The 4,250nm range is problematic. Can'd do SFO-Tokyo; SEA-Tokyo is just under 4,200nm nonstop direct, but that's cutting it too close to allow for sub-optimal routing, winds, and alternate. Of course, it can cross the Atlantic nonstop no problem, just like the Concord, but it's the difference over t...
Jump to postIt probably takes longer to get from downtown Chicago to O'Hare in rush hour, than from downtown Toledo to DTW. As Delta has built out the hub, it becomes harder and harder to justify an RJ spoke into TOL, when you can fly nonstop, largely on mainline equipment, to almost anywhere in the world.
Jump to postDOJ's case seems pretty weak. It consists of a bunch of hyperbole and stale quotes from Doug Parker favoring consolidation (at a time when it was needed) and is very weak on facts and analysis. The definition of monopoly behavior is to use market power to reduce output and raise fares. That is not w...
Jump to postContinually acting like a fool will push you further into a corner where no will want to do any business with you and be generally unwelcome in public. Another measure that can and should be implemented is that the FAA, rather than individual airlines, should maintain a "no fly" list for ...
Jump to postInform all passengers that offenders will serve a minimum mandatory time in a federal jail, far away from their loved ones. +1. The FAA's civil penalty authority is not enough. Fines have not deterred unruly behavior. This is not incumbent upon airlines to solve. Congress needs to act and empower F...
Jump to postThe 175 will be going there at some point. SkyWest has done 175 trials at ASE in the past. Not in commercial service, but flew various approach profiles, missed approaches, extraction procedure, etc. It technically fits within the gross weight/span envelope at ASE, but for operational reasons it on...
Jump to postThe new CRJ550s that United is taking are basically CRJ700s with a few seats removed and a paperwork change to stay within scope. So, UA will have no problem maintaining ASE service indefinitely. You can be sure that other airlines won't cede a monopoly to UA.
Jump to postThis seems like ALPA is just using this as an excuse to get more benefits for their pilots. Of course it is! Every contract change sought by the company is an opportunity to seek more pay and work protections. You could hand ALPA a six-scoop banana split and they'd argue to 'respect' the pilots it ...
Jump to postI doubt it. Getting spare parts and support will eventually become an issue as the types get older and rarer. They will surely last a long time, but 60 is too far. For comparisons sake, the 707 entered service 62 years ago (and last delivery 42 years ago), and except for military aircraft and the o...
Jump to postI've occasionally seen a 747SP on the ramp at ACY. I can imagine lots of gold fixtures and oriental rugs. Pretty cool ride. Also favored by Austin Powers.
Jump to postFolks, the airport authority bought land in Paulding County for a potential second airport years ago when it was out in the sticks and there was outrage then and nobody lived out there. What the metro area needs is a viable public transportation system that allows the folks in the north side to get...
Jump to postU.S.-London O&D traffic dwarfs Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt. This is very much a temporary aberration.
Jump to postThat is emphatically not the case at DAL, where WN was able to lock up the airport and destroy gates that are necessary for competition. Many Airlines, including AA multiple times, have tried to make a go of it at DAL most have failed unless they have a small knitch of clients. Even CO/UA abandon t...
Jump to postWe are spoiled here in the U.S. All flat, easily accessible walkways many with moving sidewalks and trams. SLC is a dream compared to the likes of FRA and CDG where you're climbing up and down staircases and through tunnels and access ways that look like they should be hardhat areas.
Jump to postOr....... make DAL a "solely WN airport" and no other airline allowed to be at DAL. This, I agree with. DAL, in some sense, actually "belongs" to WN. IMO, this would solve some headaches. But then again, others would cry foul. Like...why would a non-WN airline want to be at DAL ...
Jump to postOr....... make DAL a "solely WN airport" and no other airline allowed to be at DAL. This, I agree with. DAL, in some sense, actually "belongs" to WN. IMO, this would solve some headaches. But then again, others would cry foul. Like...why would a non-WN airline want to be at DAL ...
Jump to postWhat do any of the posts of the last three days have to do with the topic of this thread: "Will the city of Dallas drop it's lawsuit against DL?" Stay on topic or lock the thread... It's not that simple. The reasons are all bound up in the conflicting interests and obligations of the 5 pa...
