Interesting take on the loss of rural air service

drunkenbeagle said:
Allegiant and Silver both have directs from TPA, have taken both. Really good Belgain place in Greenville. Don't think I would live there, but was definitely a nice place to visit the few times I was there.
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It is a good town. Parent live there. The problem is that everyone else is moving in as well. It is an absolute mess of traffic.
 
Richman said:
Not interesting at all. Seems like a PR piece planted to pimp for the relaxation of the ATP rule.

Anyone who’s ever flown EAS will tell you that little towns don’t recognize that they’re, well, little. And you need to be not little to fill airplanes to make money. Money that needs to be made since everyone thought deregulation was such a super idea.

And they’re never satisfied. The airport manager at one garden spot we flew into came into the station every day to tell us how much we sucked, and how much better things were when BigAirlineCo used to fly 727s into East Woebegone.

But this is so transparent, I’m honestly surprised Politico bit off on it. They’re usually a little more savvy than that.
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So as someone who lives this each and every day, I applaud how accurate your assessment is here.

Yes, Bumfuk, Missouri used to have a 727 that stopped there on its way between DFW and ORD - and unfortunately the youngest member of their airport governing Board was on the Board then too. They settled for regional jets, though like you say, they b* and moaned about that. Now regionals can't serve their market and they look to us (air service consultants) to replace that service - but with jets, none of that turboprop nonsense.

Yes, all of these markets think they can sustain mainline narrowbody service 3x day.

"Did you tell them about all of the breweries we've opened recently?" is a question I legitimately get from communities when recapping calls I've had with airline network planners.

"You get us the flight and we'll find you the passengers." Another statement small community leaders like to put out there during our airline meetings - and one that makes me sink into my chair.

It's a bad time for small markets for sure. I work with EAS markets, and regional carriers are struggling to serve even those - the ones with a federal revenue guarantee tied to them!

I could say more, but I literally have to go back to writing one of the grant applications mentioned in the article.
 
zmiller4 said:
Wait, do what now?
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The hotel we stayed at, VERY NEAR THE BELGIAN BAR (because Corporate Security says it's a no-no to publicly divulge our hotels) has a rescue dog program where they'll have a couple puppies or some rescue dogs which you can "check out" to go walk or hang out with during your stay. And if you like the dog, they can coordinate with the rescue to adopt the dog out.

It's about the coolest thing since sliced bread.
 
derg said:
The hotel we stayed at, VERY NEAR THE BELGIAN BAR (because Corporate Security says it's a no-no to publicly divulge our hotels) has a rescue dog program where they'll have a couple puppies or some rescue dogs which you can "check out" to go walk or hang out with during your stay. And if you like the dog, they can coordinate with the rescue to adopt the dog out.

It's about the coolest thing since sliced bread.
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That's pretty cool, but do you have to show your employee badge to get the discount?

"I'm a pilot with the airlines staying next door .... we get 1/2 off margaritas - right?"
 
CFI A&P said:
That's pretty cool, but do you have to show your employee badge to get the discount?

"I'm a pilot with the airlines staying next door .... we get 1/2 off margaritas - right?"
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Ha! I only ask for the "airline discount" where something is significantly overpriced and it's a significant discount.

Like the hotel in Seoul literally has a $70USD breakfast. But it's like $10USD w/discount.

But asking someone who is making maybe minimum wage for a double digit percentage discount at a widebody mainline captain's rate feels awkward.
 
derg said:
Ha! I only ask for the "airline discount" where something is significantly overpriced and it's a significant discount.

Like the hotel in Seoul literally has a $70USD breakfast. But it's like $10USD w/discount.

But asking someone who is making maybe minimum wage for a double digit percentage discount at a widebody mainline captain's rate feels awkward.
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Like anyone else, I'll enjoy more money in my wallet, but being out and someone is so loud you'd think they had a bullhorn - "I'm a pilot and I want cheaper booze!" always makes me cringe. A friend used to work with a guy that would ask the hotel clerk for the nearest bar. Way to fulfill the stereotype.
 
derg said:
The hotel we stayed at, VERY NEAR THE BELGIAN BAR (because Corporate Security says it's a no-no to publicly divulge our hotels) has a rescue dog program where they'll have a couple puppies or some rescue dogs which you can "check out" to go walk or hang out with during your stay. And if you like the dog, they can coordinate with the rescue to adopt the dog out.

It's about the coolest thing since sliced bread.
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That’s…amazing.

I hope you had appropriate super white running shoes so you didn’t get blistered!
 
killbilly said:
Company I worked for from 1999-2003 was based in GSP.

