Dallas Vs Atlanta (downtown, size, skyline, beautiful)

[grindin]

Originally Posted by johnatl

Not so sure about Southwest not coming to Hartsfiled. They REALLY need to add Atlanta to their network - their loyal customers want it. This is the largest city in the U.S. they don't fly to. Don't be surprised if they work out a deal for a couple of common-use gates on D to start up a small operation.

Absolutely correct on PDK (I live in the flight path). Some of the MOST rabid Nimby's in the country are here, and live and breathe just to shut that airport down.

Briscoe Field in Gwinnett is the new wild card. There is a move to privatize it, and they are proposing 30-40 flights daily (no airlines have been mentioned). The County seems very interested in going along.....

You never know what can happen. I don't think Southwest's business model is good for huge hub airports such as Atlanta, O'Hare or DFW, particularly due to their well-known 20-minute turnaround policy, and that isn't happening in a busy airport like Atlanta. Even taxiing to the runway can take long periods of time depending on the time of day. I've known of people who told me that the taxiing queue can take longer than the actual flight itself (depending on where they go) sometimes. I don't know if they were exaggerating, but I don't find that hard to believe.

But they do have a presence in busy airports such as LAX, Denver, Minneapolis, Detroit, etc, some of which are major hubs in their own right, so the idea of Southwest flying into Atlanta isn't so far-fetched. The airline industry is so unpredictable when it comes to these things. I never would've thought that Delta and Northwest would eventually merge one day, but they did.

[johnatl]

Originally Posted by OmShahi

I'm pretty sure AirTran wouldn't want to see JetBlue, or American Eagle in Atlanta either due to the competition for low fare flights.
Or actually I heard starting this summer American Eagle will be in Atlanta for up to four destination cities.

We already have Eagle flights. They aren't really low fare, they are really nothing more than American's commuter partner that compliment AA's mainline flights with smaller, regional jets.

We had jetBlue. Delta and Airtran ran them out of the market in a matter of months.

Airtran maintains a nice hub here, with over 200 flights a day. They are our big low cost carrier.

[johnatl]

Originally Posted by grindin

You never know what can happen. I don't think Southwest's business model is good for huge hub airports such as Atlanta, O'Hare or DFW, particularly due to their well-known 20-minute turnaround policy, and that isn't happening in a busy airport like Atlanta. Even taxiing to the runway can take long periods of time depending on the time of day. I've known of people who told me that the taxiing queue can take longer than the actual flight itself (depending on where they go) sometimes. I don't know if they were exaggerating, but I don't find that hard to believe.

But they do have a presence in busy airports such as LAX, Denver, Minneapolis, Detroit, etc, some of which are major hubs in their own right, so the idea of Southwest flying into Atlanta isn't so far-fetched. The airline industry is so unpredictable when it comes to these things. I never would've thought that Delta and Northwest would eventually merge one day, but they did.

Exactly. Southwest used to go out of their way to avoid any hub, but they have drastically changed their business model in the last few years.

Now they are going into airports like LaGuardia, Boston, Philadelphia, etc. I think it really is a matter of their customers demanding that they do this.

The biggest "holes" in their network at this point are Atlanta & Charlotte.

[grindin]

Originally Posted by OmShahi

I'm positive that the city of Atlanta can rely on other major airline companies to set up a secondary hub at the new airport. With air traffic being what it is in Atlanta, most airline companies would want to expand their hub there. But that compromises a huge hypothetical question. The city will probably go into renovating current airport before building another one, unless they absolutely have to in order to relieve air traffic at Hartsfield.

Good luck with that.

If Delta (or even AirTran for that matter) doesn't want it, it's NOT happening, believe me. It's really not enough room here to have yet a third airline hub, and there aren't many gate slots left, even with the International Terminal under construction.

[DANNYY]

Originally Posted by grindin

Good luck with that.

If Delta doesn't want it, it's NOT happening, believe me. It's really not enough room here to have yet a third airline hub, and there aren't many gate slots left, even with the International Terminal under construction.

Hmm, seems like a very sticky situation then.

[grindin]

Originally Posted by johnatl

Exactly. Southwest used to go out of their way to avoid any hub, but they have drastically changed their business model in the last few years.

Now they are going into airports like LaGuardia, Boston, Philadelphia, etc. I think it really is a matter of their customers demanding that they do this.

The biggest "holes" in their network at this point are Atlanta & Charlotte.

Truth be told, I'd want Charlotte to get Southwest Airlines before Atlanta does. USAirways has a monopoly on that airport and I can't stand them anyhow, so anything where they have to compete with Southwest is a great thing in my book, LOL.

Also, it's not as if we're lacking for low fare airlines due to AirTran having their hub here. They keep Delta's fares in check. Otherwise, we'd be in Charlotte's situation.

[johnatl]

Originally Posted by OmShahi

I'm positive that the city of Atlanta can rely on other major airline companies to set up a secondary hub at the new airport. With air traffic being what it is in Atlanta, most airline companies would want to expand their hub there. But that compromises a huge hypothetical question. The city will probably go into renovating current airport before building another one, unless they absolutely have to in order to relieve air traffic at Hartsfield.

^What grindin said.

If Delta doesn't want it, it simply isn't happening. There is now new talk about a 6th runway at Hartsfied. Where it would go, I have no idea. You need to remember that Delta operates the worlds largest single airline hub here, with over 1,000 flights a day. They have a vested interest in maintaining their investment.

The problem with a second airport is that the surrouding areas residents would have an absolute meltdown at any proposal. That's why the situation out in Gwinnett should be very interesting to watch.

[Scout_972]

Originally Posted by johnatl

That's why the situation out in Gwinnett should be very interesting to watch.

Are you talking about Briscoe Field?

[johnatl]

Originally Posted by Scout_972

Are you talking about Briscoe Field?

Yes.

[grindin]

^^Briscoe would be a decent location for a secondary airport, but it would have to greatly expand to meet the needs of commercial jet service, even putting in a second runway. The immediate area is light industrial, but there are a ton of subdivisions that have been built out that way. I'm pretty sure the residents in those areas would be happy to have a busy commercial airport in their backyard, LOL.

Maybe expanding Briscoe would be the shot in the arm to finally expand 316 into a full-fledged freeway from Lawrenceville to Athens? *looks out the window for flying pigs*

A sixth runway at ATL? I guess that means either bye-bye Hapeville or many neighborhoods in North Clayton would be razed. I bet the latter is more likely to happen, but both options would be incredibly expensive.