The Incredible shrinking ATL
 

Back in 2007-08 Airtran I think at its peek had 240 flights a day out of ATL. With the new schedule extension coming out, SWA will be down almost 125 flights a day. Cutting most International. Only International will be PUJ and CUN. That's almost half of the total flights gone. All I can say is wow. They are not going to even try to compete with DL.

This is from the AJC.

"Southwest-AirTran’s market share at Hartsfield-Jackson has shrunk from 16 percent to 11 percent, while Delta’s has increased from nearly 78 percent to nearly 83 percent over the last four years. Total passenger counts were down 1.1 percent in 2013, and are up 0.75 percent for the first half of this year."

"And while AirTran operated flights from Hartsfield-Jackson to six Caribbean destinations, Southwest as of January 2015 will operate only two: Cancun and Punta Cana."

"Earlier this year, a master plan update was delayed as planners scaled back traffic forecasts because of Southwest’s dismantling of AirTran’s hub. That is likely to contribute to reduced demand for more gates and concourses and delay the need for a sixth runway."

I understand that SWA like any other company is in it to make money. They have been profitable for decades. Their track record is second to none. On track to make the highest profit in the companies history. If it hurts the bottom line than they need to do what they got to do. I get that. Just some serious cutting. Just shocked how much has been cut.

My question is why have a domicile in ATL? SWA has probably more RON's in some other cities(LAX,SAN, BNA,TPA and FLL)than ATL now. Is it a possibility that SWA wil close ATL as a domicile? In our final "end of FL comm" that was given, they said no growth in ATL domicile prior to March of 2015. Now the March schedule is out all the way through April, it looks like no growth at all for ATL. Wonder if ATL domicile is on it's way out.

DAL was not gonna roll over and play dead like Clark Howard thought. GK got welcomed to ATL in a way he didn't expect.

Your chest getting a little sore from all that thumping, T? :rolleyes:

Three points:

1) ATN was an extremely ATL-focused airline. SWA is not.

2) There is more than enough market for both SWA and DAL to co-exist in ATL

3) The plan for ATL has not been fully executed yet.

Wait a minute, I thought SWA was going to run Delta out of Atlanta? That's what my SWA buddies were telling me.

So then you admit that the acquisition of ATN was to shut it down? IOW.. to get rid of a competitor. I don't see how it could be anything else since you have cut their previous flights in half.... ;) Or maybe there's no money in ATL. :o

What portion of a point to point airline vs a hub and spoke airline do you not understand? When you remove the hub and spoke operation departures will go down. Kelly said this from day one and it has in fact happened, SURPRISE!

No kidding. That's all we heard over on the other forum when the AT merger was announced.

Let DAL have all of ATL. It's an armpit

Yes of course, cut the flights by 50% then add it back. Good way to win customer loyalty.

By half though. That's a lot. I don't pretend to know the economics of this BUT the less you offer in ATL, the more likely DAL will get the business. It's common sense. I'm not saying going toe to toe with DAL in every market but it seems they handed a least 12 markets, all are now monopolies by DAL. I guess if your not making money or just a little, you can use the assets in better markets to get a better return of investment, then that's the way to go.

No doubt about that. Perfect timing. And a cheap deal for SWA.

I can totally see 75-80 departures a day out of ATL by the time they finish "executing the plan". No different than SAN, BNA, or STL.

Don't be upset just because they threw you out of the Taco Bell... It could happen to anybody.