AUSTIN | ABIA Updates

[KevinFromTexas]

For the looky loos.

https://www.facebook.com/abia/?fref=nf

Air Force One, carrying President Obama, is scheduled to land at Austin-Bergstrom this Friday at about 1:10 p.m. Just before arrival, an airfield freeze of about 20 minutes will take place at the airport. During that time there will not be any aircraft movement of any kind, including take offs and landings, or human movement, including loading or unloading of bags and refueling. The freeze will be lifted and normal operations will continue shortly after the President and his motorcade have left airport property.
The same freeze will take place in the opposite order for the President's departure, scheduled for 8 p.m. So for those flying in or out of the airport between about 1-1:30 p.m. or about 7:30-8 p.m. on Fri. March 11, anticipate minor delays. Roadways leading to and from the airport may also be temporarily closed around these times to allow for motorcade access. Plan ahead & give yourself extra time.

https://www.facebook.com/abia/photos/a.1...3983175/1006858886030616/?type=3&theater

[ATCZERO]

I looked into the traffic count but unfortunately it doesn't break it down by group (carrier vs GA vs military). Looks like we will just have to wait till the end of the month.

[Tyrone Shoes]

Stolen from Airliners.net

Volaris Applies For Austin And Milwaukee

Mexican LCC has applied with DOT today for authority to commence service

to Austin Texas and Milwaukee Wisconsin.

Carrier says it initially seeks to connect AUS and MKE with Guadalajara Mexico.


No schedule or start up date provided

Related they also applied today to add Durango from LAX.


http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/6654283/

[DoubleC]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Shoes

Stolen from Airliners.net

Volaris Applies For Austin And Milwaukee

Mexican LCC has applied with DOT today for authority to commence service

to Austin Texas and Milwaukee Wisconsin.

Carrier says it initially seeks to connect AUS and MKE with Guadalajara Mexico.


No schedule or start up date provided

Related they also applied today to add Durango from LAX.


http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/6654283/

Now that's an odd choice; all of our non-vacation nonstops to Mexico have always been to Monterrey and Mexico City before they get cut. Maybe we've been doing it wrong the whole time and Guadalajara is the best Mexican city for Austin in terms of flights ? Or maybe it'll be over within a few months... you can't go wrong with a flight to the capital.

To be fair, Aeromar didn't really have a lot of recognition like Aeromexico and "was aimed for the business traveler". We haven't had a major Mexican carrier here since they left years ago. Maybe this flight will be here to stay considering our many successes in the past few years?

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by DoubleC

Now that's an odd choice; all of our non-vacation nonstops to Mexico have always been to Monterrey and Mexico City before they get cut. Maybe we've been doing it wrong the whole time and Guadalajara is the best Mexican city for Austin in terms of flights ? Or maybe it'll be over within a few months... you can't go wrong with a flight to the capital.

To be fair, Aeromar didn't really have a lot of recognition like Aeromexico and "was aimed for the business traveler". We haven't had a major Mexican carrier here since they left years ago. Maybe this flight will be here to stay considering our many successes in the past few years?

I've only skimmed through their wikipidea which may or may not be accurate but Volaris has a codeshare with Southwest and Condor.

[Austin1971]

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[Digatisdi]

February numbers released

Interesting notes:

Southwest Airlines up 23%, American Airlines up 36%, Frontier Airlines up 38%, Alaska Airlines up 43%, British Airways up 14%, Allegiant Air up 61%

Total for February was up 12%

Also the person who writes these has issues spelling "totalled"

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by Digatisdi

February numbers released

Interesting notes:

Southwest Airlines up 23%, American Airlines up 36%, Frontier Airlines up 38%, Alaska Airlines up 43%, British Airways up 14%, Allegiant Air up 61%

Total for February was up 12%

Also the person who writes these has issues spelling "totalled"

The original release was a misprint. Traffic was up by 13.5% in Feb '16 not 12%. The link above has been corrected by the airport to reflect the accurate numbers.

[ATXboom]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

The original release was a misprint. Traffic was up by 13.5% in Feb '16 not 12%. The link above has been corrected by the airport to reflect the accurate numbers.

I hope the city needs no more evidence to stage the next expansion immediately after the east terminal expansion. My hopes aren't high though.

