WOW


TPA had to bring out the de-icing equipment today....which I'm sure was covered in cobwebs.

https://www.facebook.com/FlyTPA/photos/ ... =3&theater

They usually have to use it a couple times a year. It’s rare, but not a big deal.

Possible TPA air service additions during 2018-
AS- LAX, SFO, PDX and 2nd daily SEA
B6- FLL
WN- LAX, OAK and Sat only ORF and/or RIC. Sat only CUN & MBJ.
NK- RIC, DEN, any other new station they open in 2018. Possibly something international.
F9- AUS, SAT, DTW, OMA, GRR and DSM.
Silver- GSP, CHS, AVL, CUN and SAV.
MEX- InterJet or Volaris (Unlikley until the new MEX airport opens)
BOG- Avianca, maybe Spirit

These all strike me as largely reasonable predictions, FLYKTPA. BOG, PDX, and MEX are clearly the airport's priorities. I could easily see WN resuming a flight to ORF, and B6 to FLL feels inevitable (and very overdue, given their MCO and JAX(!?) service).

The only one that I would add is MT, with MAN-TPA. I think that's TPA's next long haul market, and, other than perhaps DUB, also the last for s good while.

Would also like to see LH go daily, but the transition to higher density J aircraft means that they are already adding a significant amount of premium class capacity in 2018.

axiom wrote:

These all strike me as largely reasonable predictions, FLYKTPA. BOG, PDX, and MEX are clearly the airport's priorities. I could easily see WN resuming a flight to ORF, and B6 to FLL feels inevitable (and very overdue, given their MCO and JAX(!?) service).

The only one that I would add is MT, with MAN-TPA. I think that's TPA's next long haul market, and, other than perhaps DUB, also the last for s good while.

Would also like to see LH go daily, but the transition to higher density J aircraft means that they are already adding a significant amount of premium class capacity in 2018.

I could see LH go daily sometime in late 2019 or mid-2020. Going to mainline increases the operating costs of the flight, so LH probably will want to see how it performs before committing to daily service. I know TPA has met with Virgin and Thomas Cook about MAN, so I could see either add the service. As WN starts adding more weekly service I think we will see many new routes from them.

I always thought that the deicing process at TPA was waiting for the sun to come out and do its thing. I never thought that they actually had deicing equipment.

holeham wrote:

I always thought that the deicing process at TPA was waiting for the sun to come out and do its thing. I never thought that they actually had deicing equipment.

Same here. My reaction is more in line with yours than...

rajincajun01 wrote:

They usually have to use it a couple times a year. It’s rare, but not a big deal.

Like an eclipse?


I was @ FLL about 2 weeks ago and noticed that the place is suddenly devoid of 757. AA was never a big 757 player, but UA and DL?....tons. I think the next morning, I saw a DL 757 heading to SEA.

Is TPA the same way?....no 757s?


EDIT:

Did a quick random check on Jan 19 of ORD, DEN, IAD, IAH, EWR....nothing

They show up to ATL every so often.

FLL goes to 4 757 with the May schedule to DTW. TPA gets cut from 6 daily to 4 daily, mix of aircraft. So glad to see others agree B6 needs to get more into Intra-Florida. They can funnel people thru FLL with more short hop connections to us all over the west coast. Its 2.5 hour drive from my home to FLL and id take a B6 hop from SRQ/TPA or RSW, atleast it opens up opportunities where as now its just not feasible to connect in NYC/BOS.
They could create a dedicated fleet of 5 E-190s and call it Florida Express or something

NWADTWE16 wrote:

FLL goes to 4 757 with the May schedule to DTW. TPA gets cut from 6 daily to 4 daily, mix of aircraft. So glad to see others agree B6 needs to get more into Intra-Florida. They can funnel people thru FLL with more short hop connections to us all over the west coast. Its 2.5 hour drive from my home to FLL and id take a B6 hop from SRQ/TPA or RSW, atleast it opens up opportunities where as now its just not feasible to connect in NYC/BOS.
They could create a dedicated fleet of 5 E-190s and call it Florida Express or something

Would certainly help TLH's argument
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/to ... story.html
http://www.tallahassee.com/story/money/ ... 101829106/

JAX-FLL already exists....so really...we're omly talking about MCO & TPA. SRQ, no way....and RSW is but a 2-hour drive.



