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American Airlines wants to bring commercial flights back to Naples, Florida — a wealthy, convenient Gulf Coast airport that locals have spent years fighting, and even tried to move. The plan is for Charlotte service starting this winter, but the real story is whether one of Florida’s most contested small airports is finally opening the door to airline service again.
Republic Airways and Mesa Airlines announced a plan to merge and operate a company with a combined 310 Embraer E-175 aircraft and representing $1.9 billion in annual revenue. Currently, Republic operates regional flights for American, United and Delta while Mesa is down to a contract only to fly for United. Under the deal, Republic shareholders will have 88% of the carrier and Mesa shareholders get 6% – 12%.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
JSX has announced a significant expansion to their schedule, with three new and returning seasonal airports, in what to me is one of their most aggressive and exciting moves.
They’re re-entering seasonal Salt Lake City, and adding New York – Florida from convenient and underserved airports with flights beginning in late November and into December.
The reason I shrug my shoulders a bit at the new Kansas City airport terminal is because it’s Kansas City. You go there if you want barbecue that hides the quality of meat and the cooking technique with a thick tomato-based sauce.
If you’re Kansas City and want to be part of the national conversation, you make sure your new airport terminal has… gender-neutral bathrooms.
United dropped Air Wisconsin and gained more Mesa. Neither is a great experience, but the trade seems to align with United’s network strategy and American’s cost strategy. The Mesa bankruptcy stalking horse that had been much-discussed likely played a role in the ability for Mesa and American to terminate, since if they didn’t Mesa wouldn’t be able to continue ‘losing $5 million per month’ and therefore American’s ability to insist on either specific performance or penalties wasn’t sustainable indefinitely.
Regional carrier Mesa Airlines is rumored to be considering Chapter 11 bankruptcy, or as they say Chapter 22 because this would be the airline’s second trip to the courthouse. They last used the bankruptcy process to shed aircraft obligations in 2010.
A woman in Naples, Florida riding her bike on Thursday morning was blown across the road beside the Naples airport as a plane took off.
The woman reported she “went sideways. So immediately as I started flying, that was the first thing that came into my mind, oh my god are there cars coming?”
Trans States Airlines, which currently operates 50 seat Embraer ERJ-145 regional jets for United Express, informed employees that they will go out of business at the end of the year.
Austin’s airport is adding 37% more gates next year, and Delta is preparing to make it a focus city complete with SkyClub with outdoor deck.
Focus city status isn’t official for Austin yet, but as of Friday it is for Raleigh-Durham which serves the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, where Delta is already the largest airline (carrying one-third of passengers, with 10% connecting connecting traffic). Delta’s other focus cities are Cincinnati and Boston (of course Cincinnati used to be a hub).
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
