that in order for an airline to have signatory status at AUS, they have to sign a lease for a specific period of time with the airport for gates and ticket counter space. How does signatory/non signatory status work for the airlines operating out of the low-cost terminal since they lease their space from GECAS rather than the airport.?

A: Airlines operating from the low cost terminal sign an airport operating agreement that grants them the right to operate at ABIA and governs their use of the airfield, but does not lease any space in the Barbara Jordan terminal.

So if Viva Aerobus isn't considered a signatory carrier then they are paying double the landing fees as the signatory carriers pay. Seems like that would kind of offset the price break they are getting on terminal/counter space.

Originally Posted by Mikey711MN

Rumors are flying--no pun intended--that ExpressJet branded operations will cease on 9/2.

If jetBlue is serious about expanding at AUS as AustinTex mentioned in this post, then maybe the airport can convince US Airways to move from Gate 20 to Gate 4 and that would open up gate 20 to JetBlue and they could have a second gate across from the gate they use now.

According to one of the earlier competition plans posted on ABIA's website, the airport does a "gate assessment" every year on or about October 1.

Eddited to add - the link to the official press release.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080708/latu095.html?.v=101

All branded flying ends September 2.

[Major AWACS]

Originally Posted by Trae

That sucks. Houston loses a Fortune 1000 company. I don't think they were doing much anyway. I was thinking they may become the new Southwest, just smaller.

Expressjet is not going out of business, they are stopping their branded ops as "Express Jet Airlines".

Lonestar, Expressjet flies from IAH to AUS for CO.

And for texboy and everyone else it is now official:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080708/latu095.html?.v=101

ExpressJet Announces Fleet Allocation Plans
Tuesday July 8, 8:38 pm ET
ExpressJet Airlines suspends branded commercial operations


HOUSTON, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- ExpressJet Airlines announced today that it will suspend flying under several lines of its at-risk flying operations in September 2008. ExpressJet mutually agreed to terminate its agreements with Delta Air Lines effective September 1, 2008 and will cease its branded (XE) commercial passenger flight operations on September 2, 2008. The 39 aircraft currently used in these operations will be among those returned to the lessor no later than June 2009....

Ciao,
AWACS

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by Capt AWACS

Lonestar, Expressjet flies from IAH to AUS for CO.

Really? 'Cause I sure don't see any CO regional jet service to IAH now or after September. All I see is service on 737's

http://timetables.oag.com/aus/flights.asp

[Major AWACS]

You asked "other than cleveland, which is being dropped, where else does Continental Express fly from AUS"

You didn't say in the future you said now. CO has had express fly subs and (scheduled downgraded flights) into AUS now. They will not all be loaded into Sabre and other res systems ahead of time. CO had said AUS will go mainline some time ago and already pulled CHQ out of the market, but ExpressJet as CoEX is still authorized, under current contract to fly to AUS, and does. I had one of those flights just 3 weeks ago. You will still see occasional downgrades to COEX at least through the end of July to AUS.

According to my XJET sources, all permanent party XJET folks will be out of Austin before 2 Sept. So yes, in the future you are correct-You won't see CO rergionals at AUS, but now, and through at least the end of July you will, on occasion see them.

Ciao,
AWACS

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by LoneStarMike

(From ABIA e-mail)

A: The airlines self report all monthly activity to ABIA (aircraft type, weight, # landings, passenger and cargo stats). VivaAerobus submitted a total of 22,040 passengers. Based on what vivaAerobus submitted , the stats on page 15 are correct. However, staff is checking with the carrier for clarification, as capacity does not match the self-reported figure. If the carrier's provided submission is incorrect, a revised May 08 activity report will be posted.

Don't be surprised to see a revised activity report posted in the near future, and if so, May 2008 will not be the all-time mothly record they said it was.

Looks like ABIA has now revised the May Activity Report As I thought, Viva Aerobus totals were wrong. Instead of having 22,040 passengers, they had 11,020. That brought the monthly passenger total down to 825,669 - so not an all-time monthly record, but close. The current all-time monthly record is July 2007 with 832,455 passengers.