Here;s an idea I proposed back in 2002 !
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=152477&p=1380405&hilit=my+idea#p1380405

yeah but im telling you I use RSW and live 1 hour NW of the airport, exactly in between SRQ and RSW, this area is booming, think PGD for directional sense. B6 would pick up a lot more connecting flow with SRQ or yes even RSW to FLL flights a few times a day. Right now they are not even an option because they don't do that. That drive while short is not fun. FLL is a disaster for parking, traffic etc. I'm not the only one who thinks this way and I flew over 40000 miles last year so it's not like I haven't put a lot of thought into this.

NWADTWE16 wrote:

FLL goes to 4 757 with the May schedule to DTW. TPA gets cut from 6 daily to 4 daily, mix of aircraft. So glad to see others agree B6 needs to get more into Intra-Florida. They can funnel people thru FLL with more short hop connections to us all over the west coast. Its 2.5 hour drive from my home to FLL and id take a B6 hop from SRQ/TPA or RSW, atleast it opens up opportunities where as now its just not feasible to connect in NYC/BOS.
They could create a dedicated fleet of 5 E-190s and call it Florida Express or something

I have an airline that I pretended with and it was all Florida flying it was sick.

the new age AirFlorida?

We are in the lows of the winter travel season. There will be 757s showing up again in a few weeks. Long gone are the days of hourly 57s plying the skies around large Florida airports, but they're hardly gone.

Last winter/spring, I remember several daily DL 752s and 753s scheduled to TPA. UA also had at least one daily 757 from EWR.

Just checked UA for Fri March 16

DEN, IAH, EWR, ORD...nothing

By the way,.....I noticed this @ FLL last March as well.

In February and March 4 of the 5 Daily DTW-RSW-DTW rotations are 757

FLYKTPA wrote:

WN- LAX, OAK and Sat only ORF and/or RIC. Sat only CUN & MBJ.

Southwest could also add nonstop service from TPA to CVG since Delta currently only has 1 daily nonstop between CVG an TPA, since Frontier currently only operates 1 daily nonstop between CVG and TPA on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and since TPA is one of the top destinations from CVG by O&D demand according to the DOT Domestic Consumer Airfare Report. In addition, there was an article published in the Cincinnati Business Journal published on February 27, 2017 which stated that Southwest had seen demand for flights to Florida from CVG and sales for connecting flights from CVG to Florida through BWI, which can be found at https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/02/17/what-southwest-airlines-has-seen-from-cincinnati.html. CVG is also the largest market east of the West Coast that does not currently have any nonstop service to Florida on Southwest.

Southwest could also add nonstop service from CLE to TPA since Southwest is considering adding nonstop service from CLE to additional destinations, including at least one other Florida destination (FLL), and since Frontier and Spirit are currently the only airlines to have nonstop service to TPA from CLE.

In addition to LAX and OAK, Southwest could also add nonstop service from TPA to SJC and SMF if the demand is there for nonstop flights to TPA from SJC and SMF.

jplatts wrote:

FLYKTPA wrote:

WN- LAX, OAK and Sat only ORF and/or RIC. Sat only CUN & MBJ.

Southwest could also add nonstop service from TPA to CVG since Delta currently only has 1 daily nonstop between CVG an TPA, since Frontier currently only operates 1 daily nonstop between CVG and TPA on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and since TPA is one of the top destinations from CVG by O&D demand according to the DOT Domestic Consumer Airfare Report. In addition, there was an article published in the Cincinnati Business Journal published on February 27, 2017 which stated that Southwest had seen demand for flights to Florida from CVG and sales for connecting flights from CVG to Florida through BWI, which can be found at https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/02/17/what-southwest-airlines-has-seen-from-cincinnati.html. CVG is also the largest market east of the West Coast that does not currently have any nonstop service to Florida on Southwest.

Southwest could also add nonstop service from CLE to TPA since Southwest is considering adding nonstop service from CLE to additional destinations, including at least one other Florida destination (FLL), and since Frontier and Spirit are currently the only airlines to have nonstop service to TPA from CLE.

In addition to LAX and OAK, Southwest could also add nonstop service from TPA to SJC and SMF if the demand is there for nonstop flights to TPA from SJC and SMF.

If im not mistaken i believe G4 has a flight to cvg from PIE, which competes directly with the TPA-CVG flights. Since FL is gone, does anyone still fly TPA-DAY?

airtrantpa wrote:

jplatts wrote:

FLYKTPA wrote:

WN- LAX, OAK and Sat only ORF and/or RIC. Sat only CUN & MBJ.

