Why do you still use sfo or oak airports? (San Diego: purchasing, health)

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by mysticpearl

Sac needs a direct flight to Europe.

Once over they’re easy to jump around.

It’s somewhat surprising it doesn’t have a route given all the Europeans in the area.

Ok here were my predictions back in 2019:

Tie:
1.PARIS on American (or Delta)
1.AMSTERDAM on Delta

2. LONDON on American

3. FRANKFURT on Condor Airlines

Tie
4. TORONTO on Air Canada
4. MEXICO CITY on AeroMexico

5. PUERTO VALLARTA on Alaska

6. CALGARY on Westjet (or Alaska)

7. ICELAND on IcelandAir

8. TOKYO on American (or Japan Airlines)

We now have the Toronto and Mexico City non-stop flights, still no European,

I have no idea when we will get any European non-stops, I'd like to know exactly how many Sacramento area folks's final destination is Europe? which European cities?

and the number of daily/weekly passengers?, and which airports they either drive to or fly to and connect in, for European destinations?

[Chimérique]

Next year Sacramento will be adding its first Nonstop Direct flight to

the island of Kauai....Lihue, Kauai'i....on Hawaiian Airlines

Also, Hawaiian Airlines is adding a Nonstop Direct to:

Kona, Hawaii.....the leeward most popular side of the Big Island

Currently, Southwest and Hawaiian fly nonstop to Maui and Oahu (Honolulu).

We previously used to have a nonstop to Kona, I think it was on Alaska Airlines, but Covid killed it, but now its back on Hawaiian Airlines.

[sacreole]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

Next year Sacramento will be adding its first Nonstop Direct flight to

the island of Kauai....Lihue, Kauai'i....on Hawaiian Airlines

Also, Hawaiian Airlines is adding a Nonstop Direct to:

Kona, Hawaii.....the leeward most popular side of the Big Island

Currently, Southwest and Hawaiian fly nonstop to Maui and Oahu (Honolulu).

We previously used to have a nonstop to Kona, I think it was on Alaska Airlines, but Covid killed it, but now its back on Hawaiian Airlines.

I knew you would be the first to post this, Chimérique . Here's more information about Hawaiian Airlines' two new routes to Lihue and Kona:

Two new Sacramento routes

In addition to announcing a new route to Utah, Hawaiian also stated it would expand service to the Sacramento capital with two new routes. From May 24, Hawaiian will fly from Lihue to Sacramento four times weekly. The next day, May 25, will mark the start of three weekly flights from Kona to Sacramento. The A321neos will operate both routes and are available for sale.

"I am pleased to share that Hawaiian Airlines has added new nonstop flights from Sacramento International Airport (SMF) to Līhuʻe and Kona. This is the first ever direct service to Līhuʻe, giving our customers yet another exciting option when planning their next island vacation." - Cindy Nichol, Director, Sacramento County Department of Airports

Hawaiian already has two routes to Sacramento, which sometimes see service from the carrier’s Airbus A330 widebodies. According to Cirium, the airline has daily flights scheduled to Sacramento from Honolulu and Kahului in May. Both routes are operated by the airline’s A321 aircraft.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/new...9a5a3a6c&ei=12

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by sacreole

I knew you would be the first to post this, Chimérique . Here's more information about Hawaiian Airlines' two new routes to Lihue and Kona:



https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/new...9a5a3a6c&ei=12

Thanks for your post, I remember when Hawaiian first added their non-stop direct to Honolulu, they were using wide-body 767's one of my favorite planes because of the 2-3-2 configuration.

However, I am pleased with 321neo's, because they add more diversity and more nonstop flight options for Sacramento; they are VERY QUIET and Fuel Efficient as well.

[Chimérique]

Revised (2023) predictions of which airline will give Sacramento its first nonstop direct flight(s) to Europe.

Top 3:
1. LONDON on British Airways
2. PARIS on Air France
3. FRANKFURT on Condor Airlines

[mysticpearl]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

Revised (2023) predictions of which airline will give Sacramento its first nonstop direct flight(s) to Europe.

Top 3:
1. LONDON on British Airways
2. PARIS on Air France
3. FRANKFURT on Condor Airlines

Paris or Frankfurt would be my preference.

My wife is from Europe and us and our kids are EU citizens. And there are many like us in the area. When we lived in the Bay Area and NY it obviously was easy getting on direct flights thru France/Germany and then connecting to Central/Eastern Europe.

Without that and my mother in law just experienced it as she's visiting us right now, flying here you need to go thru customs in another US airport, then recheck your baggage for the final leg. Plus the trip takes longer- three flights instead of two.