The good news is our huge increase in the amount of international passengers. Looking at the detailed activity report for May, AUS had 14,606 international passengers - up 747% over May 2007's total of 1,725 international passengers. January through May, 2008 AUS has seen 21,057 international passengers - - up 180% from Jan - May 2007's total of 7,532 international passengers.

For all of 2007, AUS only saw 27,102 international passengers, so we should easily blow through that total when June 2008 statistics are released in a few weeks.

In other news US Airways will end it's 1 daily roundtrip to/from Las Vegas on August 17. I noticed, however, that they've added a third daily nonstop roundtrip between Austin and Charlotte. See:

http://timetables.oag.com/aus/

The original press release called for only two. I'm not sure when US added the third frequency.

[Major AWACS]

United is ending its non-stop Austin-LAX flight 2 November.


Ciao,
AWACS

[Major AWACS]

In addition, UA is reducing frequency on their Denver-AUS flights from 4 to 3.

Just after the UA flight to LAX ends, WN is going to ad a second daily flight though.

Ciao,
AWACS

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by Capt AWACS

In addition, UA is reducing frequency on their Denver-AUS flights from 4 to 3.

Just after the UA flight to LAX ends, WN is going to ad a second daily flight though

And the same day Southwest adds the second daily nonstop to LAX, they're adding a third daily nonstop to Denver.

[Major AWACS]

And for the SAT flyer Midwest airlines ends service the begining of September.

Ciao,
AWACS

[Jdawgboy]

The whole airline industry is really hurting right now and it is affecting just about every airport in the nation even the healthier ones like ABIA.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by Capt AWACS

And for the SAT flyer Midwest airlines ends service the begining of September.

Considering this is a SAT service announcement, it might be more relevant if they were posted in the thread dedicated to SAT

[LoneStarMike]

From the Austin Business Journal

reprinted on Californiaaviation.org

Friday, July 18, 2008

Airport's revenue increasing despite airline industry woes
By Jean Kwon
The Austin (TX) Business Journal


Despite a national airport slowdown driven by airline woes, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport will surpass budgeted revenue projections as the city finishes the fiscal year.

ABIA's health is due, in large part, to a continued emphasis on nonairline revenue -- concessions, parking fees and car rentals -- that experts say is key to navigating airports as airlines experience turbulence.

But ABIA has not been immune. Several airlines recently announced they are reducing or pulling service at ABIA as part of larger cuts nationwide.

American Airlines and Continental Airlines announced they will reduce their number of nonstop flights at ABIA starting in September, and AeroMexico stopped its service last month. ExpressJet will cease operation as a carrier
in September.

And long term, airline mergers could result in several more vacant gates, says Shane Harbinson, assistant director at the city's aviation department.

[LoneStarMike]

Although there's no official press release posted on the website, AUS released its' Detailed Activity Report for June

Total passengers were 869,308, up 8.5% from June 2007. This is also a new all-time monthly record, beating the old record of 832,455 passengers set back in July of 2007. Year-to-date passengers total 4,551,307 passengers - up 6.19% from the same period in 2007.

For June, AUS had 16,177 international passengers - up 359% from June 2007. Year-to-date international passengers totaled 37,174 - up 236% from the same period in 2007. Our Year to date total is roughly 10,000 more international passengers than we had for all of 2007.

Also, as I posted earlier, AUS had 14,606 international passengers in May 2008. Today, San Antonio released their passenger totals for May 2008 and they had 14,070 international passengers, so for the first time in aviation history, AUS had slightly more international travelers during the month of May than our neighbors to the south. Pretty impressive when you consider that San Antonio has always kicked Austin's butt when it comes to international passenger counts.

Since AUS had relatively few international passengers for the first four months of the year compared to San Antonio, I think San Antonio's international passenger count for the entire year will still exceed Austin's, (unless Viva Aerobus adds additional flights) but Austin will be a lot closer to SAT than we've ever been with regards to our number of international travelers. Most of the new international traffic can be attributed to Viva Aerobus.

Speaking of Viva Aerobus -

Originally Posted by texastarkus

Viva is tweeking their flight times and expect to see additional flight(s) to Cancun and Monterrey with the last inbound flight as late as 10pm. Additional routes are in the works and will be announced soon - probably mid to late July. They're waiting on delivery of additional aircraft.

