Fiscal 2023 DIF Account

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Southwest Airlines To Worcester Airport? This Would Be Huge!!!

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We have been following Worcester Airport for 10 plus years and have developed sources all around the country.    Over this time we have predicted pretty much everything service that has come to Worcester, as well as those that would never come like Rectrix flying to Baltimore then Sarasota.

Remember when we warned people how Rectrix had done nothing that they promised, would fail to the Cape, never have the Baltimore-Sarasota flight and would be out of business.   This was denied vehemently by the Rectrix CEO at the time.   

In the end we were right on all points.

 The only time we have been wrong was when we thought United was coming to Worcester with maybe a flight to Chicago.   Still hearing some rumblings about this, but it has not happened yet????

On to Southwest.    

Been hearing this one for sometime.  Considering all the troubles with the 737 Max, we just did not think this as being a possibility.     

 We keep hearing, however, that Southwest is coming???  The more we think about it, it really does make sense and would be huge if they come.     Let us explain why:
  1. If they do come to Worcester, it will not be once daily to Baltimore.  They will come in with 2 maybe 3 times per day to Baltimore, their hub.
  2. They will have direct flights to Florida
  3. They might have a flight to Puerto Rico
 
In other words they would come with a business plan that will enable them to make a profit.  Their plan will not be "put one flight out of Worcester to get more from Massport in Boston, and we do not care if we make money or not."    

 Most importantly Southwest knows where their passengers live that fly their airline from other airports around New England.   They must know how strong a base that they have here right in Central Massachusetts and Worcester would be a great addition.   

 We are standing by this prediction.   If this were to happen, this would be HUGE!!!  


Comments

Common Sense said…
American and Delta have cut service here after a relatively short period of time. Jetblue's JFK flight is losing money. Based on your logic, Jetblue, Delta and American are dumb airlines that don't know their markets. Maybe I'm missing something, but where can you get from Baltimore that you can't get from JFK or Philadelphia? While I agree that direct flights to Florida might work for Southwest, I can't see filling planes in mid-July. It would have to be a seasonal service. Jetblue and AA already gives us service to Puerto Rico. You would also need a huge marketing campaign to introduce any new service to the market (the many people that have no idea that ORH has flights). Massport's recent $300,000 marketing plan was a dismal failure. An effective marketing plan to get the word out about Southwest would be at least $1 million. I haven't seen any evidence that Masport or Southwest would be willing to write that type of check. While bringing in Southwest might be a feelgood thing it's going to be another situation where we get 50% loads. Also, we used to have a United flight to Chicago that was cancelled in 5 months.
January 31, 2020 at 2:02 PM
Bill Randell said…
No airline will ever succeed with one flight per day to a hub with bad times and destinations like Detroit over Atlanta. An airline that comes in here with 2 o4 flights per day will do very well.

JetBlue would do great with 3 JFK flights, but will fail with just 1. If SouthWest were to come here and fly to Baltimore, they would do more than 1 per day..

OMG-- Florida cranks 12 months per year!!

But I do agree with you on the $300,000 campaign....
January 31, 2020 at 2:20 PM
Anonymous said…
I fly JetBlue almost exclusively, and use the JetBlue flight to DCA a LOT. Southwest to Baltimore would be a viable and much more convenient alternative for me and I'm sure many of the other passengers on the always full flights BOS-DCA.

JetBlue keeps adding flights on this route, so there is definitely demand.
February 2, 2020 at 6:20 AM
Anonymous said…
Would be nice to see an airline come in here with a solid commitment. Right now it's like there is three with one foot out the door no one wants to do any more than the minimum. If Southwest were to come in and make an impact, it would hopefully force the other airlines to finally metaphorically check-in to ORH.
February 4, 2020 at 10:50 AM
Unknown said…
https://onemileatatime.com/breeze-airways/
February 8, 2020 at 1:00 PM
Unknown said…
Just read that Bradley's passenger count is up 300,000 from last year. They're going to have a $210 million projest to enhance service. New carriers and flights are also expected. It would nice if ORH could take some of that business away from Bradley
February 10, 2020 at 9:40 AM
Anonymous said…
Multiple daily BWI flights and directs to FL make since and fit with SWA business plan for a small airport. I agree with you but have 2 concerns.

That said, my first is: Puerto Rico. Currently, SWA flys to/from SJU only from a limited number of their hubs, and two major FL cities. I don’t see ORH SJU becoming the exception to this strategy based on their current destinations from SJU. Not to say SWA won’t come here but if they do, SJU won’t be a destination. Also B6 and AA have pulled back in SJU recently due to soft demand from hurricanes and now the earthquake most recently. I’m not sure there is demand right now for more seats.

Also, SWA just pulled out of Newark. They blamed the MAX issue. If they don’t have the available Aircraft for an airport the size of EWR in the largest metro area in the country, they don’t have AC for 5 plus new flights a day to ORH. Don’t underestimate the MAX issue. It will take multiple years to catch up on deliveries, on top of the time it will take to get the parked ones airworthy and 10000 pilots retrained - once it’s actually cleared to fly, and that has no ETA. So wile it was possible ORH was on the short list before the MAX issues, I think all bets are off now. So I’d say 2 years min before SWA is in expansion mode to the level of adding a new (small, risky) city like Worcester with that kind of lift needed (5 flights a day).

It’s just a bad time for SWA. Now Frontier and Spirit have major AC orders coming and are currently and will continue to grow rapidly in the coming years. Breeze and Allegiant to a lesser extent as well. I’d personally put all 4 of these ahead of SWA in terms of chances in the next 2 years.

That’s just my thoughts. Could be wrong.

February 11, 2020 at 6:23 AM
Anonymous said…
Southwest exec’s were spotted in the terminal building early last week speaking with Massport & Airport officials. Then on a seperate occasion late last week, Southwest exec’s were seen inspecting the TSA passenger & baggage screening areas. No official announcements have been made so far.
March 9, 2020 at 1:44 AM
Common Sense said…
Ran into an old high school friend that is the GM of a large hotel/ convention center in Marlboro. When I asked him how many of his guests use ORH he told me he didn't
know that ORH has any airlines or flights.
March 11, 2020 at 9:44 AM
ORH Fan said…
Same here. A friend and his family were flying to Orlando a few months back and I asked if they were flying out of Worcester. They had no idea there were flights to Florida from Worcester. Makes you wonder about that $300,000 advertising campaign. I think I saw one Delta billboard up on I-290 for 2 or 3 weeks. Nothing else. I have to remember though that this is Massachusetts. I'm guessing about $299,500 of the $300,000 advertising budget was spent on commitees and studies and other unrelated expenditures.
March 11, 2020 at 2:40 PM
Anonymous said…
Big ORH fan having done the early flight to JFK to PHL, to/from MCO. Love everything about it, wish there were better turns from JFK home.

That being said, update on JB filing to suspend service all together because of the Kung Flu. Yeah I said it.

https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=DOT-OST-2020-0037-0048
April 15, 2020 at 5:56 AM
Anonymous said…
Any chance of this happening???
May 17, 2022 at 1:36 PM
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