GSP Airport Restructuring Needed (Columbia, Greenville: bankrupt, camping, restaurants)

[R1v3rRat]

The place may look empty, but the flights I take a jam packed, both coming to and going from GSP. Someone already pointed it out. Business travelers make up a majority of the flyers. More often than not these tickets are purchase on shorter notice and are paid for by companies = $$$$$$. Not families buying bottom of the barrel fares on travelocity = $$

The airlines defnately make money from the GSP business passengers.... myself included. Like I said, my flights are ALWAYS full and it's not families....it's fellow business travelers. Just as a reference I fly about 100K miles a year with several trips montly from GSP.

Usually the smaller airports don't have the big eateries and stores because nobody has long / any layovers or connections at all, it''s a starting and stoping point only.... why would you want to hang out at the GSP... you're either coming or going..... Major stores in GSP would be a huge mistake.

Look at ATL..... people could potentially spend hours upon hours there.... the food and merchandise stores have a great opportunity for business. They could never sustain themselves at GSP.

I personally like GSP. Easy in, easy out...no throngs of families holding me up at check in / security/ boarding. being a quieter place is a good thing IMO....

RR

[R1v3rRat]

An interesting side note not really relevant to GSP but a neat fact...

A majority of the travelers on domestic airlines are liesure travelers (fifty somthing %... I forgot the actual #). But the majority of the airlines income, 75%, comes from business travelers.

[g-man430]

Omaha's airport has a good number of stores/restaurants. They also have several low-cost carriers. Why doesn't GSP have that? When I flew on Northwest in December 2007 to Memphis, there were only 7 passengers on the plane including me. This was on one of those 50-seaters. I simply can't afford to fly out of GSP anymore. You guys don't have to pay for your flight due to the fact the business you work for does. I don't have that luxury unfortunately. How about you guys pay for your own plane ticket from now on and see how much longer you fly out of that airport.

[gsupstate]

Originally Posted by R1v3rRat

The place may look empty, but the flights I take a jam packed, both coming to and going from GSP. Someone already pointed it out. Business travelers make up a majority of the flyers. More often than not these tickets are purchase on shorter notice and are paid for by companies = $$$$$$. Not families buying bottom of the barrel fares on travelocity = $$

The airlines defnately make money from the GSP business passengers.... myself included. Like I said, my flights are ALWAYS full and it's not families....it's fellow business travelers. Just as a reference I fly about 100K miles a year with several trips montly from GSP.

Usually the smaller airports don't have the big eateries and stores because nobody has long / any layovers or connections at all, it''s a starting and stoping point only.... why would you want to hang out at the GSP... you're either coming or going..... Major stores in GSP would be a huge mistake.

Look at ATL..... people could potentially spend hours upon hours there.... the food and merchandise stores have a great opportunity for business. They could never sustain themselves at GSP.

I personally like GSP. Easy in, easy out...no throngs of families holding me up at check in / security/ boarding. being a quieter place is a good thing IMO....

RR

Well worded. Agreed 100%.

[R1v3rRat]

Originally Posted by g-man430

How about you guys pay for your own plane ticket from now on and see how much longer you fly out of that airport.

I don't have to... I have hundreds of thousands of miles to use for free tickets....
RR

[g-man430]

Originally Posted by R1v3rRat

I don't have to... I have hundreds of thousands of miles to use for free tickets.... Anyway... I'm moving to Jacksonville FL as soon as my house is complete.... JAX wayyyy cheaper than GSP...

RR

Good for you. Nobody will answer my questions about why Little Rock and Omaha have low-cost carriers and we don't.

[g-man430]

Originally Posted by gsupstate

Well worded. Agreed 100%.

Start paying for your own plane ticket and see how much longer you can afford it smart one.

[R1v3rRat]

Originally Posted by g-man430

Good for you. Nobody will answer my questions about why Little Rock and Omaha have low-cost carriers and we don't.

City of Greenville population ~ 60,000 The Greenville metropolitan area ~600,000

City of Omaha population ~400,000 The Omaha metropolitan are.... over 830,000

Little Rock city population ~180,00 The Little rock metropolitan area 840,000.

May be part of it... about a quarter million people population difference

[gsupstate]

Originally Posted by g-man430

Start paying for your own plane ticket and see how much longer you can afford it smart one.

G-man.....you should be glad airlines make money at our airport. Legacy carriers with high cost make money at our airport. You do realize that with the rise in oil prices, at some point, LCC's will become a thing of the past. It is a shell game being played by LCC's. LCC's are much less viable with today's cost structure for resources.

Frontier - LCC filed bankruptcy
Jet Blue - LCC has had dismal earnings
Allegiant - LCC has cut many routes
Skybus - LCC went backrupt and closed
Airtran - LCC has had dismal earnings

Southwest is the only LCC making money and that is because they had a hedge on fuel prices. Their day of reckoning is on the way, when this hedge ends.

[g-man430]

Originally Posted by R1v3rRat

City of Greenville population ~ 60,000 The Greenville metropolitan area ~600,000

City of Omaha population ~400,000 The Omaha metropolitan are.... over 830,000

Little Rock city population ~180,00 The Little rock metropolitan area 840,000.

May be part of it... about a quarter million people population difference

What number do you come up with when you take the population of Anderson, Spartanburg, and Greenville counties and combine them.