DCA, LGA, BOS, & PA Airport Updates

[ringmaruf]

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On 7/6/2003 9:32:12 PM ITRADE wrote:

Good morning from Shanghai!!!



Conventional wisdon would tell you that there would be an announcement of new service from CLT or somewhere to one of the few remaining Caribbean destinations that aren''t yet served by US, but could handle a mainline jet. That comes down to places like Port of Spain, Martinique, Curacao or Kingston. Given the moves that the Trinidadian government has been making to attract U.S. flights, POS would be the most logical choice.


The unconventional wisdom would be that US is attempting to get either 1) PANYNJ folks to permit service from LGA to SDQ or SJU or 2) MWAA/Congress to grant a beyond-perimeter exemption for DCA service to SJU.


The unconventional, unconventional wisdom would be that US decides to open up a "focus city" at SJU and attempts to take on AA''s Caribbean presence - broadside style.

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I agree that, in terms of new destinations, Port of Spain is the most likely. I also think that Kingston will probably be one of the next few destinations. However, before I see Curacao or Martinique, I think they''ll start Panama City, or, less likely, Caracas. What ever happened to the announcement about Puerto Plata and La Romana? They started Punta Cana, but not the others. As for LGA-SDQ, are customs pre-cleared at SDQ? If not, I''m not sure that it would work. And didn''t TWA try to compete with AA at SJU? How did that go? I seem to recall that removing the Caribbean competition was one of the reasons AA bought TWA, aside from the STL hub, of course.

 

[phllax]

The TWA expansion in SJU and the Islands was well received by everybody. People finally had another choice besides AA, who stuck it to the islanders who had no choice but to pay dearly everytime they wanted to go to the mainland.

There is also Air Jamaica, but their US network is obviously not as comprehensive as an American carrier

 

[ITRADE]

The distance between LGA and DEN or SJU is virtually identical - about 1620 miles.

 

[RowUnderDCA]

The PANYNJ can''t do that! Really. They can''t.

The circumstances under which the Feds would agree to that are pretty unlikely.

Abandoning the perimeter rule would be more likely then letting the PANYNJ regulate where planes go when they take-off from LGA. Perhaps adjusting it to a greater perimeter... but not picking and choosing.

Segregating traffic among its three airports in order to manage a system in congestion is ONE thing. Letting the Port pick and choose for the purpose of specifically regulating flight commerce is another. I can''t believe that would happen.

 

[blueoceans]

U.S. Census releases 2002 rankings of cities by size:

Rank City
1... New York, NY
5...Philadelphia, PA
20...Boston, MA
21...Charlotte, NC
23...Washington, DC
54...Pittsburgh, PA

http://eire.census.gov/popest/data/cities/...-EST2002-01.php

 

[ITRADE]

Completely correct Rowunder.

Looking at the MSAs, the DC area is about #3 or #4.

The population of D.C. proper is only about 550,000.

 

[RowUnderDCA]

Thanks for the post. Interesting information. I would note, though, that the list appears to be ranked by population of municipality, not metro area. For exampe Indy is larger than San Francisco. FWIW.

 

[RowUnderDCA]

570,898!

Go DC! I miss my home. I''m coming back in a couple of weeks

In reading these figures, I couldn''t help but surmise that DC is less than half the population inside the beltway (maybe). But certainly, that pop. figure is not terribly relevant to the market for Dulles and National. However, the District as a destination (completely independent of its population) is very relevant to the air market.

 

[ITRADE]

Alexandria City, Falls Church City, and Arlington County alone add about 325,000. All three are wholly within the beltway. The population areas around Bailey''s Crossroads, Annandale, Seven Corners are also quite populous. I don''t have numbers on inner Montgomery County or Prince George''s County, but I''d say that 500,000 is a good number as the population inside the Beltway and exclusive of the District proper.

The Washington-Baltimore MSA has about 7.5 million people. Big, big, big.