And there are an incredible number of Europeans in this area. I'll count Russia as European as geographically it is. Russians, Ukrainians, Serbs, slavics all over the area. Not a day goes by I don't hear those languages. Many from elsewhere in Europe too. Half my son's class in school has parents from Europe. And I'm not in Antelope or Fair Oaks either lol.

There is also a lot of Bay Area money up here. People who moved but still love to travel.

Point being it's not like there isn't a considerable market/population here who would use direct to Europe flights.

[mysticpearl]

You would have to think with the 1.3B airport expansion set to begin next year, direct flights to Europe/Asia are part of the larger growth objective.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by mysticpearl

Paris or Frankfurt would be my preference.

My wife is from Europe and us and our kids are EU citizens. And there are many like us in the area. When we lived in the Bay Area and NY it obviously was easy getting on direct flights thru France/Germany and then connecting to Central/Eastern Europe.

Without that and my mother in law just experienced it as she's visiting us right now, flying here you need to go thru customs in another US airport, then recheck your baggage for the final leg. Plus the trip takes longer- three flights instead of two.

And there are an incredible number of Europeans in this area. I'll count Russia as European as geographically it is. Russians, Ukrainians, Serbs, slavics all over the area. Not a day goes by I don't hear those languages. Many from elsewhere in Europe too. Half my son's class in school has parents from Europe. And I'm not in Antelope or Fair Oaks either lol.

There is also a lot of Bay Area money up here. People who moved but still love to travel.

Point being it's not like there isn't a considerable market/population here who would use direct to Europe flights.

Your post is very useful and important and the Sacramento Airport and the airlines need to know about this.

The airlines need to know the load factor for Sacramento area passengers bound for European destinations.

It would be easy to find out the load factor for European bound Sacramento area passengers who depart from Sacramento airport that connect at other American hub airports.

But, when we fly out of SFO they don't necessarily know this number. Regarding SFO departures, they would have to focus their research on those passengers with Sacramento area addresses.

Revised prediction: Condor Airlines to Frankfurt will give Sacramento its first nonstop direct to Europe. Why? Because United will not give it to us because of their SFO hub. It likely will not be another American owned airline. Delta and American have hubs at LAX, Atlanta, and Dallas which Sacramento has nonstops to those hubs....so they won't give it to us either.

Why German based Condor Airlines? They have a seasonal nonstop to Frankfurt from San Antonio. San Antonio is about the same size as Sacramento, so if they can support it we can as well. Condor also has the perfect size airplane (Airbus A330-900neo) to support the feasibility of such a Sacramento to Frankfurt nonstop route. It likely would be seasonal only but that would be a good start.

Also, Seiman's(German owned) largest Train factory in North America is in Sacramento. I'm sure those Seiman executives from Germany would appreciate a Frankfurt nonstop to Sacramento. But all those regular folks with families in European and America and tourists alike are just as important.

[sacreole]

I think your prediction about Condor being the first European carrier to serve Sacramento may be on the money. Condor is known for serving smaller and rather unusual markets in North America. For example, they operate seasonal flights to Anchorage AK and Whitehorse, Yukon in Canada. Perhaps Icelandair would consider service between Sacramento and Keflavik (Reykjavik)? It would probably be a niche carrier rather than a legacy carrier such as British Airways or Air France.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by sacreole

I think your prediction about Condor being the first European carrier to serve Sacramento may be on the money. Condor is known for serving smaller and rather unusual markets in North America. For example, they operate seasonal flights to Anchorage AK and Whitehorse, Yukon in Canada. Perhaps Icelandair would consider service between Sacramento and Keflavik (Reykjavik)? It would probably be a niche carrier rather than a legacy carrier such as British Airways or Air France.

Yes that would be nice, Icelandair to Reykjavik. It's only 4118 air miles. Icelandic Air has an all Boeing Fleet so
their 757's, and 767's would suffice. Most likely it would be a 767-300ER. If it were super successful they could move up to 787's.

Condor - Sacramento to Frankfurt would be 5613 air miles. So that would require at least A330's or 767's, nothing smaller.

Sacramento's top 5 longest nonstop direct flights are to:

1. Boston 2630 air miles

2. Miami 2548 air miles

3. NYC-JFK 2515 air miles

4. Lihue, Kauai 2505 air miles

5. Newark, NJ 2495 air miles

These routes all use A321's and/or A321neo's.

If San Antonio can do it we can. Sacramento handles more passengers than San Antonio.