Jump to postIf everyone would just let DAL and DFW stand on their own then DAL could expand as they see fit and accommodate whoever wants to serve the airport. Exactly this. Let the MARKET determine airlines/flights/number of gates. Yes, markets fluctuate but then that's where innovation comes in. The problem ...
Jump to postThere's no need to close DAL. The metro region needs the aviation infrastructure. The protectionist rationale for the Write Amendment and its 2000 era revision no longer exist. DFW will survive just fine alongside DAL. There's nothing wrong with a 2 airport system, just like we have 3 in NYC, 3 in W...
Jump to postThe mid 2000's revision to the Wright Amendment was one of the worst examples of smokey back room politics in aviation history. Shameful that it resulted in the sanctioned destruction of useful aviation infrastructure, and enshrined SWA as a monopolist at LUV. At the time, Delta, Northwest, Continen...
Jump to postWhat is ALPA ranting about? I thought scissor hubs would be allowed. ANA from KIX, Haneda, and NRT to PDX, SEA, and YVR with passengers switching planes in ANC as needed. Maybe they are saying KE from SEL and transferring to that ANA flight to PDX would not be allowed? Who was suggesting that? Look...
Jump to postWhat is ALPA ranting about? I thought scissor hubs would be allowed. ANA from KIX, Haneda, and NRT to PDX, SEA, and YVR with passengers switching planes in ANC as needed. Maybe they are saying KE from SEL and transferring to that ANA flight to PDX would not be allowed? Who was suggesting that? Look...
Jump to postRemember, Northwest was basically destroyed by the 1989 hostile takeover. Prior to the hostile takeover, Northwest had almost no debt, and as a result, had extremely low operating costs. After the takeover, Northwest was saddled with an almost lethal amount of debt, and as a result, their strategy ...
Jump to postI hope ANC didn't pay some "aviation" consulting firm a lot of money for this analysis. One thing is clear: most passengers prefer a nonstop flight. Most won't connect through ANC, if a competitively priced nonstop is available. Why add 2-3 hours to your trip> The mileage may be similar, ...
Jump to postThe biggest opportunity here is for AS to set up a hub with Asian/Pacific airlines that connect a bunch of second tier cities on both sides of the pacific plus the aforementioned possibilities of MEX and YUL. The best sketch for a passenger hub is any asian city that can reach ANC with a 737MAX or ...
Jump to postThey are missing the point. Nobody is proposing to "allow foreign carriers to establish hubs in Alaska for U.S.-Asia passengers, with various foreign carriers operating all legs of the journey"; the purpose of passenger transfer rights is to allow passengers to fly through a U.S. airport ...
Jump to postALPA pointed out in its comments on the DOT action that this is a giant nothing burger. Little more than a P.R. opportunity for ANC -- "As ALPA explained in the Puerto Rico proceeding, we believe that such relief is no longer necessary given the proliferation of Open Skies Agreements that are i...
Jump to postNo. NWA was looking to dowgnguage the Pacific and knew years ago they had too much TPAC capacity relative to the size of their domestic network. They purchased the 744 only because it was the only airplane that had the range to do the job, prior to the availability of the 777. NWA also knew that NRT...
Jump to postAs noted, the DL/WS deal is about much more than just LGA. It is about U.S.-Canada transborder competition in hundreds of city-pair markets, mostly outside of NYC. The success of failure of the DL/WS alliance may well determine whether Canada has just one - or two - carriers. These are not decisions...
Jump to postWell, turkey digested. I remain confident this will get fixed early in the next administration. DOT can't keep making policy in the rear-view mirror based on what they thought was going to happen in 2010. SWA was supposed to outbid everyone and win at least one of the LGA bundles. They went cheap at...
Jump to postHope everyone enjoys their turkey. A clear lack of understanding of antitrust law and international aviation principles. This deal should have been approved without condition - and it likely will be when the new sheriff rides into town. As I said a month ago, ain't no way DL was giving up a single s...
Jump to postThis decision was handed out by the most pro-business administration in the recent history. If even they think this JV merited 8 slot pairs to be divested due to how it was obtained in the first place, that should tell you how strong of a case there is to have this decision. Any future administrati...
Jump to postI’m not sure why this is hard. The slots were not to be operated any longer by a carrier in competition with the monopolist. That’s a clear harm to competition. I'm not sure what you mean? As an antitrust lawyer, I've never heard of a competitor with a 45% market share being defined as a "mono...
