LVIA or ABE airport (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: sales, to live, price)

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by avg12

US at CLT offers less European cities in comparison to US at PHL. But for the rest of the domestic network connections and Caribbean and Latin America (whatever cities US services), CLT routing from ABE is efficient.

I count 16 nonstop European destinations + Tel Aviv from Philadelphia, and 6 nonstop European destinations from Charlotte.

Personally, I wouldn't fly 55 miles to Philadelphia to connect to a plane to Europe. I would feel more comfortable driving to Philadelphia and boarding there. I had enough problems flying turboprops 109 miles from San Diego to LAX to catch major flights. The lack of a bus to PHL airport is a problem, so to be honest it might be easier to go to Newark Airport. Sometimes the fares are higher out of Newark.

My initial desires for ABE are fairly modest. The resort airline Allegiant is flying to Orlando and St Petersburg. I wish they would add their other two destinations in Florida:Ft Lauderdale and Florida Southwest (Ft. Myers).

Direct Air (the virtual airline) has twice weekly flights to Ft Myers. I booked my mother for January, but it's not enough frequency to give a good choice, so I am dropping her off in Newark Airport.

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As for AirTran/Southwest instead of twice a day to Orlando (906 miles one way), it would be nice to have four times a day to BWI (121 miles one way) so that you can tie into the largest domestic network. Allegiant could pick up the Orlando passengers.

Two of the top 3 Southwest airports are:
Baltimore/Washington 189 daily departures to 46 cities
Chicago (Midway) 236 daily departures to 55 cities

If those changes could happen, then most of the Lehigh and Northampton county domestic traffic would fly out of ABE, and possibly a handful of people from adjacent counties.

[flyonpa]

I've taken the ABE-PHL to fly to london, Why. I can get someone to drop me off at ABE when I lived in Bethlehem, If I was to fly directly out of PHL I would have to drive there, park (and pay to park). The fare on the ABE-London ticket was also less then the PHL-London ticket.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by flyonpa

The fare on the ABE-London ticket was also less then the PHL-London ticket.

Well then it does seem kind of stupid to drive there. Thanks for enlightening me.

But from an urban planning runway capacity issue in PHL it does seem silly to have a 55 miles flight.

Then as a practical thing, it would be nice if American Airlines restored the 87 miles flight from ABE to JFK since the drive is 106 miles, and the bus ride is horrible.

Those 2 flights per day to Toronto average less than 3 people per plane. I don't know how those flights are economical, and yet we can't support a flight to Ft Lauderdale.

[avg12]

Originally Posted by PacoMartin

As for AirTran/Southwest instead of twice a day to Orlando (906 miles one way), it would be nice to have four times a day to BWI (121 miles one way) so that you can tie into the largest domestic network. Allegiant could pick up the Orlando passengers.

Two of the top 3 Southwest airports are:
Baltimore/Washington 189 daily departures to 46 cities
Chicago (Midway) 236 daily departures to 55 cities

If those changes could happen, then most of the Lehigh and Northampton county domestic traffic would fly out of ABE, and possibly a handful of people from adjacent counties.

Southwest does fly EWR-BWI which is the shortest flight it has in its network, but that's just because Southwest has few slots at EWR and EWR is access to NYC, and Northern NJ which has over 5 million residents.

However, the flights rely purely on connections, something Southwest doesn't like as much, rather than being dominated by O&D traffic, so EWR-BWI may have been more of an exception than rule.

Those from the Lehigh Valley visiting Baltimore or DC will choose to drive. And for connections, I'm not sure if SW has interest at ABE to make it part of its network, since PHL and EWR are relatively close.

I'd think JetBlue would make a better fit with service to BOS and MCO and maybe FLL, or Spirit with service to MCO and FLL maybe more realistic. However, on a slim chance but being hopeful, SW could have 1x ABE-MDW, 2x ABE-MCO, 1x ABE-FLL, 1x ABE-BWI and have 5 daily departures out of ABE. I think 5 daily departures is about minimum for SW at a given airport.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by avg12

I'd think JetBlue would make a better fit with service to BOS and MCO and maybe FLL, or Spirit with service to MCO and FLL maybe more realistic.