Any new developments regarding your earlier comment about additional Viva Aerobus flights? And if they do add new flights are you sure they're going to be to Cancun and Monterey? I've heard that the Monterey flights weren't doing very well - averaging about 55% full. In fact, if you go to VivaAerobus' website, they're running a promotion where they're giving away tickets on the Monterey flights during July and August on certain days of the week. (You still have to pay for the taxes.)

Originally, they were supposed to have served Guadalajara, Leon, Queretaro, and Puebla. Since then, they've pulled out of Queretaro, and they have yet to start up any operations at all at Guadalajara or Puebla - not even from Monterey.

Their latest application to DOT indicated they wanted to fly to Puerta Vallarta and Veracruz. Veracruz would be served three times per week and Puerto Vallarta would be served 4 times per week. I'm thinking any new flights might be to those cities.

[texboy]

Eh, Viva's numbers don't really mean a whole lot to ABIA traffic....those kind of numbers would happen anywhere....lets just be honest. Im sure Viva probably would have been better off moving to SA...but Austin just loves giving out tax money, so why wouldn't viva go there. I personally would never fly on that god foresaken airline.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by texboy

Im sure Viva probably would have been better off moving to SA...but Austin just loves giving out tax money, so why wouldn't viva go there.

That was most people's reaction when they first heard about Viva Aerobus coming to Austin because they had no idea how this deal was structured. The fact of the matter is, Austin didn't give out any tax money at all for this deal.

All Austin did was lease 40 acres of land to General Aviation Commercial Aviation Services (GECAS), The land housed an old unused Texas National Guard Building that wasn't generating any income for the city. GECAS is the party who paid to renovate the building into a low-cost terminal. GECAS will own and operate the terminal for the next 30 years. If passenger levels reach a certain number, it will be GECAS who pays for the design and construction of a more permanent facility, not the City. GECAS will be the party who operates the terminal (and parking area and rental car facility for the low-cost terminal) Any profits made by GECAS will be split with the City.

At the end of the 30-year lease, the land (and anything that gets built on it) will revert back to the City.

If the project ends up failing, it will be GECAS who's out the money - not the City of Austin, and Austin will still get to collect the lease payment for the next 30 years for the 40 acres they leased to GECAS.

Additionally, since any airline using the low cost terminal is not leasing space from the City, but rather GECAS, those airlines don't enjoy signatory status, meaning they have to pay double the landing fees that the signatory carriers in the main terminal do. And btw, the revenue from landing fees does not get split with GECAS. That money goes entirely to the City. Additioanlly, more passengers paying for more parking and more visitors flying in and paying rental car fees increases the airport's non-airline revenue. The more non-airline revenue the city collects, the less money they have to charge the airlines, which keeps costs lower for all the other airlines at Austin, regardless of which terminal they operate out of.

Sounds like a pretty shrewd business deal to me.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by Capt AWACS

In addition, UA is reducing frequency on their Denver-AUS flights from 4 to 3.

More cuts have now come to light

AA - 5 daily nonstops to Chicago O'Hare will drop to 4 on November1.

Delta - 2 daily nonstops to Salt Lake City will drop to 1 on August 23.

Northwest - 2 daily nonstops to Detroit will drop to 1 on August 19.


I verified these cuts here:

http://timetables.oag.com/aus/

[rhoby13]

Wow. And 6 months ago AUS was getting new non-stops about every week!

[hookem]

Just from my own experience traveling out of ABIA a couple of times this month, I'll bet July traffic breaks another record. It was quite busy. In addition to Viva, I'll bet the JetBlue connecting flights (also started in May, right?) have had a big impact on traffic.

However, the traffic will obviously drop as the cuts start to kick in later this summer... so I'd expect the overall year traffic to fall back and look like previous years. Maybe still a record, though.

Should be interesting to see what happens when the industry starts recovering... if JetBlue makes it through this downturn, I'd say ABIA will be in good shape -- they seem to be the most interested in expanding here. Southwest will also take more market share, but they are already so dominant here. AA and CO I expect will return to pre-downturn levels eventually. Beyond that, it's anyone's guess.