Mobile Downtown Airport (Fairhope: rating, commute, market)

[Surge0001]

It's all about location Mobile Regional is in the middle of the county with the nearest limited access highway is like 15 miles away, it can take up to 30 minutes to reach a limited access highway or interstate. This is right next to the interstate which grants for easy access AND its in the center of the population rather than the edge

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Originally Posted by MardiGras251

I’m sure a good amount of people from mobile fly out of n.o. so I’d say folk from Jackson and even Harrison county ms are fair game now. Location location location, this mantra fits this situation so well.

LOL, they aren't beating Gulfport on prices, that is laughable. You are the one who doesn't know what they are talking about. Again, there's a reason people in Mobile pick Pensacola (and Gulfport, and New Orleans for that matter) and it is NOT location (obviously, because they are driving farther.

Frontier worked because they were cheap. And also unsustainable, as we saw. Price is the name of the game, and Mobile ain't getting any cheaper anytime soon without promotional fares.

[Southsky]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

Again, there's a reason people in Mobile pick Pensacola (and Gulfport, and New Orleans for that matter) and it is NOT location (obviously, because they are driving farther.

Mobile is not the target here... that's a captive market. The target market is the Eastern Shore... any other area gained is a bonus

[ITGuyAL]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

LOL, they aren't beating Gulfport on prices, that is laughable. You are the one who doesn't know what they are talking about. Again, there's a reason people in Mobile pick Pensacola (and Gulfport, and New Orleans for that matter) and it is NOT location (obviously, because they are driving farther.

Frontier worked because they were cheap. And also unsustainable, as we saw. Price is the name of the game, and Mobile ain't getting any cheaper anytime soon without promotional fares.

You're missing the point here. The prices at MOB at higher BECAUSE of the location.
Moving the airport to a location more convenient for locals and those from other areas will allow for lower cost flights due to higher volume. If you build it, they will come.

It's simply unrealistic to expect to have a competitive airport if you do not have direct access to the interstate.

Frontier had limited destinations and inconsistent flight schedules, which ultimately led to their demise.
Nobody wants to take a Wednesday - Saturday trip to Denver.

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Originally Posted by ITGuyAL

You're missing the point here. The prices at MOB at higher BECAUSE of the location.
Moving the airport to a location more convenient for locals and those from other areas will allow for lower cost flights due to higher volume. If you build it, they will come.

It's simply unrealistic to expect to have a competitive airport if you do not have direct access to the interstate.

This isn't true. The prices at Mobile Regional were already high, and you can play that cause and effect game all the way back to when they built it. 20 minutes of drive time just makes no difference at all.

And this move will only increase ticket prices on the airlines who are looking to make a profit. Part of what is built into a ticket is the costs the airlines pay to the airport. Those are about to go up.

The biggest problem Mobile has is that you are smack dab in the middle of an area (Gulf Coast) that is saturated with air service, and your airport is the most expensive. Adding millions of dollars of construction (with bonds and such, etc.) isn't the best way to lower ticket costs.

You could make the case that the airport never should have moved from Brookley back in the day. "If you build it, they will come" is false, unless you're building something worth coming to.

[Southsky]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

This isn't true. The prices at Mobile Regional were already high, and you can play that cause and effect game all the way back to when they built it. 20 minutes of drive time just makes no difference at all.

And this move will only increase ticket prices on the airlines who are looking to make a profit. Part of what is built into a ticket is the costs the airlines pay to the airport. Those are about to go up.

The biggest problem Mobile has is that you are smack dab in the middle of an area (Gulf Coast) that is saturated with air service, and your airport is the most expensive. Adding millions of dollars of construction (with bonds and such, etc.) isn't the best way to lower ticket costs.

You could make the case that the airport never should have moved from Brookley back in the day. "If you build it, they will come" is false, unless you're building something worth coming to.

Your mantra only works if load factors are lower at MOB than other neighboring airports. They're not. For instance, in 3Q20, MOB had the highest LF in the southeast. And that's without much, if any, of the Eastern Shore flyers.

MOB's location only serves those in Mobile proper, with many in Mobile proper still driving to other airports (downtown residents). What happens now that the price elastic flyers choose other airports? The business travelers, or people less affected by prices, fill the MOB planes, thus raising the average fare and it goes on. PNS is closer to 140,000 people than MOB in Baldwin county. Where do Baldwin county flyers go now? PNS. They hardly considered MOB even when ValuJet/AirTran was here. It is more convenient of a drive.

With BFM right off I-10 downtown, just a mile or two from the Bayway, BFM's location better serves the Eastern Shore by shortening the drive time by half. As seen with F9 at BFM, Baldwin county passengers stepped up and used Mobile's airport. More butts in seats will lower prices as the equipment gets upgauged and the cheaper fare buckets are larger.

[natedoggbry]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

This isn't true. The prices at Mobile Regional were already high, and you can play that cause and effect game all the way back to when they built it. 20 minutes of drive time just makes no difference at all.

And this move will only increase ticket prices on the airlines who are looking to make a profit. Part of what is built into a ticket is the costs the airlines pay to the airport. Those are about to go up.

The biggest problem Mobile has is that you are smack dab in the middle of an area (Gulf Coast) that is saturated with air service, and your airport is the most expensive. Adding millions of dollars of construction (with bonds and such, etc.) isn't the best way to lower ticket costs.

You could make the case that the airport never should have moved from Brookley back in the day. "If you build it, they will come" is false, unless you're building something worth coming to.

Dang, I don’t know why they even bothered with a year and a half study with experts to determine the feasibility of moving the airport when they could’ve just asked you, a random guy on the internet. What fools they were

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Originally Posted by Southsky

The business travelers, or people less affected by prices, fill the MOB planes, thus raising the average fare and it goes on.

Originally Posted by Southsky

More butts in seats will lower prices as the equipment gets upgauged and the cheaper fare buckets are larger.

Alrighty then.

So again, cheaper fares attract people. We all know this.

[Southsky]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

Alrighty then.

So again, cheaper fares attract people. We all know this.

Good. Now when you expand the catchment area to include more people... then you get both

[evlb401]

Originally Posted by mjspring

More people doesn't mean lower rates, more competition does.

Well, could more people create demand for more competition?