I hear you. Perhaps SW has just not pulled out of ABE because of the desire to avoid unwanted media attention. They have already pulled out of 7 airports since the merger.

Allegiant goes to Orlando, and they have FLL as a focus city. I was hoping that they would expand to their other focus cities.

But six cities to make connections is not much.


The shortest daily Southwest flight is between Ft. Myers (RSW) and Orlando (MCO) (133 miles).

[avg12]

Southwest has decided to cut the AirTran service at Allentown, Harrisburg and a few other cities:
Southwest Airlines Newsroom: Releases

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by avg12

Southwest has decided to cut the AirTran service at Allentown, Harrisburg and a few other cities.

That is very sad. Allegiant Air flies to Sanford Airport (33 miles from McCoy in Orlando). Presumably they will add to their frequency (only 3 days per week) to make up for the lost AirTran flights. However, it kills the hope of being tied into the Southwest network. With American Airlines leaving the airport this summer, and Continental probably stopping the bus routes to Newark once the United-Continental merger occurs, that means there are very few airlines left.

Maybe Spirit Airlines will get tired of Atlantic City and come here.

At the very least I wish Allegiant would include ABE to their hubs in Regional Southwest Florida and Ft. Lauderdale.

[toobusytoday]

Wow, that is sad. I'm thinking that Southwest's presence at EWR has cut into the trade at ABE. I generally like to fly out of ABE when I can, but always check all three (EWR, PHL and ABE) airports for prices and right now, Southwest was significantly cheaper out of EWR then PHL to fly to Denver. ABE, wasn't even in the picture this time because I will only fly on a direct flight in the winter. But, it made me think that more people North of the ABE will just choose Southwest at EWR without even looking at ABE from now on.

[avg12]

Originally Posted by PacoMartin

That is very sad. Allegiant Air flies to Sanford Airport (33 miles from McCoy in Orlando). Presumably they will add to their frequency (only 3 days per week) to make up for the lost AirTran flights. However, it kills the hope of being tied into the Southwest network. With American Airlines leaving the airport this summer, and Continental probably stopping the bus routes to Newark once the United-Continental merger occurs, that means there are very few airlines left.

Maybe Spirit Airlines will get tired of Atlantic City and come here.

At the very least I wish Allegiant would include ABE to their hubs in Regional Southwest Florida and Ft. Lauderdale.

Spirit has been in Atlantic City for a very long time. They could add ABE, but I don't think they'd drop ACY for ABE. ABE and ACY are anyways far apart. Maybe they'd drop ACY for PHL one day. They used to service PHL many years ago. Anyways at ACY, Spirit doesn't provide network coverage (only Florida cities and Myrtle Beach) and the Chicago service from ACY is just seasonal.

Allegiant could increase the service to SFB to daily and add service to the other cities. There are other carriers like Frontier that could go in as well.

I'd hope for JetBlue given the choices.

[avg12]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

Wow, that is sad. I'm thinking that Southwest's presence at EWR has cut into the trade at ABE. I generally like to fly out of ABE when I can, but always check all three (EWR, PHL and ABE) airports for prices and right now, Southwest was significantly cheaper out of EWR then PHL to fly to Denver. ABE, wasn't even in the picture this time because I will only fly on a direct flight in the winter. But, it made me think that more people North of the ABE will just choose Southwest at EWR without even looking at ABE from now on.

Yes, I think EWR, a nascent SW station, and PHL, which underperformed for them, would have been further diluted if they opened up at ABE.

Another problem is BWI is too close for connections and MDW is over 500 miles.

Meanwhile, they are keeping CAK so Cleveland will have 2 airports with SW service, and they are keeping FNT, so Detroit will have 2 airports with SW service.

I think it works out that there is demand between those OH and MI airports to Chicago and Baltimore/BWI for DC, as well as favorable connections shorter than 400 miles, so that SW can support multiple airports there.

Atleast ABE has some LCC service-Allegiant to SFB. I think MDT is left without any LCC carrier. They really just have to get to BWI for cheap nonstop fares, unless US, United and Delta price competitively there for 1-stops (I don't know).