An opportunity for small airports/commuter airlines?

james wrote:
fort collins colorado would be excellent example. (FNL) modern airport,
long runway, huge growth in northern front range, and DEN is 40-60
mile drive for them.

alligent air already has charter service. i think a carrier like
southwest would do well there. (they don't serve DEN due to high fees)

SWA is pretty sharp about these things so I suspect they are watching
the numbers there.

Regional jets have really changed the map for small local carriers and
air-taxi services. You used to have carriers like Colgan that fed
people from all over New England into BOS. Now you have the option to
take an RJ direct from Portland ME or Manchester NH to CVG, ORD, or DTW
and from there, anywhere. Colgan's still going but I have to assume
their business isn't what it was 10-15 years ago. With fuel prices and
security regs being what they are, it's hard to see small air carriers
succeeding anywhere except where you have favorable geography and
affluent travelers- thus Cape Air.

-cwk.

Colgan's still going but I have to assume
their business isn't what it was 10-15 years ago. With fuel prices and
security regs being what they are, it's hard to see small air carriers
succeeding anywhere except where you have favorable geography and
affluent travelers- thus Cape Air.

-cwk.



Actually the've been doing quite a bit of hiring, think they are very
successful in limited point to point airports that are nonservicible to jet
traffic, and feeder service from areas that dont' support jet traffic. Think
of airports with shorter runways that are insufficient for an ERJ/CRJ/Etc,
but quite sufficient to a B-1900, Saab340, Dash-8 etc, think Piedmont is
targeting same market/different region as Colgan.

nooneimportant wrote:
Colgan's still going but I have to assume
their business isn't what it was 10-15 years ago. With fuel prices and
security regs being what they are, it's hard to see small air carriers
succeeding anywhere except where you have favorable geography and
affluent travelers- thus Cape Air.

-cwk.

Actually the've been doing quite a bit of hiring, think they are very
successful in limited point to point airports that are nonservicible to jet
traffic, and feeder service from areas that dont' support jet traffic. Think
of airports with shorter runways that are insufficient for an ERJ/CRJ/Etc,
but quite sufficient to a B-1900, Saab340, Dash-8 etc, think Piedmont is
targeting same market/different region as Colgan.

Yeah, I looked up their routes and was surprised to see how many they
still had. Maine and NY are big places with a lot of smaller cities
that are a hella long drive from anywhere, especially in Maine where
the roads can get kinda gnarly.

-cwk.