Originally Posted by
CLazarus
Ya know, I've caught whiffs of MCO expansion dreams before and never gave them much credence. Sure, the new terminal freed up some gates but we don't exactly cater to leisure travelers on a tight budget. No WB aircraft to spread around anytime soon either. I imagine we could capitalize on Spirit's shrinkage to get even more gates soon. First time I've ever heard of senior leadership talking openly about WB service to MCO. I'm not a believer that we need a SE USA hub just to plug a hole on a map, but I'm beginning to think if we were ever to do it the next few years would be ideal. 50/50.
I truly believe that the next 3-7 years will be telling. On the shorter side of the timeline, I believe we’ll increase the operation. With less flying from NK and more 737s coming on property, I think this is realistic.
Around the 5 year mark, I think we’ll start transitioning to more WB flying there. Not sure if that would be international or just domestic destinations. But I don’t think this would be unreasonable either.
At the 7+ year mark, I think we’ll start seeing big expansion in MCO. Term C expansion will be completed and our heavy MX base will be completed so all primed for either a hub or massive focus city.
All this is just what I gather from reading inbetween the lines from recent developments. Will be interesting to see how this plays out, but hoping it comes to fruition.