Matthew H Fish
Lead Service Attendant
- Joined
- May 28, 2019
- Messages
- 499
There seems to be four different models for non-traditional air service:
1. European budget air service, that depends on flying between smaller cities and non-hub airports, in a densely populated area (so that planes fill up fast, and there is short turn-around time)
2. American budget air service, that depends on flying between major hub cities, with long wait times to fly to non-hub cities.
3. Contracted service to major airlines, like what Skywest does. According to Wikipedia, they get a fixed fee per flight---which makes me think that major airlines are willing to use flights to smaller airports as a loss leader, because the want to keep their market share.
4. Directly subsidized flights, like with the EAS program.
I originally started thinking about this when I read a news article about Salem, Oregon resuming scheduled passenger service. From the article I read, it would have service to Los Angeles, California. And of course, considering how long it takes to get from Salem to LA by train, the idea of being able to zip cheaply between Salem and LA on an airplane certainly seemed to be competitive. But then I started looking at other air flights between non-hub, smaller cities on the West Coast, and how uneconomical flight is started to become obvious.
I looked at the Eugene airport, which would be the closest to the Salem airport now. From Eugene, Allegiant airlines offers an $88 round trip to Las Vegas---even after paying extra for luggage, a 2 hour flight to Las Vegas is hard to beat. But then I started looking for other flights around the West--- to other, smaller cities. $250 to Boise. $260 to Redding. $320 to Spokane. $440 to Missoula. And about $500 to get to the Tri-Cities.
And to return it back to trains---some of these flights are not only more expensive, but longer than comparable train trips. And leave at inconvenient times. So if a smaller metro like Salem gets regular service, it might have really cheap service to one city---but it won't at all be easy to fly between other small metro regions in the area. Getting to Spokane, which is a pretty convenient train ride, will involve flying to Los Angeles and waiting for hours to fly back to the Pacific Northwest---all for around 5 or 6 times as much as a train ticket.
Budget airlines might be feasible in areas of high population density, or between very busy hubs, but while it might operate for a while as a loss leader in smaller metro areas, the economics of it don't make sense long term.
1. European budget air service, that depends on flying between smaller cities and non-hub airports, in a densely populated area (so that planes fill up fast, and there is short turn-around time)
2. American budget air service, that depends on flying between major hub cities, with long wait times to fly to non-hub cities.
3. Contracted service to major airlines, like what Skywest does. According to Wikipedia, they get a fixed fee per flight---which makes me think that major airlines are willing to use flights to smaller airports as a loss leader, because the want to keep their market share.
4. Directly subsidized flights, like with the EAS program.
I originally started thinking about this when I read a news article about Salem, Oregon resuming scheduled passenger service. From the article I read, it would have service to Los Angeles, California. And of course, considering how long it takes to get from Salem to LA by train, the idea of being able to zip cheaply between Salem and LA on an airplane certainly seemed to be competitive. But then I started looking at other air flights between non-hub, smaller cities on the West Coast, and how uneconomical flight is started to become obvious.
I looked at the Eugene airport, which would be the closest to the Salem airport now. From Eugene, Allegiant airlines offers an $88 round trip to Las Vegas---even after paying extra for luggage, a 2 hour flight to Las Vegas is hard to beat. But then I started looking for other flights around the West--- to other, smaller cities. $250 to Boise. $260 to Redding. $320 to Spokane. $440 to Missoula. And about $500 to get to the Tri-Cities.
And to return it back to trains---some of these flights are not only more expensive, but longer than comparable train trips. And leave at inconvenient times. So if a smaller metro like Salem gets regular service, it might have really cheap service to one city---but it won't at all be easy to fly between other small metro regions in the area. Getting to Spokane, which is a pretty convenient train ride, will involve flying to Los Angeles and waiting for hours to fly back to the Pacific Northwest---all for around 5 or 6 times as much as a train ticket.
Budget airlines might be feasible in areas of high population density, or between very busy hubs, but while it might operate for a while as a loss leader in smaller metro areas, the economics of it don't make sense long term.