Originally Posted by
jshank83
I do think the Delta factor plays in with Austin, if Southwest wants to defend their turf there they are going to have to put up a big fight there and increase flights, if for nothing else to keep gates from Delta. So just by number of flights they want to run through there it should be a base.
Other factor in my mind, and probably much lesser and more forward looking... "IF" big IF Southwest actually orders 787s or some widebody they can't run the out of Love or Hobby so Austin gives base in Texas that can handle them, since HOU and DAL can't run them.
I also don't get the MCI thought beside Southwest being their biggest airline. I am pretty sure they are scheduled for less flights out of there in the coming months than they had before the new airport. Either way flight have been trending down there and March 2026 they are under 70 flights on weekdays. That is quite a bit less than STL 110ish and SAN/AUS which I think are 120ish. Even factoring in RONs I am not sure it really makes sense when the others are 50%+ bigger.
MCI or STL is a P2P connection possibility to take pressure off MDW so you don’t have a stopping margin of 2 with AB Max in the winter. Personally think we need someone in the PNW and NE region to flesh out the map. Midwest is saturated already with MDW/BNA/DAL/HOU. They could add a small HNL base too if they wanted to help with lack of crews when someone gets sick/fatigued.