Phoenix Sky Harbor drops to eleventh busiest airport. (prices, train)

[AZLiam]

Originally Posted by Java Jolt

I haven't seen any announcements of including Phoenix in Norwegian's direct flight plans so don't count on it just yet.

I know there haven't been any announcements including Phoenix. However, they just announced adding routes to Chicago and Austin from London-Gatwick. After Condor announced nonstop service to Austin in 2015, I wondered if Phoenix would follow and eventually it did.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by Java Jolt

I haven't seen any announcements of including Phoenix in Norwegian's direct flight plans so don't count on it just yet.

I don't know if this has been posted but Condor airlines will start flights from Germany to Phoenix.

Condor Airlines to start Phoenix-Germany flights

[blueleo65]

An airline's bread and butter is business travel. Airlines don't make money on leisure travel, unless you are a Southwest or Alegiant, basically a low cost carrier catering to a primarily leisure or personal travel. The problem with Phoenix is that it's a low yielding destination, meaning the amount of business travel is lower, airlines make less money flying full planes then let's say Seattle or San Francisco. Las Vegas has the same problem, but it has a huge convention draw. Notice that it was Condor, a primarily leisure carrier instead of Lufthansa that is starting service to Frankfurt. Airlines don't make descisions solely on the population center or how busy they can be at a certain destination. They can be flying full planes all day long, but if people on theses planes paid mainly leisure fares, then it's a loss making operation which many airlines can't sustain. Phoenix was a hub for America West Airlines (US AIRWAYS was sort of a hybrid airline when it merged with America west and was never really meant to remain independent for very long), which has a totally different business model than American Airline which primarily caters to business travel. It will be interesting to see what they do in Phoenix.

[shoe01]

Even before I saw the flight addition to Frankfurt, I was going to suggest adding those to/from Germany. Think I heard more German than any other language at the Grand Canyon a couple weeks ago.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by blueleo65

An airline's bread and butter is business travel. Airlines don't make money on leisure travel, unless you are a Southwest or Alegiant, basically a low cost carrier catering to a primarily leisure or personal travel. The problem with Phoenix is that it's a low yielding destination, meaning the amount of business travel is lower, airlines make less money flying full planes then let's say Seattle or San Francisco. Las Vegas has the same problem, but it has a huge convention draw.

Exactly, and this is why I keep emphasizing that Phoenix needs to be more of a business destination. We can still be a good leisure destination, but business travelers largely avoid Phoenix for places like L.A. If Phoenix had more of a larger corporate presence, not only would Sky Harbor likely be a top 10 airport again, but it would be a major destination for international flights. The only reason L.A. overshadows Phoenix is we have allowed ourselves to be overshadowed.

[More Rock]

Maybe they can correct their needlessly Byzantine roadways and ineffectual signage.

[timothyaw]

Well according to this article Sky Harbor may be moving back up the list. Also notice the article mentioned that the extra demand was due to Phoenix being a strong economic hub.

https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/...d-in-2018.html


https://transportationtodaynews.com/...ngers-in-2018/

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by timothyaw

Well according to this article Sky Harbor may be moving back up the list. Also notice the article mentioned that the extra demand was due to Phoenix being a strong economic hub.

https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/...d-in-2018.html


https://transportationtodaynews.com/...ngers-in-2018/

https://www.tripsavvy.com/busiest-ai...he-usa-3301020

As of November, Sky Harbor is now the 9th busiest U.S. airport according to the tripsavvy article. It's a step in the right direction, but it still needs more direct international flights. The two main ways to obtain that would be to increase the number of tourist attractions, and increase the number of national & global corporations based here. Phoenix can't be a world class destination based only on seasonal tourism, sunshine, or mountain views.

[timothyaw]

Well you heard that American is adding a year round flight to London. Which is great news. Slowly international traffic is picking up.

[Pink Jazz]

I wonder how will 2019's numbers be impacted by the colder than average winter temperatures. Is that steering tourists toward Florida instead?