LVIA or ABE airport (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: transfer, college, cost of)

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by avg12

Atleast ABE has some LCC service-Allegiant to SFB. I think MDT is left without any LCC carrier.

Allegiant has limited flights from ABE to St. Petersburg, FL and to Myrtle Beach (seasonally). They also have DirectAir (a virtual airline) twice a week to Fort Myers FL.

Harrisburg (MDT) compared to ABE
Air Canada: Toronto BOTH
AirTran Airways: Orlando BOTH (both cancelled)
American Eagle: Chicago O' Hare (MDT)
Continental Airlines: Cleveland (MDT), Newark (bus from ABE)
Delta Air Lines: Cincinnati (MDT), Atlanta & Detroit (BOTH)
United Airlines: Chicago O' Hare, Washington DC Dulles (BOTH)
US Airways: Philadelphia & Charlotte (BOTH) Boston & LaGuardia (MDT)

But Harrisburg carried 60% more passengers than ABE in 2010

I am not under severe delusions, but if Allegiant replaces the Orlando flights and adds Fort Lauderdale, that would be nice. If American Eagle came back and put in flights to Miami so that Latin America and the Caribbean would be easily accessible that would be great.

It just seems sad that ABE is running just above Harlingen Valley International in Texas, given that Harlingen is one of the poorest and cheapest urban areas in the country. The reasons are different , since ABE suffers from "seepage" to the larger airports in PHL and EWR.

[avg12]

There is a Small Community Air Service Development Grant Application from ABE:

http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=DOT-OST-2012-0069-0004

Go to View Attachment.

It appears that they want a grant for ABE-DEN on Frontier. Frontier does fly PHL-DEN and MDT-DEN (via grant). Thoughts? Mine is ACY should have applied as well.

[toobusytoday]

We have relatives that fly out of Denver. I would LOVE frontier to service ABE!

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

We have relatives that fly out of Denver. I would LOVE frontier to service ABE!

There was an airline called Interstate Jet that briefly flew nonstops from ABE to Las Vegas, and I believe LAX for a few months. I think that is the last time that there was nonstop flights past the Mississippi.

Hopefully this Frontier Airline flight could be the chance for ABE to live up to it's potential.

[avg12]

Could they pool grant funds for ABE-MDT-DEN nonstop no plane change and it be viable for year-round daily service? In that scenario, the benefit would be more for MDT than ABE. But, if they view the two in tandem for a strategy it might be fine. Berks and Lancaster counties are common catchment between the two where Frontier recently opened up.

Along with daily MCO from both airports, offer FLL daily from ABE, essentially trying to build a base for ABE and MDT.

Frontier is getting whipped in other places of the country, but Southwest left ABE/MDT on the table, and it's likely the most densely populated region of the lower 48 US unserved without Southwest, JetBlue or Spirit. Areas of York County, PA might be within 1 hour of BWI, but the ABE MSA and the other Central PA MSAs are over 1 hour to BWI or PHL.

One could say there is Allegiant, but it is a different animal having most of flights non daily and more focused on selling packages than flights.

[PacoMartin]

June was a horrific month for ABE airport, and it was the fourth month in a row to be losing passengers. Air Canada is the latest airline to abandon the airport.

June-21.69%
May -14.29%
April -13.37%
March -4.59%

Enplaned passengers have been hovering between 1000 and 1200 per day. If the number goes below 1000 on average, the airport will lose it's FAA "hub status".

Only 4 airports in PA are FAA hubs. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh (obviously) and Harrisburg and ABE. Once you become a non-hub, it is nearly impossible to get money for improvements.

With the majors USAIRWAYS (Philadalphia and Charlotte), UNITED (Washington Dulles and Chicago), DELTA( Detroit and Atlanta) unlikely to increase their two destination policy for ABE, hope for improvement only remains with an off price airline. Right now there is only Allegiant and Frontier. Allegiant does not sell connecting tickets, so even if they institute flights to Las Vegas, you can't connect from their to another city.

So, Frontier still offers the best hope of putting a flight into Detroit, with connections all over the West.

