Todd Sheppard’s Post

Midland International Air & Space Port saw record-breaking numbers in April, reflecting significant growth in both passenger traffic and parking revenue. Here are the key highlights: Passenger Traffic: Over 60,000 passengers in April 61,199 total passengers 18.44% increase from April 2023 Fiscal year-to-date up 11.97% Airline Market Share: Southwest Airlines: 45.9% of passengers Parking Revenue: 22.37% increase from April 2023 Over $700,000 in net revenue Fiscal year-to-date total: $4.584 million 15.75% increase from FY 2023

Southwest S*cks & Scr*ws Customers, But Blue Skies Tampa Departure - IMRAN™ The shameful way Southwest Airlines $©®w€$ passengers where it has no major competitors turned me off from this airline I was loyal to for a quarter century. They literally gouge passengers going from Florida to Long Island, New York. If they charge $200 Tampa to expensive LaGuardia Airport NY, where Delta Air Lines offers great competing service, Southwest charges (for example) $350 to nearby Islip MacArthur Airport which is maybe just 10 extra nautical miles of flying — and has much lower landing costs. And you’re lucky if there’s one nonstop available without going through nightmare BWI airport. Why? Because there’s no actual Delta Airlines service to KISP Long Island for a decade or more. And Southwest, famous for flying danger Boeing 800 MAX planes, exploits people in such areas. From a frequent flier on Southwest Airlines for ~25 years, I’ve become someone who is only using it as a last resort to use up my 100,000 points. Beyond that, I consider it an airline that doesn’t “LUV” but sc*ws its passengers. This was a beautiful day to depart Tampa. The SWA flight cost about a quarter of my balance. Couple more “free” flights like this and I’ll be done. I will endeavor to never fly SWA with new purchased tickets again. © 2024 IMRAN™ #IMRAN #flying #Southwest #TPA #Tampa #airport #runway #aviation #aircraft #Boeing #CX #PriceGouging #SouthwestSucks

A hot July for U.S. travel; scheduled seats up 6% in the domestic U.S. market with significant capacity increase notably by three ultra-low-cost carriers Frontier, Spirit, and Sun Country.  7.8% growth on Transatlantic routes led by United and Delta with Air France reporting a 15% increase in scheduled seats likely driven by demand for the Paris Olympics.

✈️ Airline maintenance hangars are rarely noticed, but they are of COLOSSAL size and importance for an airline's operations. ❤️ Learn how the Southwest Airlines and FM Global partnership keep the LUV story going strong by protecting these complex and vitally important facilities. http://ms.spr.ly/6046Ys2qe

Marty St. George To Return To JetBlue As President Marty St. George will return to JetBlue Airways as president, effective February 26th, ending his four-year absence from the airline, according to an announcement from JetBlue. The announcement came days after Joanna Geraghty, the airline's current president, was named the airline's new chief executive officer. St. George has served at LATAM as Chief Commercial Officer for the past four years. LATAM has been changing its fleet in the past year, receiving several new A320neos, A321neos, and 787 Dreamliners. At the same time, the airline has transferred many of its 767s to customers who have converted them into freighter aircraft. While LATAM, like every other airline, was faced with financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline was able to report a Q3 2023 revenue of more than $3.1 billion, showing signs of recovery. Read more at: https://lnkd.in/dEM-s5Mw #AviationTalk #aviationnews #avgeek #aviation

If traffic shifts from Dulles International Airport (IAD) to Reagan National Airport (DCA), airlines would cut international routes, which largely rely on domestic connections for their transfer passengers. It would also discourage airlines from starting new international routes at IAD. Adding flights at DCA would disrupt the carefully designed balance of D.C.’s three-airport system, risking less international flight options for customers in the D.C. air travel market: https://lnkd.in/e-Mmf4MR.

The 2023 annual On-Time Performance (OTP) results indicate worldwide airlines' commitment to punctuality regardless of problems such as limited resources and severe weather. Delta Air Lines has the highest OTP (83.21%), followed by Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and United Airlines, among others. Despite the challenges faced during the year, the industry's commitment to operational excellence and passenger satisfaction is reflected in the top 20 rankings. #AviationExcellence #OnTimePerformance #GlobalAirlines 

#ISTATAmericas’s first day provided insights into the challenges and opportunities facing North American carriers. JetBlue’s Ursula Hurley elaborated on the A321 XLR’s success, which helped the airline expand transatlantic flights to Europe over the summer and would be redeployed domestically off-season. JetBlue continues to see strong demand for premium leisure travel. Breeze Airways™’ Tom Doxey shed light on how the airline could tap its A220 fleet to evaluate options to choose to serve unmet need at 120 U.S. airports that lost air service over the last several years. Alaska Airlines’ Constance von Muehlen spoke about the great potential of the merger with Hawaiian Airlines, offering international expansion opportunities thanks to access to Hawaiin’s widebody aircraft. Sun Country Airlines’ Dave Davis spoke about the company’s business model around cargo, charter and passengers. #aircraftleasing #aviation #ISTATevent #theleaseworksway #Austin

Because of what happened to jetBlue and Spirit Airlines, I now feel more determined that John Air would never go down this road that jetBlue placed themselves in. Overall, this is a new problem looming over for more competition to avoid anti-trust situations for the American Aviation Market. I now begin to question the Biden Administration for their lack of knowledge of the American Aviation Market. Overall, can this make Spirit Airlines bankrupt? I'd say so. jetBlue would have a bigger chance because due to low domestic market demand within the United States. https://lnkd.in/exzZ78pQ

U.S. travel demand is good, fuel is down, and operations are largely better than expected. That was the takeaway from recent updates from Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, and Southwest Airlines. Jay Shabat and I discuss on the latest episode of the Airline Weekly Lounge. #airlines