[Digatisdi]

As for Volaris, I honestly believe that the issue with Aeromar was that pretty much nobody had heard of it. I know that I didn't know what it was until they started serving AUS. People know Volaris, it's the 2nd largest airline by marketshare in Mexico, only after Aeroméxico. I feel like Guadalajara is a good choice, especially with companies like Freescale Semiconductor, IBM, Intel, and Oracle having offices in both our cities. It's also a pretty nice tourist destination, so I've heard. I think that if fares are anything like they are to SAT, which I was able to see at around $205 USD (after taxes and fees), this could be a fairly successful route.

[electricron]

Is there any information which flight destinations are the most popular from Austin? Where do flyers from Austin fly to?

Before building more gates, are there any airlines wishing to lease more gates? Which should come first, Austin building more gates before lessees request them, or lessees requesting them before building them?

[brando]

Originally Posted by electricron

Is there any information which flight destinations are the most popular from Austin? Where do flyers from Austin fly to?

Before building more gates, are there any airlines wishing to lease more gates? Which should come first, Austin building more gates before lessees request them, or lessees requesting them before building them?

They'll have to close a few gates during the last phase of the terminal expansion but they won't get to that for a while. Keep in mind allegint and another budget airline are moving to the south terminal.

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by electricron

Is there any information which flight destinations are the most popular from Austin? Where do flyers from Austin fly to?

Before building more gates, are there any airlines wishing to lease more gates? Which should come first, Austin building more gates before lessees request them, or lessees requesting them before building them?

Per Wikipedia, DFW - 603,000, Atlanta - 469,000, Denver - 380,000, Dallas Love Field - 375,000, LA - 346,000, Houston - 312,000, Chicago - 278,000, Phoenix - 274,000,
SanFransico - 229,000, and JFK - 188,000 round out the top ten destinations. Mine is NY via Newark.

[jbssfelix]

Originally Posted by the Genral

Per Wikipedia, DFW - 603,000, Atlanta - 469,000, Denver - 380,000, Dallas Love Field - 375,000, LA - 346,000, Houston - 312,000, Chicago - 278,000, Phoenix - 274,000,
SanFransico - 229,000, and JFK - 188,000 round out the top ten destinations. Mine is NY via Newark.

Unsurprisingly, all the hubs:
DFW, Chicago, Phoenix, LAX, JFK = AA
Atlanta = Delta
Denver, Houston, San Fran, Chicago = United

[DoubleC]

But are those really Austin's top origins and destinations? Those could just be where people fly the most to straight from Austin, regardless of layovers.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by DoubleC

But are those really Austin's top origins and destinations? Those could just be where people fly the most to straight from Austin, regardless of layovers.

That's a good point . It would be interesting to see what the final destinations are. Maybe taking a look at just the direct flights that are not hubs? I'm sure there's data about the cities that are the top destinations from Austin but I'm assuming only the airlines and/or the airport would have that information.

[jg6544]

Originally Posted by DoubleC

But are those really Austin's top origins and destinations? Those could just be where people fly the most to straight from Austin, regardless of layovers.

As long as I've known anything about it - going back 60 years or more - Austin has always been a "spoke destination" - people fly into Dallas or Houston and change planes for Austin. Austin has more direct flights to more cities now, of course; it has become a very large city with a vital economy. But I question whether it generates enough traffic, even today, to have dramatically more nonstops to major US and international cities than it does now.

[drummer]

I've got a direct flight from Hong Kong to DFW in a couple months, followed by a flight to Austin. I guarantee I'm not the only one doing those types of flights for work, etc. It was either DFW or Houston, though I've also gone through Chicago, San Francisco, LA, etc...

[the Genral]

Most people, in fact the vast majority of people flying out of Austin, end up at the 10 hub airports I listed from wikipedia. I couldn't find any data on final destinations. But from that list, half of the top ten could be a final destination, Denver, Chicago, NY, San Francisco, LAX, where as Houston, Dallas, maybe not so much, and Atlanta and Phoenix, not sure. But if you are flying outside the country, even with our own daily non stop to London, you are going through the top ten. Many people I talk to insist on not flying non stop to anywhere over 5 hours flight time so they can at least stretch their legs between flight. My buddy flies frequently to London and refuses to non stop it from ABIA. He one stops either Atlanta, or JFK, not because its cheaper, but again, to stretch his legs.

[DoubleC]

We've pretty much got service to most major cities in the U.S., minus cities like Mileaukee and Kansas City. If any airline would serve to these non-hubs, the clear taker is Southwest.

Seems like lines aren't as short as they used to be.

http://kxan.com/2016/04/04/travelers-held-up-by-long-lines-at-austin-airport/