Roundup in Service – New Routes and Developments

We haven’t done a service roundup in a while. Mostly because there hasn’t been as much news in this area as there once was. Airlines don’t announce discontinuance as much as they do inauguration. But this week had some interesting developments.

• Southwest Airlines announced three new destinations served from Denver beginning January 10th. It will include twice daily service to Boston, once daily to Spokane, and once daily to Reno/Tahoe. Most interesting is an increase in Boston service. Southwest is really building its presence there rather quickly. It was only a week ago they announced new St. Louis service for Logan. Their rampup in Denver has been rapid over the last few years.
• AirTran has announced it will offer service from Orlando to Key West, four times weekly on December 17th. The service will use 737, which will be strictly weight-controlled due to the short runway at Key West. The airline hasn’t had regular mainline jet service in twenty years. Service will be Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. The flights will originate in Atlanta, providing convenient one-stop service.
• Last week, AirTran released its tentative schedules for new Jamaica service, subject to government approval. On December 17th, they will begin flights to Nassau, with daily flights to Atlanta and four times weekly to BWI. On February 11th, daily service from Montego Bay to Atlanta and BWI, and four times weekly service to Orlando.
• United will begin service from September 29th from Chicago to London, Ontario. On September 2nd, they inaugurated Chicago service to Huntsville AL, El Paso TX, and Little Rock AR.
• St. Louis is losing mainline United service. From now on, all flights in and out of the Lambert on United will be operated by regional partners.
• The much anticipated “Club World” service between London City Airport and JFK will begin September 29th. Test flights using the Airbus A318 have already begun. The service will operate daily, make a brief stop in Shannon Ireland for refueling and U.S. Immigration and Customs clearance, which is offered at the airport. Both Airbus 318s will be configured with a 32 seat business class configuration. The flights, designated BA001, 002, and next month, 003 and 004, were once the Concorde Flight numbers. The stop will take 40 minutes, bringing the total flying time, factoring in the slower speed of the aircraft, at 9 1/2 hours from London City to New York. However, the smaller size of LCY allows passengers to check in up to 15 minutes before the flight.
• Republic Airways Holdings plans to restore Midwest Airlines’ presence at Kansas City, the second of its hubs, to its 2008 levels, with 31 flights to 20 cities.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Southwest to Add New St. Louis Service (flightwisdom.com)
• Southwest Dilutes Cattlecall Again – Offers Priority Checkin (flightwisdom.com)