Jump to postThis decision was handed out by the most pro-business administration in the recent history. If even they think this JV merited 8 slot pairs to be divested due to how it was obtained in the first place, that should tell you how strong of a case there is to have this decision. Any future administrati...
Jump to postOK. Not to be operated any longer by a carrier in competition with the oligopolist? As you know since you work in competition law, the harm to competition isn’t determined by the label we apply to the largest market participant. Hello, friend. I no longer work for any carrier nor serve any agenda. ...
Jump to postThere is no specific and identifiable competitive harm whatsoever. DOT would simply like to take slots from a legit Canadian flag incumbent operator and give them to U.S. ULCCs or LCCs to serve its own domestic policy objectives. We would have a fit if China or Japan did that to us. I’m not sure wh...
Jump to postThe key difference here compared to your hypothetical and historic examples is (as ScottB said) that WS originally received their slots in a DOT coordinated auction designed to limit DL's effective slot control at LGA. The arguments regarding overall US-Canada and specific market competition are va...
Jump to postRestrictive slot policies, like the fact that US carriers are prohibited from operating into Toronto's preferred business airport? I don't quite understand your point about WN. WN has lowered fares in many city pairs that lacked LFC service from NYC before WN opened them (and the same is true at DC...
Jump to postThe precedent is neither dangerous nor troubling. WestJet acquired their LGA slots as a competition remedy -- to prevent greater dominance at LGA by Delta as a result of their slot swap with US Airways. It makes zero sense for resources granted or acquired as part of a remedy for an anticompetitive...
Jump to postHow is it solely a domestic competitive issue if WS was allowed to acquire the slots? If the DOT was solely concerned about domestic competition at LGA they would have mandated that the slots go to a domestic carrier. The rules regarding US and Canadian slot allocations at US slot controlled airpor...
Jump to postAnd I mean, looking at the actual ruling itself, it did seem a bit arbitrary and not very fair to DL/WS How so? WS's slots at LGA came from the slot divestitures required back when Delta and US Airways swapped gates and slots at DCA and LGA, respectively. Allowing Delta indirect control of those sl...
Jump to postAn unfortunate incident and a clear failure of judgment, but the punishment seems to fit the near-crime. The HIMS program provides rigorous oversight and rehabilitation for pilots that have suffered from alcohol issues. We all make mistakes and this guy does not deserve to have his life ruined over ...
Jump to postIn the next 10 years, the PATH line will get extended to EWR. For most people in lower to midtown Manhattan, EWR will be just as convenient as LGA. DL is going to take this deal, because it's a small price to pay. If you're an investment banker living on the upper east side or upper west side, you'...
Jump to postLGA slots right now is an albatross for DL. Demand out of LGA on business routes is next to 0, EWR and even JFK are doing much better than LGA in terms of demand. And this trend will continue for a while as companies have allowed people to work from home until at least next summer. All of this mean...
Jump to postThe DOT decision was incredibly over-reaching and a slap in the face to WestJet and the Canadian competition authorities who approved the transaction more than a year ago. I would not be surprised to see both carriers walk on this approval, which comes at too high a price. AA/BA walked on an ATI app...
Jump to postThere was no way DOT was going to issue such a mandate. DOT is an Executive Agency, and answers to the President. No way Secretary Chao (Mitch McConnell's wife) was going to put out an Order contrary to the Administration.
Jump to postCape Air is its own unique brand, serving niche markets, e.g., BOS to the Cape, Nantucket, Martha's Vinyard. It carries not only the AA code, but also B6 and UA. Very different from an Eagle Branded operation, which to most consumers is indistinguishable from the AA brand.
Jump to post'Excellence' and Northwest don't go in the same sentence without a negation. It was a miserable airline. In sixteen years (1995 to end of ops in 2010) of ratings by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (which originated at the University of Michigan, btw), NW beat the industry median just once....
Jump to postB6 is not going with the tag flights. That was canceled once they got the exemptions. B6 is doing flight schedule now month to month. It may show certain flights in June but that’s not happening. The company hasn’t even come up with a June flight schedule yet. They are not closing cities, but tempo...
Jump to postill never understand why, within the U.S. when a tag is added, people cant buy just the tag? How does that hurt anyone, it only helps and I for one have been asking for Intra-state Florida services to be expanded so we don't have to drive the killer roads forever. I would certainly book SRQ-MCO, I ...
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