AUSTIN | ABIA Updates

[KevinFromTexas]

It's not just rumor apparently.

http://www.nycaviation.com/2013/01/d.../#.UQLzW79EF8E

[The ATX]

CNBC did a story on Dell buying a Dreamliner on Thursday. I suspect the story came out as "advertisement" for the Dreamliner due to the recent bad press, and I suspect Dell got a discount in exchange for the story.

[LoneStarMike]

Year-end totals were posted today.

December 2012 Passenger & Air Cargo Activity

Passenger Activity: Total passenger traffic for December 2012 was 786,382, up 4.5% compared to December 2011. December 2012 enplanements totaled 400,404, up 4.5%

[SNIP]

Passenger Activity: Total passenger traffic for January – December YTD was 9,430,314 up 4% compared to January – December 2011. January – December 2012 enplanements totaled 4,719,628, up 4%

(We were actually up 3.85% according to the more detailed report. The press release always rounds the figures up/down.)

Link to a more detailed report:

December 2012 Aviation Activity Report

[nixcity]

At what point will the airport hit a maximum number of passengers (w/o the expansion)? If we see that same rate of growth, which I think we will and then some, we will be around 9.8 million for 2013.

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by Hill Country

CNBC did a story on Dell buying a Dreamliner on Thursday. I suspect the story came out as "advertisement" for the Dreamliner due to the recent bad press, and I suspect Dell got a discount in exchange for the story.

And today's news is that Dell is taking the company private in a stock buyout in order to get some breathing room to re-imagine the company without stockholders and analysts breathing down his neck for big quarterly results. How does a Dreamliner factor into any of that? Who knows.

[Austin1971]

[q

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by nixcity

At what point will the airport hit a maximum number of passengers (w/o the expansion)? If we see that same rate of growth, which I think we will and then some, we will be around 9.8 million for 2013.

I believe ABIA's current max PAX is somewhere between 11 & 12 million. At the 2012 rate of growth (~4%/year), ABIA will pass 11MM PAX in 2016 and 12MM in early 2019. However, I believe with the international attention Austin is gaining, the growth rate of ABIA "could" exceed the 2012 rate of 4%/year (should the City wake up to its own potential). In fact, I believe ABIA could have surpassed it several years ago...if only Austin had more forward thinking; aggressive, business-minded leadership.

Jim Smith has been and will remain a very poor decision to lead Austin in its aviation future (see his CV; he has no experience in growing a medium or larger aviation hub). Smaller markets (domestic and globally) have already achieved much more than Austin in terms of aviation progress!!! The man is completely opposite of aggressive. In this world economy, one must be aggressive to succeed!

[nixcity]

Thanks, yeah I'm afraid we start expansion too late and we will hit a saturation point and it will feel way too overcrowded for a few years......I agree that we need to be aggressive and forward thinking or we will lose our best chances of being one of 5-6 cities being most talked about around the globe in the states.

[Austin_Expert]

RON apron expansion, east infill, and consolidated rental car facility, among other changes that have happened or soon will, were all necessary for the terminal expansion.

Other changes such as an expanded customs facility capable of handling 10x as many passengers an hour are also a big step in the right direction.

When the time comes, ABIA will be well positioned to add gates to the east side of the terminal. It's just not necessary at the moment.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by Austin_Expert

RON apron expansion, east infill, and consolidated rental car facility, among other changes that have happened or soon will, were all necessary for the terminal expansion.

Other changes such as an expanded customs facility capable of handling 10x as many passengers an hour are also a big step in the right direction.

When the time comes, ABIA will be well positioned to add gates to the east side of the terminal. It's just not necessary at the moment.

In other words, they have a master plan and they are sticking to it.

[Austin1971]

Ai

[GoldenBoot]

Virgin America begins daily service to SFO on May 21, 2013...

