Airlines have significantly cut capacity in recent months due to the pandemic. What’s surprising is seeing the ways that airlines are starting to add back capacity. One might assume that airlines would start by adding back routes that were previously suspended, but that’s not what’s happening — rather airlines are largely adding point-to-point routes that…
Continue reading: United Airlines’ Fascinating Florida Expansion
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Because Covid 19 hotspot Florida is really where we should be sending people from the north. Great. Go to Florida, get the virus and fly home. What could possibly go wrong.
RSW is a perennially high-priced airport that has a lot of space and huge demand in the peak winter season. People probably want to go to places where they can be outdoors - and now have a track record of being open vs. shutting down and re-opening over and over again.
Currently, the market in SWFL is kinda fragmented, there is more capacity into TPA, but then you have outlier airports like SRQ & PGD that are growing. I don't know that this is all that revolutionary since airlines from the the cold-winter central states on airlines like Allegiant/Sun Country have been happening for years. This continues to prove that not everyone looking to go to FL wants to go to Disney-CentralFL or Miami-Dade SouthFL.
The Cleveland routes have existed historically. Prior to the pandemic, CLE-MCO was year round while CLE to RSW, FLL, and TPA were seasonal.
No one actually *wants* to go to Southwest Florida, but it’s been the more affordable retirement home for over a decade, and taking the kids to see grandma is a cheap vacation.
i don't think RSW was all that insane. UA simply senses weakness in Spirit and Frontier's business model. The ULCC business model is now a liability not an asset.
But those new routes almost feel like an ex-Northwest route planning veteran jump shipped to UA.
Interesting that Alaska started similar routes from the West Coast. Good to see more competition into RSW. Marco, Sanibel and Captiva islands are great.
Lots of people escaping high tax states for low tax states as well.
UA simply senses weakness in Spirit and Frontier’s business model. The ULCC business model is now a liability not an asset. i don’t think RSW was all that insane.
those new routes almost feel like an ex-Northwest route planning veteran jump shipped to UA.
I'm probably reading too much into the tea leaves again
I find it interesting that PBI received no new flights, especially since Fort Myers received a ton (and SWFL is a much smaller market than Palm Beach County).
No RSW from the huge originators of DTW or MSP. UA is clearly avoiding anyone else's fortress hubs (especially DL's) like the actual plague.
Who the hell wants to go to Florida, which is one of four or five "epicenter" states in US with COVID19 cases? The dumbshine state. The CLE routes all operated before, when CO/UA hubbed there and some outlasted the hub closure in 2014.
@BUZZ
SADLY THOSE PEOPLE WHO LEAVE HIGH TAX HIGH CRIME AREAS KEEP VOTING FOR THE SAME KINDA POLITICIANS.
@SHOEGUY
the people who wanna go to Florida are th ones who don't like winter
+1 for what @henryLAX said
+1 for what @Jo Momma said
How come PBI was not invited to United’s late fall/early winter Florida nonstop party?
This is all fine and dandy but CMH-RSW alone is already served during the winter by DL, WN and NK. Now UA wants a slice of the seasonal pie? Maybe that's why they're only using an E175 as a late comer to the market. I'm sure the same can be said for the other routes.
Stunning and concur with others: increasing traffic to Florida and bringing even more people there and back seems like the dumbest thing ever to do at the moment. Immoral and irresponsible but hey at this point this country will never cease to "amaze" me.
I would rather call the "new playbook" is just an opportunistic one, given than the airlines all have plenty of idle capacity in terms of slots, fleets and staff. Why would you not take a business opportunity under these circumstances? We also see that a lot in Europe, where even legacy carriers started to operate for instance into some rather small island destinations (e.g. Zakynthos, Cagliari) when they opened up for tourism. But they obviously reduce or even shut them down immediately, if some travel restrictions appear (e.g. Alicante). As there is almost exclusively O/D traffic, opening up and shuting down can be done with little side effects.
I think UA is banking on people wanting to stay in the US this winter with the border uncertainty. Hawaii and PR/Virgin Islands will still have quarantines so UA is calculating that much of that demand will shift to Florida, despite the states COVID stats.
What about Daytona Beach? Best year round weather and sensational wide sandbar beach. Pretty girls, recreation galore, Hard Rock Hotel and 25 Sushi Bars. Great airport too!
It's because everyone in the Florida flight attendant bases but a few are above the cut off line to be furloughed. They gotta make them work some how.