Southwest could also add nonstop service from TPA to CVG since Delta currently only has 1 daily nonstop between CVG an TPA, since Frontier currently only operates 1 daily nonstop between CVG and TPA on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and since TPA is one of the top destinations from CVG by O&D demand according to the DOT Domestic Consumer Airfare Report. In addition, there was an article published in the Cincinnati Business Journal published on February 27, 2017 which stated that Southwest had seen demand for flights to Florida from CVG and sales for connecting flights from CVG to Florida through BWI, which can be found at https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/02/17/what-southwest-airlines-has-seen-from-cincinnati.html. CVG is also the largest market east of the West Coast that does not currently have any nonstop service to Florida on Southwest.

Southwest could also add nonstop service from CLE to TPA since Southwest is considering adding nonstop service from CLE to additional destinations, including at least one other Florida destination (FLL), and since Frontier and Spirit are currently the only airlines to have nonstop service to TPA from CLE.

In addition to LAX and OAK, Southwest could also add nonstop service from TPA to SJC and SMF if the demand is there for nonstop flights to TPA from SJC and SMF.

If im not mistaken i believe G4 has a flight to cvg from PIE, which competes directly with the TPA-CVG flights. Since FL is gone, does anyone still fly TPA-DAY?

WN did for a year or two and then completely left DAY. I’m pretty sure DAY is one of TPA’s largest unserved markets.

airtrantpa wrote:

If im not mistaken i believe G4 has a flight to cvg from PIE, which competes directly with the TPA-CVG flights. Since FL is gone, does anyone still fly TPA-DAY?

Allegiant does have nonstop service to PIE from both CVG and DAY, but DAY no longer has any nonstop service to TPA on any airline.

The DOT Domestic Consumer Airfare Report is showing an average of 387 passengers a day who travel between CVG and TPA in Q2 2017, and this figure excludes the Allegiant CVG-PIE nonstops but includes those who travel between CVG and TPA with a connection. Delta only will have 1 daily nonstop between CVG and TPA in Summer 2018 on a MD-90, and the demand for CVG-TPA flights actually exceeds the number of seats available on the DL CVG-TPA nonstops. Frontier also will only be operating its CVG-TPA nonstop service on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays in Summer 2018.

The demand actually might be there for Southwest to add CVG-TPA nonstop service, even with Allegiant serving PIE nonstop from CVG, as the demand sometimes exceeds the total number of seats available on the Delta CVG-TPA nonstops on the days that Frontier does not operate CVG-TPA nonstop service.

From TPA website (22 June 2017):
“San Diego was one of three domestic targets presented to the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority Board in November 2016 as part of TPA’s five-year Air Service Development strategy. In less than eight months TPA has secured service to two of the three on that list - San Diego and Salt Lake City - with service to Salt Lake beginning Dec. 18. Portland is the remaining domestic target market.”

Unfortunately, I don’t see PDX-TPA anytime soon. I’ve loved Tampa’s airport since the mid-70s.

jbpdx wrote:

From TPA website (22 June 2017):
“San Diego was one of three domestic targets presented to the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority Board in November 2016 as part of TPA’s five-year Air Service Development strategy. In less than eight months TPA has secured service to two of the three on that list - San Diego and Salt Lake City - with service to Salt Lake beginning Dec. 18. Portland is the remaining domestic target market.”

Unfortunately, I don’t see PDX-TPA anytime soon. I’ve loved Tampa’s airport since the mid-70s.

TPA-PDX is one of the largest unserved city pairs in the US now. It's long and thin, but feasible. I imagine the route is contingent on AS, which has more pressing matters to tend to. Could see it as a way to relieve PacNW traffic flows from SEA, given how full TPA-SEA is and limits on the growth capacity available at SEA.

JetBlue had PDX-MCO on a silver platter but didn’t jump. It’s been a successful route for Alaska. Now they (B6) have PDX-FLL if they want it. That will likely be the next route from Portland to Florida. AA doesn’t seem interested in PDX-MIA.

jbpdx wrote:

JetBlue had PDX-MCO on a silver platter but didn’t jump. It’s been a successful route for Alaska. Now they (B6) have PDX-FLL if they want it. That will likely be the next route from Portland to Florida. AA doesn’t seem interested in PDX-MIA.

I don't disagree with that -- only with the assessment that TPA-PDX may also prove to be a growth opportunity sooner rather than later.

JetBlue has Caribbean connections at FLL plus Miami metro is much bigger than Tampa Bay. AA has pretty much ceded a lot of Portland-South America traffic to Aeromexico, which makes PDX-MIA more unlikely now.

