Mrs Doubtfire
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From USA TODAY
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
BREAKING NEWS: Southwest to add Milwaukee
UPDATED (12:45 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 20): That's just in from the carrier's annual shareholder meeting. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel appears to have gotten a jump on the story, writing "Southwest's entry into Milwaukee will likely bring more choices, and lower ticket prices, for area fliers. It also brings another formidable competitor for Midwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, AirTran Airways and other carriers that fly from (Milwaukee's) Mitchell (Airport)."
Southwest did not reveal what routes it plans to fly out of Milwaukee, saying it "plans to release more details of its future service from Milwaukee in the coming months." Southwest adds "it will offer multiple destinations from the airport of choice for business and leisure travelers who work and live across the vibrant and growing region. The new Southwest service from MKE will commence after already-announced new service to New York LaGuardia (June 28) and Boston Logan (August 16)."
Southwest also noted Milwaukee would not only allow the company to add the Milwaukee market, but also would let Southwest "better serve the Northern Chicago Area." Southwest already has a big operation at Chicago Midway, which is on Chicago's south side.
Southwest also reiterated it is not growing. "As we have previously announced, we essentially slowed our 2009 and 2010 fleet growth to zero. All of these new market opportunities are made possible without the addition of a single airplane by our continuous flight schedule optimization process,"says Southwest CEO Gary Kelly.
The move once again seems likely to put Southwest into head-to-head competition with fellow low-cost carrier AirTran, which recently has moved to build a hub at Milwaukee. In the East, Southwest recently made a splash by announcing service between Boston and Baltimore, marking one of the first non-Florida routes where the two big discounters would go head-to-head.
The addition of Milwaukee as Southwest's next city is likely to surprise some industry observers, especially with potentially lucrative cities like Atlanta, Charlotte and Cincinnati remaining untapped markets for the low-cost giant.
But at least one industry observer says the selection of Milwaukee did not surprise him, even if the timing did. Bill Swelbar, Research Engineer at MIT's International Center for Air Transportation and author of the aviation-related swelblog, points out to Today in the Sky that it seems like Southwest has been moving to protect its position in new markets by "putting markers down in the largest unserved metro areas over the last two to three years."
For example, Swelbar says he thinks Southwest's new service at "Boston Logan was a marker aimed at JetBlue. Denver was a marker aimed at a hub that historically has struggled to support three carriers.â€
As for Milwaukee? "I do think this is a marker aimed at AirTran just like Boston was at JetBlue and Denver at Frontier." He also adds that "given the weakness of Midwest, Southwest may be inviting themselves to become Milwaukee’s new hometown airline in the event that carrier falters."
But even that move would seem to put Southwest squarely up against AirTran, which has undertaken a major marketing initiative in the Milwaukee. In one example, AirTran, has several promotions that tie it to the Milwaukee Brewers Major League Baseball club as part of its effort to increase its appeal in the market.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
BREAKING NEWS: Southwest to add Milwaukee
UPDATED (12:45 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 20): That's just in from the carrier's annual shareholder meeting. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel appears to have gotten a jump on the story, writing "Southwest's entry into Milwaukee will likely bring more choices, and lower ticket prices, for area fliers. It also brings another formidable competitor for Midwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, AirTran Airways and other carriers that fly from (Milwaukee's) Mitchell (Airport)."
Southwest did not reveal what routes it plans to fly out of Milwaukee, saying it "plans to release more details of its future service from Milwaukee in the coming months." Southwest adds "it will offer multiple destinations from the airport of choice for business and leisure travelers who work and live across the vibrant and growing region. The new Southwest service from MKE will commence after already-announced new service to New York LaGuardia (June 28) and Boston Logan (August 16)."
Southwest also noted Milwaukee would not only allow the company to add the Milwaukee market, but also would let Southwest "better serve the Northern Chicago Area." Southwest already has a big operation at Chicago Midway, which is on Chicago's south side.
Southwest also reiterated it is not growing. "As we have previously announced, we essentially slowed our 2009 and 2010 fleet growth to zero. All of these new market opportunities are made possible without the addition of a single airplane by our continuous flight schedule optimization process,"says Southwest CEO Gary Kelly.
The move once again seems likely to put Southwest into head-to-head competition with fellow low-cost carrier AirTran, which recently has moved to build a hub at Milwaukee. In the East, Southwest recently made a splash by announcing service between Boston and Baltimore, marking one of the first non-Florida routes where the two big discounters would go head-to-head.
The addition of Milwaukee as Southwest's next city is likely to surprise some industry observers, especially with potentially lucrative cities like Atlanta, Charlotte and Cincinnati remaining untapped markets for the low-cost giant.
But at least one industry observer says the selection of Milwaukee did not surprise him, even if the timing did. Bill Swelbar, Research Engineer at MIT's International Center for Air Transportation and author of the aviation-related swelblog, points out to Today in the Sky that it seems like Southwest has been moving to protect its position in new markets by "putting markers down in the largest unserved metro areas over the last two to three years."
For example, Swelbar says he thinks Southwest's new service at "Boston Logan was a marker aimed at JetBlue. Denver was a marker aimed at a hub that historically has struggled to support three carriers.â€
As for Milwaukee? "I do think this is a marker aimed at AirTran just like Boston was at JetBlue and Denver at Frontier." He also adds that "given the weakness of Midwest, Southwest may be inviting themselves to become Milwaukee’s new hometown airline in the event that carrier falters."
But even that move would seem to put Southwest squarely up against AirTran, which has undertaken a major marketing initiative in the Milwaukee. In one example, AirTran, has several promotions that tie it to the Milwaukee Brewers Major League Baseball club as part of its effort to increase its appeal in the market.
