Lezam
2nd Jul 2008, 01:53
I have been seeing airlines doing this for quite a few months now, pushing international routes out like they are going out of style. For example, delta has been aggressively creating new routes out of JFK to establish a dominance over international routes.
For the sake of argument, lets assume the current world economics were in place, but within the foreseeable future oil prices will go down.
Now, here is the thought. Is there a market for an exclusively international/longhaul airline based in the usa? It would try to establish dominance at a single airport, lets say jfk, and would have a medium to low cost structure. The purpose of maintaining a single airport presence is to capture the local market as best as possible. The service would be on par with a non us based airline, and would cater to a business/frequent flyer crowd, not leisure. Would it initially be able to tap into the market? Jetblue successfully shoved some airlines clear of its path with the lone ideal of great service. The airline could offer a few destinations at its start, expanding slowly, and maybe establish a frequent flier relationship with another airline for loyalty.
In my opinion, it wouldn't have to deal with any leisure flier droughts, and would focus its efforts on capturing the frequent flier.
Maybe it sounds crazy, but there has been an upsurge in efforts to expand international service over the past few months and it seems as though the domestic market is dwindling.
I know there have been a few economics left out, like the aircraft, slot restrictions, congestion, but if they would be able to overcome these...
Obviously there are no definite answers, but I think this could make for a nice chat!
For the sake of argument, lets assume the current world economics were in place, but within the foreseeable future oil prices will go down.
Now, here is the thought. Is there a market for an exclusively international/longhaul airline based in the usa? It would try to establish dominance at a single airport, lets say jfk, and would have a medium to low cost structure. The purpose of maintaining a single airport presence is to capture the local market as best as possible. The service would be on par with a non us based airline, and would cater to a business/frequent flyer crowd, not leisure. Would it initially be able to tap into the market? Jetblue successfully shoved some airlines clear of its path with the lone ideal of great service. The airline could offer a few destinations at its start, expanding slowly, and maybe establish a frequent flier relationship with another airline for loyalty.
In my opinion, it wouldn't have to deal with any leisure flier droughts, and would focus its efforts on capturing the frequent flier.
Maybe it sounds crazy, but there has been an upsurge in efforts to expand international service over the past few months and it seems as though the domestic market is dwindling.
I know there have been a few economics left out, like the aircraft, slot restrictions, congestion, but if they would be able to overcome these...
Obviously there are no definite answers, but I think this could make for a nice chat!