NWADTWE16 wrote:

In February and March 4 of the 5 Daily DTW-RSW-DTW rotations are 757

That's fine and dandy....but we were talking about TPA, not RSW

You might as well be telling me that DTW-HNL is all 757

727LOVER wrote:

NWADTWE16 wrote:

In February and March 4 of the 5 Daily DTW-RSW-DTW rotations are 757

That's fine and dandy....but we were talking about TPA, not RSW

You might as well be telling me that DTW-HNL is all 757

To be fair, I think we were generally commenting on the pull down of 757 capacity across Florida. It's striking, even if the 321s have almost the exact seating capacity.

jbpdx wrote:

JetBlue has Caribbean connections at FLL plus Miami metro is much bigger than Tampa Bay. AA has pretty much ceded a lot of Portland-South America traffic to Aeromexico, which makes PDX-MIA more unlikely now.

Who suggested B6 or AA? Of course they wouldn't fly that route. It's AS (or, much longer shot, WN) or bust.

727LOVER wrote:

NWADTWE16 wrote:

In February and March 4 of the 5 Daily DTW-RSW-DTW rotations are 757

That's fine and dandy....but we were talking about TPA, not RSW

You might as well be telling me that DTW-HNL is all 757

you specifically trolled for info about 757 service in Florida. Man, some of you I really feel bad for, life outside of the computer must be truly miserable.

NWADTWE16 wrote:

you specifically trolled for info about 757 service in Florida. .

DID I ?
What I said was

727LOVER wrote:

was @ FLL about 2 weeks ago and noticed that the place is suddenly devoid of 757. AA was never a big 757 player, but UA and DL?....tons. I think the next morning, I saw a DL 757 heading to SEA.

Is TPA the same way?....no 757s?

But if name-calling gets you off...

axiom wrote:

jbpdx wrote:

JetBlue has Caribbean connections at FLL plus Miami metro is much bigger than Tampa Bay. AA has pretty much ceded a lot of Portland-South America traffic to Aeromexico, which makes PDX-MIA more unlikely now.

Who suggested B6 or AA? Of course they wouldn't fly that route. It's AS (or, much longer shot, WN) or bust.

It’s interesting how many people seem to think that the only airline operating at PDX that would any new routes is Alaska.

jbpdx wrote:

axiom wrote:

jbpdx wrote:

JetBlue has Caribbean connections at FLL plus Miami metro is much bigger than Tampa Bay. AA has pretty much ceded a lot of Portland-South America traffic to Aeromexico, which makes PDX-MIA more unlikely now.

Who suggested B6 or AA? Of course they wouldn't fly that route. It's AS (or, much longer shot, WN) or bust.

It’s interesting how many people seem to think that the only airline operating at PDX that would any new routes is Alaska.

1. Nowhere did I say that.

2. This is the TPA thread.

3. I was discussing who I thought was most likely to operate TPA-PDX. If we were talking about PDX-DEN or PDX-MIA, my answer would be different.

4. I provided a factual basis for this opinion: AS has a feed operation to augment demand for the rotate, which could make it possible at some point. Do you have a factual observation to support or counter this hypothesis?

airtrantpa wrote:

jplatts wrote:

FLYKTPA wrote:

WN- LAX, OAK and Sat only ORF and/or RIC. Sat only CUN & MBJ.

Southwest could also add nonstop service from TPA to CVG since Delta currently only has 1 daily nonstop between CVG an TPA, since Frontier currently only operates 1 daily nonstop between CVG and TPA on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and since TPA is one of the top destinations from CVG by O&D demand according to the DOT Domestic Consumer Airfare Report. In addition, there was an article published in the Cincinnati Business Journal published on February 27, 2017 which stated that Southwest had seen demand for flights to Florida from CVG and sales for connecting flights from CVG to Florida through BWI, which can be found at https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/02/17/what-southwest-airlines-has-seen-from-cincinnati.html. CVG is also the largest market east of the West Coast that does not currently have any nonstop service to Florida on Southwest.

Southwest could also add nonstop service from CLE to TPA since Southwest is considering adding nonstop service from CLE to additional destinations, including at least one other Florida destination (FLL), and since Frontier and Spirit are currently the only airlines to have nonstop service to TPA from CLE.

In addition to LAX and OAK, Southwest could also add nonstop service from TPA to SJC and SMF if the demand is there for nonstop flights to TPA from SJC and SMF.

If im not mistaken i believe G4 has a flight to cvg from PIE, which competes directly with the TPA-CVG flights. Since FL is gone, does anyone still fly TPA-DAY?