Whenever we had meetings at corporate, they made us fly into ATL and drive to GSP because of the fare differences.
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Exactly. I said a “few bucks” but the fare difference was actually pretty significant. Especially in 1990’s dollars.
 
Murdoughnut said:
So as someone who lives this each and every day, I applaud how accurate your assessment is here.

Yes, Bumfuk, Missouri used to have a 727 that stopped there on its way between DFW and ORD - and unfortunately the youngest member of their airport governing Board was on the Board then too. They settled for regional jets, though like you say, they b* and moaned about that. Now regionals can't serve their market and they look to us (air service consultants) to replace that service - but with jets, none of that turboprop nonsense.

Yes, all of these markets think they can sustain mainline narrowbody service 3x day.

"Did you tell them about all of the breweries we've opened recently?" is a question I legitimately get from communities when recapping calls I've had with airline network planners.

"You get us the flight and we'll find you the passengers." Another statement small community leaders like to put out there during our airline meetings - and one that makes me sink into my chair.

It's a bad time for small markets for sure. I work with EAS markets, and regional carriers are struggling to serve even those - the ones with a federal revenue guarantee tied to them!

I could say more, but I literally have to go back to writing one of the grant applications mentioned in the article.
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I can be accurate, but only on an accidental basis.

It’s not like a superpower that I can summon at will, like a construct from a Green Lantern ring. More like a weird confluence of events that can be surmised as “holy, f*%k, the weird cat lover was right”.
 
derg said:
The hotel we stayed at, VERY NEAR THE BELGIAN BAR (because Corporate Security says it's a no-no to publicly divulge our hotels) has a rescue dog program where they'll have a couple puppies or some rescue dogs which you can "check out" to go walk or hang out with during your stay. And if you like the dog, they can coordinate with the rescue to adopt the dog out.
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Except the dogs were so cute, they kept getting adopted. So I saw only ONE dog, ONCE. At the "trendy" brand hotel, in Greenville, near the Belgian place with great steak frites.
 
I mean, the "little" towns are BIGGER than they were up until the 90s for the most part when they lost most of the service they had for decades. I still think the commuter market is there, it just isn't worth the "hassle" to the air carriers (minus EAS grants) since the money to be made isn't huge. But it is still money to be made, and people who might connect on to FRA in first class on your airline and not the competition if they drive.

The 19-seat Jetstreams, Metros etc and even the intra-state commuter flying in 30-seat Brasilias or 34-seat Saabs went away for the most part long before the 1500 hour rule. By the late 90s a lot of it was gone, with Great Lakes and a few other carriers being the only true "commuters" still.
 
drunkenbeagle said:
Except the dogs were so cute, they kept getting adopted. So I saw only ONE dog, ONCE. At the "trendy" brand hotel, in Greenville, near the Belgian place with great steak frites.
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I remember sitting there with a Kwak thinking "WTF, Waterzooi? I live in a metropolis and 99.999% of people never heard of that"
 
ClearedForOption said:
Age 67, maybe... 1500 Hr. rule - not a chance. Let the training pipeline catch up... and once we go around the sun maybe 6-8 more times the 'pilot shortage' will be good for maybe another generation.

The seniority 'stagnation' compared to right now (at the legacies) in the 2030's is gonna be amazing to watch, it's gonna be like the mid 'aught's all over again.

I'm looking forward to be the old guy telling the stories to the kids on my jumpseat, using my wooden fork, whittlin' away at the "so called cheese" from the cheese plate... making chess pieces...

"Now, back in the early part of the century, in '05, you would go to a job fair and stand in line for 3 hours to have five mintues with an AirTran recruiter."

"What's an AirTran you ask?"

"Even crazier than that is people would spend thousands of dollars, which is like $20,000 in today's dollars, to buy a type rating in a 737 just to get your foot in the door."

"No, it didn't guarantee you a job, it didn't even guarantee you an interview..."
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once upon a time, boys and girls, there was this company known as Air Inc, and it’s founder Kit Darby…….
 
derg said:
The hotel we stayed at, VERY NEAR THE BELGIAN BAR (because Corporate Security says it's a no-no to publicly divulge our hotels) has a rescue dog program where they'll have a couple puppies or some rescue dogs which you can "check out" to go walk or hang out with during your stay. And if you like the dog, they can coordinate with the rescue to adopt the dog out.

It's about the coolest thing since sliced bread.
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Wait this is a thing?!?! Where? I always look like a psycho cause I pet the therapy puppers whenever i pass them in the airport.

Dogs, infinitely better than people.
 
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