OK I will..........

U.S. airlines carried a record number of passengers, Delta Air Lines Inc. had the third-most passengers and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was the busiest airport in 2007, according to a March 13 report from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Atlanta-based Delta (NYSE: DAL) flew the third-most passengers in 2007 with more than 72.9 million international and domestic passengers. That number was a 0.8 percent drop over Delta's 73.5 million passengers in 2006.

Southwest Airlines Co. led the pack with more than 101.9 million passengers and American Airlines came in second place by flying 98.2 million people.

Overall, U.S. airlines set an annual record by flying 769.4 million scheduled domestic and international passengers in 2007 -- a jump of 3.3 percent, or 25 million passengers, over 2006.

More total system and domestic passengers boarded planes operated by U.S. carriers in 2007 at Hartsfield-Jackson than at any other U.S. airport for the 12th consecutive year. Hartsfield-Jackson also was the busiest U.S. airport in 2007, with 42.6 million domestic and international passenger boardings. The airport also was the busiest domestic airport with 38.6 million domestic passenger boardings last year.




YAY I was right. Thanks for the softball.

OK.. but that is history. Check next quarter. But I really don't care. If it makes you feel better, more power to ya.

Yeaaaaaaa! C5Guy...

Whatever..:rolleyes:

Pssssssssssssst

C5guy...........check the date on the article.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Woot Woot Woot.

I do feel better. I'm rarely right. ;)

One thing missing from the original post is SWA is also bidding on ATA's certificate. Which could be huge...ETOPS. Time will tell if these new gates are for SWA, a codeshare partner, or a combo of everything.

I noticed that as well.

My experience is all 4 engines over water so I can hardly spell ETOPS. What is involved in starting ETOPS flights? Is it just training/operations policy stuff and maintenance levels on the jets or are there actual mods to the jets??

If there is something that is done to the jets, how extensive (and expensive) is it. Since there are no aircraft listed as included in the purchase, that would be more mods to the jets if they were going to take advantage of the certification. Or I guess they could go shopping with some of that cash on hand.

Personally I think the value of the slots is what they are buying, the ETOPS portion is just a little icing on the cake. But it's nice to think about while I'm swimming. :)

Not so fast stud...I think what Tsquare was getting at is the combined DAL/NWA has carried some 25% more pax and brought in about 200% more revenue than SWA in 2008. You were right on Oct 29th, 2008 when DAL and NWA were separate companies. But you posted this on Nov 19th...that makes you wrong.

How much of that 200% increase in revenue will be profit, Einstein?

Typical tactic when an argument has been lost ...change the subject. The topic was "largest airline" Big guy. Profit (while I conceed is perhaps the most important measure of an airline) is not a metric used in determining size of an airline. The two most common measures are total pax carried and revenue...Genius:D

Itsallgood, maybe your condescending tone with the "not so fast stud" comment led to the change in subject. Especially since it was off thread anyway. By the article, clearly SWA was biggest for 2007. Since we are still in 2008, those numbers haven't come out yet and everyone can fight that arguement when they do. As well, C5 guy stated largest DOMESTIC airline, which SWA still might be even after the merger. But once again lets wait until the numbers come out before we all start going crazy.
As for the thought of SWA going to LGA, I'm shocked that they'd risk it for all the reasons others have stated. However, I will say this...Gary Kelly says SWA is making money at PHL, and I'd imagine they'll find a way at LGA. If not, they'll cut their losses and pull out.