G4 has a daily flight to CVG and services DAY out of PIE as well

I can see more charters from Europe coming into TPA.

The inaugural WN 799, TPA-SAN is in the air now. Op'd by a B38M. Awesome new connection for both cities.

For those concerned with the lack of 757 service in TPA, happy to report that, as expected, DL is starting to slot the 57 into service as seasonal travel picks up. You'll find a daily 752 and 753 on MSP, and one running through ATL. Otherwise, a sea of 321s and 739s...

Also notable that DL has upgauged BOS from double daily 319 to 738s, while CVG has been dropped down to a single daily 712. There is also a 712 rotating through RDU, one of two daily flights on DL; first time this has ever been mainline AFAIK.

Over the holidays, CVG was seeing twice daily, so DL is still willing to play in the market during peak periods, to some extent. On the whole, TPA/PIE-CVG still has more capacity now than it did ten years ago, between DL, F9, and G4. But who would have thought G4 would be running more than daily frequencies on PIE-CVG?

Weirdly enough, April will see all 757s from DTW on DL. I’m highly dissapointed in the amount of MD service being ran between TPA-DTW this winter, was really hoping for a mix of 321’s but they’re going to RSW and FLL instead.

MDs on DTW-TPA? Lately it's been running 5x 739. are you talking March and beyond? They're probably placeholders. The MD is far less frequent in TPA now relative to even a year or two ago, though DL seems to be cashing in on them before they retire them. During the week after Christmas, they were running the MDs on almost every route out of TPA; up to 16x on ATL. It was a sight to see.

FLYKTPA wrote:

Possible TPA air service additions during 2018-
AS- LAX, SFO, PDX and 2nd daily SEA

That's a lot of long, thin capacity for AS to the West Coast. SFO is most likely.

FLYKTPA wrote:

B6- FLL

While B6 does operate JAX-FLL as it's only intra-Florida flight, its partnership with 3M is IMO better suited for this role.

FLYKTPA wrote:

WN- LAX, OAK and Sat only ORF and/or RIC. Sat only CUN & MBJ.

LAX is a market that does not do well with two or more carriers exist in the market, and DL has been the long-time incumbent since the 90's.

FLYKTPA wrote:

NK- RIC, DEN, any other new station they open in 2018. Possibly something international.
F9- AUS, SAT, DTW, OMA, GRR and DSM.

No point in second-guessing ULCCs with their roulette networking. How's the gate situation with NK and F9 these days?

FLYKTPA wrote:

Silver- GSP, CHS, AVL, CUN and SAV.

CUN would be interesting, but classic SE markets served on and off over the years by different carriers is definitely possible (DL, DH, CO Lite)

FLYKTPA wrote:

MEX- InterJet or Volaris (Unlikley until the new MEX airport opens)

or CUN? The demand would be coming more from the TPA side to a leisure city.

FLYKTPA wrote:

BOG- Avianca, maybe Spirit

A logical add following CM's PTY service.

I think B6 TPA/MCO-FLL is inevitable if they are able to continue to grow their operation there. Both marks provide substantial feed to southerly destinations (AA operates multiple mainline flights, including widebodies to Orlando).

There is also significant business travel between them. Yesterday there were 21 flights between TPA and South Florida, and it wasn't all connecting traffic .

Silver has a reputation problem and, at the end of the day, is small peas on TPA-FLL. It's a crowded market, but if B6 wants to continue to grow at FLL it's an inevitable add.

phatfarmlines wrote:

FLYKTPA wrote:

Possible TPA air service additions during 2018-
AS- LAX, SFO, PDX and 2nd daily SEA

That's a lot of long, thin capacity for AS to the West Coast. SFO is most likely.

FLYKTPA wrote:

B6- FLL

While B6 does operate JAX-FLL as it's only intra-Florida flight, its partnership with 3M is IMO better suited for this role.

FLYKTPA wrote:

WN- LAX, OAK and Sat only ORF and/or RIC. Sat only CUN & MBJ.

LAX is a market that does not do well with two or more carriers exist in the market, and DL has been the long-time incumbent since the 90's.

FLYKTPA wrote:

NK- RIC, DEN, any other new station they open in 2018. Possibly something international.
F9- AUS, SAT, DTW, OMA, GRR and DSM.

No point in second-guessing ULCCs with their roulette networking. How's the gate situation with NK and F9 these days?

FLYKTPA wrote:

Silver- GSP, CHS, AVL, CUN and SAV.

