Pulling out of Northeast Flights?

[BuffaloJoe]

I seen that WN is pulling out of the PHL-MHT/PVD markets in early 2012. Now BOS is eliminated. What is going on with WN in PHL?

 

[jimntx]

Evidently, they are not making money on those routes. WN does not hold on to routes for "the glory" or the competition. If the route does not make money, they don't fly it. What a concept! If you work for another airline, I wouldn't crow about "beating" WN at PHL. Aside from the fact that PHL isn't the prize of the century, remember, this will free up equipment and crews to fly other routes. You may find competition you didn't want on another route that you thought was exclusively yours.

WN is fairly new to the Northeast. They will try a lot of different route/city combinations. The ones that work, they'll keep. The ones that don't, they'll drop.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Partially it shows what a tough time any lcc has establishing itself in a major carrier's hub. There were just too many seats (16-18 flights a day on US 190's and WN 737's) chasing too few passengers even though the traffic ballooned when WN came in. US offered a lot more connecting opportunities than WN, which bolstered US' RASM more than WN's. Then the final, and usual, higher yield passenger behavior of "The low fares are great but I still want the big seat up front and my US miles" (and after WN exits they'll go back to complaining about the high US fares).

Jim