[KevinFromTexas]

Yep.

http://www.statesman.com/news/travel...rgstrom/nWMTk/

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by Austin1971

I'd love to know how many international passengers originate at ABIA but have to connect via an international gateway to get to their final destination. That's where you need to look.....Austin will continue to grow and the airlines will fill the niche. It's all about profit. Austin is one of a few airports that doesn't need to subsidize routes. As the metro grows so will the airport connectivity to the world. The B787 is the perfect airframe to make that happen.....

I found this information on another board.

For international traffic, there is a recent Brookings Institute report that was recently released, and has 2011 O&D pax traffic for top U.S. metro areas to/from ex-border destinations. Here is the site below.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/interactives/aviation

it opens with the NYC metro area, but up near the top if you see

"Click here to choose a different metro area"

then a pulldown menu will give the option to the data of the Top 90 U.S. metro areas.

International travel to and from: Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX

2003 - 427,931
2011 - 527,373* (up 23.2% from 2003)

* includes international departures and arrivals.

Scroll down that page a little more and it gives the world region share of passengers. Looks like like Latin America/Caribbean, Western Europe, and North America (Mexico & Canada?) are the top three regions.

Austin ranked 34th out of 90 metro areas for international travelers. 1.8% of international travelers flew nonstop to/from Austin, and the rest made a transfer along the way.

Compare that to San Antonio. They had 556,600 international passengers in 2011 and ranked 33rd out of 90 metro areas for international travelers, but 23.9% of their international travelers flew nonstop, while the rest made a transfer along the way (because they have a lot more international flights than we do.)

[Mikey711MN]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

Virgin America begins daily service to SFO on May 21, 2013...

VX will be greeted with a vicious response from the established carriers on the route... UA will bump its daily service from 4x to 6x daily while JetBlue will add a second nonstop (via a redeye SFO-AUS) to make the total SFO service to a whopping 9x daily flights!

[texastarkus]

Originally Posted by Mikey711MN

VX will be greeted with a vicious response from the established carriers on the route... UA will bump its daily service from 4x to 6x daily while JetBlue will add a second nonstop (via a redeye SFO-AUS) to make the total SFO service to a whopping 9x daily flights!

all three cannot keep flying this many flights to SFO for long...something's gonna give and I bet United will cancel this route. JetBlue and Virgin will go toe to toe. Look for one if not both to announce Austin as a focus city if not a full fledged hub. Austin already is an un-official focus city for JetBlue.

[royiv]

Originally Posted by texastarkus

all three cannot keep flying this many flights to SFO for long...something's gonna give and I bet United will cancel this route. JetBlue and Virgin will go toe to toe. Look for one if not both to announce Austin as a focus city if not a full fledged hub. Austin already is an un-official focus city for JetBlue.

So the current world's largest airline and market share leader on that route is going to concede that route to VX (who is bleeding cash at an alarming rate) and B6 (who has already been competing on that route for years)? Got it.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by texastarkus

all three cannot keep flying this many flights to SFO for long...something's gonna give and I bet United will cancel this route.

United had a hub in San Francisco, though, and it can provide connections to other places from there . JetBlue's second daily flight that was just announced is a summer seasonal flight and it will go away in the fall, just like Southest's Austin to Portland flight, which also only operates during the summer. I suspect some of United's flights will also turn out to be seasonal and go away after school starts, but not all of them.

[Austin1971]

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[KevinFromTexas]

Are they talking about Austin Executive Airport with this article, or ABIA?

http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/aeros...hutdown/nWXPL/

Updated: 4:03 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22, 2013 | Posted: 4:02 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22, 2013
Dozens of Texas airports could be hit by shutdown

By DAVID KOENIG
The Associated Press

DALLAS — Federal officials say air traffic control centers at 25 smaller Texas airports could close or see hours reduced if automatic federal spending cuts take effect next week.

Travelers should expect delays when the cutbacks begin in April, the officials say.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that the reductions are part of its plan to cope with a spending reduction of $600 million during the rest of the fiscal year, which runs through Sept. 30.

The Texas facilities that could see overnight shifts eliminated: Abilene control tower, Austin tower, Corpus Christi tower, El Paso tower, Meacham tower (Fort Worth), Lubbock tower.