CUN would be interesting, but classic SE markets served on and off over the years by different carriers is definitely possible (DL, DH, CO Lite)

FLYKTPA wrote:

MEX- InterJet or Volaris (Unlikley until the new MEX airport opens)

or CUN? The demand would be coming more from the TPA side to a leisure city.

FLYKTPA wrote:

BOG- Avianca, maybe Spirit

A logical add following CM's PTY service.

In terms of nonstop capacity, LAX-TPA is very underserved; even after Spirit’s LAX-TPA flight begins in April. I’ve heard AS and WN are interested in LAX service.

Frontier uses two gates at C and Spirit is up to 3 gates in A. With TPA having a common use system implemented, they both have plenty of space to grow.

CUN is tricky because it would be a route between two beach destinations. DL does seem to do well with their seasonal TPA-CUN service.

CUN is interesting. On the one hand, TPA has grown as a region precisely because people like living near the beach. And these people like to travel to other beaches -- it's a lifestyle they really value. On the other, the market is relatively less wealthy to other secondary regions (however large and growing), and the very presence of the beach offsets some of that demand. I think DL has the market well served, throttling up capacity as needed. Last year, they offered double daily Saturday service in season.

axiom wrote:

MDs on DTW-TPA? Lately it's been running 5x 739. are you talking March and beyond? They're probably placeholders. The MD is far less frequent in TPA now relative to even a year or two ago, though DL seems to be cashing in on them before they retire them. During the week after Christmas, they were running the MDs on almost every route out of TPA; up to 16x on ATL. It was a sight to see.

Im pretty sure anything for March is concrete at this point, it’ll be 3x MD and 3x 739. Though in April it’ll be 4x 757.

Curious to see if the MT route to MAN materializes this year as the articles posted seemed pretty legit.

I just created a new FB Group for Tampa and Orlando spotters yesterday and linked it the Orlando thread, so I figured I'd do the same for Tampa:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/212161182685686/

Frontier is starting TPA-AUS beginning 04/08/18. This is in conjunction with 13 other routes they are starting from Austin. Frontier continues to ambitiously and aggressively expand its route network, and it seems like they're taking aim at a good amount of Southwest routes.

Currently, Southwest serves TPA-AUS and Allegiant serves PIE-AUS (daily). I am curious to see how Allegiant responds.

https://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/ne ... -star.html

Southwest has announced TPA-LAX beginning 08/07/18. Finally, with the addition of SAN and LAX, Southwest begins to better serve Tampa to the Southwest. If these 2 routes are successful, I wonder if WN will take more chances in starting more transcon routes to the west coast.

According to the article, 870 passengers fly between Tampa and Los Angeles on a daily basis. It's hard to believe Delta has been the only airline on this route since American stopped years ago.

https://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/ne ... light.html

Also, SkyConnect opened yesterday. Anyone check it out yet?

Flyingstump wrote:

Southwest has announced TPA-LAX beginning 08/07/18. Finally, with the addition of SAN and LAX, Southwest begins to better serve Tampa to the Southwest. If these 2 routes are successful, I wonder if WN will take more chances in starting more transcon routes to the west coast.

According to the article, 870 passengers fly between Tampa and Los Angeles on a daily basis. It's hard to believe Delta has been the only airline on this route since American stopped years ago.

https://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/ne ... light.html

While WN didn't add nonstop service to TPA from CVG, CLE, or OAK in today's schedule extension, WN still does have opportunities to add nonstop service to TPA from CVG, CLE, and OAK.

neomax wrote:

Also, SkyConnect opened yesterday. Anyone check it out yet?

Yes. I wasn't very impressed by the train/automated mover itself. I have always been a huge fan of the automated people movers from Bombardier that connect each concourse to the terminal but figured that the Mitsubishi train/people mover would be a step up from those rubber-wheel people movers. After riding the train, it seemed to be about the same experience in terms of speed and smoothness (not very smooth), and the trains actually seem cramped due to the amount of people that will use them.

The rental car facility is nice and impressive, and the economy garage is large and provides much more capacity for parking. If nothing else, the rental car facility is a huge upgrade.

From a user-experience, ease-of-use perspective, this is a good upgrade for those who use the economy parking garage (3 min train service vs shuttle bus service), but it definitely adds time to the rental car experience (walking across the street to get a car vs walking to station, waiting in line to catch a train, and then riding in a cramped train on a somewhat bumpy line while standing up).

Again, overall, it's fine for now, and time will tell if it becomes a hassle for travelers or not. But, for now, congratulations to Joe Lopano and the staff at TPA.