dontsurf

that might be the case. i hope so.

and as for other people who don't want long beach as a base, that really is not shared by people who live around here and like a nice easy drive to work, etc. why not just say we should add bases, grow bases, etc? why wish for the base to go away? (rhetorical questions meant to provoke thought)

aldonite7667

Long Beach, by far, is the best base in the system. It’s given a lot of people a bad taste in their mouth, not because of the base, but the mismanagement of the entire operation west of the Hudson River. This company hasn’t opened a new base since it opened in 2006. In those same 11 years we’ve doubled in size. I’d love to see a Bay Area base or Las Vegas.

CaptCoolHand

MCO opened at the end of 2008.
It’s west of the hudson🤪

aldonite7667

With like 8 guys based there, I stand corrected. Everything is fine! ;-)

GuppyPuppy

LGB opened before '04.

GP

capt707

What makes you say that LGB is the best base in the system? Honest question and not disagreeing with you necessarily.

I would love to see more West coast, but I think JB blew it as usual. We could have jumped on SJC, but AS and Frontier beat us again.

Flyby1206

Just to play devil's advocate...

LGB is a great base, great people, location, etc etc... BUT it is one of our least profitable in terms of revenue/ASM and is located in a region where we are surrounded by competitors with far better hubs and market penetration.

Once the company realizes we will never be a significant west coast airline they will take a hard look in the mirror and close down LGB (but maintain a LAX base to cover transcons). This will allow for the planes to be redistributed to the east coast where we can make a much higher revenue premium and a more efficient use of the planes. I suspect some time in 2018 JFK will remove slot controls and this will be the catalyst for closing LGB and sending those planes back east.

Additionally, the only way we will grow out west is a merger. Alaska is our best suited partner, and as it stands now we are hurting more than helping. Cutting LGB will help them in a small way by removing a competitor from the west coast short haul markets.

I do believe LGB will be significantly cut, if not closed completely in the next 1-3yrs. We will maintain a small LAX base, maybe some sort of SFO satellite as well. Any non-transcon west coast flight will be cut. Alaska merger by 2022.

Xtreme87

We’ll merge with AS eventually and get their west coast bases.

aldonite7667

Quiet, walk to terminal from parking lot, good weather, closes up shop at 930p. If you’re local it’s good. But I wouldn’t want to commute there.

Bluedriver

Completely agree. I think we underbid an opportunity in LAS as well.