I'm with you on that end. A PMer on the west coast getting in early east coast time doesn't amount too much if you live on the west coast. Get the required rest and then keep moving on the pairing. Your WOCL is set up already. The network is big enough to at least fill in the rigs and possibility getting above ADG. SWA is still by a wide margin a p2p carrier.

 

The real problem is network planning. Obviously this is coming from the executives. Remember, AW was the VP of network planning. Before that he was the head of network planning for Hawaiian. He is definitely driving the network to a more connective whole. TD who is the CFO, is also on board with moving to a more connective network. They have been talking about this quite a bit in the last few months. Everyone has been more interested in the lounge, two by two, different fleet type talk but forget that they have been discussing these network changes for a while. They are willing to take the hit of inefficiencies to drive more revenue. If they turn up the dial a lot more, I'll be glad we have the rigs we do. The one cost item they have in their pocket is the displacements. Their are no guard rails. Hopefully this is far as it goes for a while. Once the NC is set up for the next round, the SEP process should bring to light this problem and maybe solutions that will need to be addressed.

 

You're quite the optimist... I assume the SEP questions will be along the lines of choose between the following statements: "Displacement process we have now is fine", "The last time I committed murder I enjoyed it", "I think we should take a pay cut", and "PBS - why not?"

 

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.

 

I personally think Delta is 100 percent full of crap when it comes to AUS. They are negotiating for real estate there. They are already fully engaged in turf wars in several other locations. Unless they have some secret aircraft order that they aren't disclosing, they will be forced to either redeploy capacity from elsewhere or call up the SkyWest armada in order to grow by a huge margin in AUS. Either way, it feels like a paper tiger. Southwest currently has a huge margin in Austin and it will remain that way for the foreseeable future.

I still don't see a crew base for the reasons I stated previously.

 

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.

 

Earning season for the airlines begins tomorrow with Delta reporting first. They will again have better metrics across the board. Delta can and would put a hurt on SWA if they could. Some places they are. Real estate is the issue. Nice power point presentations to boot. This is still a competitive industry. Look in SEA. They are deploying capacity to match ALK not only on the domestic but on the long haul wide body stuff. Delta is a power house right now and has been for a few years. SWA played offense for decades. Defense is now their playbook. AUS has high O&D hence why SWA does well there and market share reflects it. It is a perfect spot to set up with a complementary hub and spoke. Both want that real estate once it's built. I'm not saying it's going to be a base but Delta has the money and resources to make it difficult for SWA. Senior mangement won't say it publicly but if you catch them in the halls they will tell you they are worried.

 

Delta basically paid SkyWest to open a crew base in Austin and squat on gates for awhile. They fly half empty ERJs around Texas daily. Waiting for Daddy D To move in.

And then Delta already announced it as a Flight Attendant crew base. If they're full of crap about Austin they have a weird way of showing it.

 

To be fair Delta has many small FA crew bases. It doesn't mean a whole lot. They have much better control over it because they are non union. It's cheap and looks good to the city. If they open a pilot base that would something. Unlike our CBA, they have a long list of restrictions and provisions to prevent what's happening here these day's with displacements.

 

Unlike many other satellite Delta FA bases (e.g. DFW, SFO, RDU..) the Austin FA base is not a satellite, but announced as a permanent one consisting of staff and management. Base consist of 150 FA’s to start + it’s a Delta Connection pilot and crew base.

Delta is building their second largest Skyclub system-wide in Austin at around 35,000 sq.ft. at the eventual A-B Concourse tunnel interface. Underneath the Skyclub will host the newly developed FA lounge with much more additional room for above/below wing personnel, training facilities, IT, management space, and an eventual pilot lounge if needed. Delta-Austin ACS (airport customer service) was told at a meeting the end goal is 2,700-2,800 Austin employees by 2031. Goals also set on building a fully operational maintenance hangar for a permanent MX base. Mentioned as well Delta may use their current club and convert it to an D1 Club if ABIA lets them have two club areas. Rumors of a DL-metal AUS-CDG and DL taking KLM’s AUS-AMS are rumored too. KE operated AUS-ICN is imminent as well due to aggressive O&D desire for Asia flight.

Much of this is from a recent town hall meeting that took place at AUS. Positive much of these plans will rely on ABIA to execute their timeline of a 2030 Concourse B with 30 gates initially. Lastly, it’s not been announced how many gates Delta got with the new lease agreement, or have many were allocated to Delta starting Jan 2026. The rumor is Delta gained some gates from AA and possibly others until Concourse B is finished. I believe, the Delta game plan in Austin is for the long run to fill their last network gap domestically due to losing Dallas back in the day.