The airport authority gave an interview saying that they think that their should be a flight to Cancun. I wish they wouldn't make such blanket statements. It's easy to want things, but it destroys their credibility in my mind.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by avg12

Frontier is getting whipped in other places of the country, but Southwest left ABE/MDT on the table, and it's likely the most densely populated region of the lower 48 US unserved without Southwest, JetBlue or Spirit. Areas of York County, PA might be within 1 hour of BWI, but the ABE MSA and the other Central PA MSAs are over 1 hour to BWI or PHL.

One could say there is Allegiant, but it is a different animal having most of flights non daily and more focused on selling packages thain flights.

I would be happy if ABE had the same level of service as MDT.

Allegiant is possibly the only airline I have ever seen that does not sell connecting flights. They are sort of a delivery service for vacation cities.

[alexiskai]

Southwest recently announced plans to discontinue nonstop service from PHL to RDU, leaving US Airways as the only airline left on that route. Prices for the route will doubtless increase, which could shift some local traffic destined for RDU to ABE, since the difference in cost between the two airports will be lower.

[avg12]

Originally Posted by alexiskai

Southwest recently announced plans to discontinue nonstop service from PHL to RDU, leaving US Airways as the only airline left on that route. Prices for the route will doubtless increase, which could shift some local traffic destined for RDU to ABE, since the difference in cost between the two airports will be lower.

Not sure as RDU is a small city/market. It's not like Raleigh is equivalent to Chicago, and there is just one carrier to Chicago from PHL.

Some might support ABE-ATL/CLT-RDU I suppose over a pricey PHL-RDU nonstop or equivalent PHL-ATL/CLT-RDU, but the RDU market is rather small that I can't imagine it benefitting ABE so much. The price sensitive pax might just drive to BWI instead and fly out of there, or drive all the way to NC, or forgo the trip.

I think US flying ABE-PHL is somewhat wasteful, considering that one might still encounter delays at PHL. But perhaps US doesn't want to lose out on European destination packages/flight sales from the Lehigh Valley to a competitor, as PHL is their only hub offering the service. CLT doesn't offer enough in that regards.

I think the best approach is to make ABE like ACY as an alternative PHL/EWR airport. In NY, ISP has become like ACY with most flights headed to Florida.
Have daily service to Orlando, Ft.Lauderdale, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Ft.Myers with service to atleast the first two. In winter, some prefer easier walk to gate access and not needing to worry about delays.

ABE should still keep connections from the legacy carriers to the major cities/hubs that is Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte and Detroit, and I suppose PHL and maybe IAD. A Boston flight would make sense too, although it wouldn't have many connection opportunities unless JetBlue flew the route. That'd cover all the major markets within 700 miles-NYC is driveable. The expectation of Mexico service, Denver or even the Texas cities seems too far out of reach at this point.

I think Frontier serving Allentown is fine, but they also want to serve Trenton (TTN) and use Trenton as an alternative PHL/EWR strategy. Given that areas of PA and NJ are within one hour of both TTN and ABE, that hurts ABE's efforts to be a PHL/EWR alternate.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by avg12

ABE should still keep connections from the legacy carriers to the major cities/hubs that is Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte and Detroit, and I suppose PHL and maybe IAD. A Boston flight would make sense too, although it wouldn't have many connection opportunities unless JetBlue flew the route. That'd cover all the major markets within 700 miles-NYC is driveable. The expectation of Mexico service, Denver or even the Texas cities seems too far out of reach at this point.

Well, I just don't think Charlotte will survive in it's present form if American and USAir merge. Charlotte is probably the biggest air hub relative to the smallest urban population. Perhaps they will fly ABE to Miami instead of Charlotte which would be good for ABE.

This habit of flying 55 miles from ABE to PHL puts a severe strain on airport facilities. It's a nationwide problem, particularly acute when overburdened San Diego and LAX (125 miles) fly about 50 connections per day with small planes. San Diego only has a single runway. The airports may take care of these flights by raising the landing fees and making them unprofitable.

ABE used to have charters to Cancun, a long time ago. I don't see them coming back.