US Airways Express Begins Service to Joplin

[ringmaruf]

US Airways Express carrier Air Midwest began 3x daily Beech 1900D roundtrips MCI-JLN yesterday.

Mesa Air Group (parent of Air Midwest) issued a press release for the new service. Tempe couldn't be bothered to acknowledge a new city in the US Airways network.

Also, with Air Midwest charging just $49 for a one-way, walk-up, refundable fare for *every seat on the plane*, they could show the Tempe boys a little bit about running a low-fare airline.

You know Tempe is asleep at the wheel when you have Mesa making them look bad.

Mesa Air Group Begins Service at Joplin, Missouri as US Airways Express

PHOENIX, Aug. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mesa Air Group (Nasdaq: MESA) today began scheduled passenger flights at its newest Essential Air Service community, Joplin, MO. The flights are operated by Mesa's wholly owned subsidiary Air Midwest under the US Airways Express brand. The new service operates between Joplin Regional Airport and Kansas City International Airport. Tickets can be purchased through US Airways or your local travel professional.

Mesa will operate 3 nonstop roundtrips between Joplin and Kansas City each weekday and weekend, allowing for great connections onto US Airways as well as interline connections with all major airlines in Kansas City. Additionally, Mesa is utilizing a "shuttle" fare pricing structure, which will provide for only one fare between Joplin and Kansas City. This "shuttle" fare is just $49 one-way, is fully refundable, and requires no advance purchase*.

"The citizens of Joplin have welcomed us with open arms and we look forward to working with the community to increase the number of passengers utilizing the Joplin Regional Airport," said Mickey Bowman, Vice President of Planning for Mesa Air Group. "Joplin is the beginning of our Essential Air Service expansion involving our Kansas City hub. Mesa will begin operations to at least 3 additional markets in the Midwest during the next 3 months."

Tickets may be purchased through US Airways by logging onto their website at http://www.usairways.com, calling 1-800-428-4322** or contacting your local travel professional.

Mesa currently operates 188 aircraft with over 1,200 daily system departures to 173 cities, 46 states, Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas. Mesa operates as America West Express, Delta Connection, US Airways Express and United Express under contractual agreement with America West, Delta Air Lines, US Airways and United Airlines, respectively, and independently as Mesa Airlines. Effective June 9, 2006 Mesa launched interisland Hawaiian service as go! This new operation links Honolulu to the neighbor island airports of Hilo, Kahului, Kona, and Lihue. The Company, founded by Larry and Janie Risley in New Mexico in 1982, has approximately 5,000 employees. Mesa is a member of the Regional Airline Association and Regional Aviation Partners. The Company was named 2005 Regional Airline of the Year by Air Transport World Magazine.

 

[Dorf]

Also, with Air Midwest charging just $49 for a one-way, walk-up, refundable fare for *every seat on the plane*, they could show the Tempe boys a little bit about running a low-fare airline.

So...they only have to sell one ticket to break even on the crew cost!? LOL

You know Tempe is asleep at the wheel when you have Mesa making them look bad.

Can't argue with that!

 

[JAXPax]

Easy to offer $49 introductory fares when a.) you're subsidized and b.) you need to fill enough seats so that your average subsidy per passenger stays below a certain magic number (or you end up in a situation like Jackson, TN where the DOT told them either put more people on the planes or lose your EAS).

 

[Furloughedagain]

If only USAir had better service out of Kansas City this might be a terrific way to get to the Springfield/Branson area along with an alternate way in/out of Northwest Arkansas.

How about a nonstop from Joplin to Charlotte or, better yet, XNA to Philly!

 

[ringmaruf]

Easy to offer $49 introductory fares

Sorry, they're not introductory fares, they're permanent.

a.) you're subsidized

That has nothing to do with anything.

Mesa still wants to maximize their revenue. In particular, maximizing their revenue allows them to ask for a lower subsidy, which matters if they want to get the EAS contract in the first place, since these are after all competitive bids.

The $49 fare is what Mesa believes will maximize their revenue on the route, subsidy or not.

b.) you need to fill enough seats so that your average subsidy per passenger stays below a certain magic number (or you end up in a situation like Jackson, TN where the DOT told them either put more people on the planes or lose your EAS).

Joplin is a bigger market than Jackson, TN, by several orders of magnitude. The subsidy per passenger at JLN is only $44, well under the $200 limit that MKL is pushing up against. I'd also note that the subsidy per passenger can be lowered in two ways--putting more people on the planes, or instead lowering the subsidy rate, which can be done by (again) increasing revenues.

If only USAir had better service out of Kansas City this might be a terrific way to get to the Springfield/Branson area along with an alternate way in/out of Northwest Arkansas.

Of course, back in the day, Air Midwest actually served MCI-SGF and MCI-XNA.

 

[luvn737s]

And they served MCI-JLN and didn't need an EAS to do it. You used to take the pickup truck that was used as a bag cart, to your overnight with you.

 

[DorkDriver]

I was in KC today and noticed the new service. Its strange that Joplin was added but not Springfield. We can do XNA to CLT, but SGF would be just as popular with Branson, Bass Proshops HQ, and the close location to Ft. Leonard Wood.