Airport - new website, update & pics

[AAbsolute]

Shelly, So you're for the airport or against it? I just can't tell.

 

[scooterbug44]

Customer service at airlines is becoming a lost art - especially at the bigger/older airports and I think people are certainly reacting to it - especially the nickel and diming bag fees.

Thanks to the locations where I and my immediate family live I fly into/out of smaller regional airports and the difference in service levels and amenities is amazing.

At my parents' home airport they have local restaurants as the airport concession service and a special seating area w/ $$ leather couches and recliners a local furniture company has set up to get their name/product out there!

 

[AAbsolute]

Customer service at airlines is becoming a lost art - especially at the bigger/older airports and I think people are certainly reacting to it - especially the nickel and diming bag fees.

Thanks to the locations where I and my immediate family live I fly into/out of smaller regional airports and the difference in service levels and amenities is amazing.

At my parents' home airport they have local restaurants as the airport concession service and a special seating area w/ $$ leather couches and recliners a local furniture company has set up to get their name/product out there!

I appreciate consolidation ( including local vendors ) and efficiency.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Wow. This airport will never survive! People are broke and not going to come to the beach. New industries will not be moving to the PCB area.

You guys may be on to something, if we are talking about the short term. However, this airport isn't being built because of today's needs. It is being built to be ahead of the growth curve. Today is not in the year 2020. We are in 2008.

Update from last night -- the airport construction is ahead of schedule and is currently under budget.

 

[beachmouse]

If you want a realistic picture of what the new airport will look like in 2020, go to Pensacola in the present day. What you have is a very nice regional airport that does about three times the passenger volume of PCB, and that offers a variety of daily flights to the hubs of multiple major carriers.

But daily flights to London from there, the PNS airport director would laugh at you for suggesting it because it makes no sense. Their big goal right now is getting one of the coveted daily non-stop slots into Reagan/Washinton National. (Which would actually be a pretty big coup because of how tightly those slots are capped)

 

[Will B]

...go to Pensacola in the present day. What you have is a very nice regional airport that does about three times the passenger volume of PCB

Actually, they do more than 5 times the volume!

Their big goal right now is getting one of the coveted daily non-stop slots into Reagan/Washinton National. (Which would actually be a pretty big coup because of how tightly those slots are capped)

Last year during Christmas, ASA ran flights from VPS to NYC using 50 seat jets that would have normally been sitting on the ground somewhere due to the holiday schedule. I did some digging and found that those flights did pretty well but, in the grand scheme of things, did not pose the best usage for the aircraft. It is not being done again this year so my guess is that the yield that they were getting from the flights didn't warrant doing it again.
Regarding DCA...all of the passenger info gets analyzed to the "n'th" degree. If traffic warranted it, again, it would be looked at; however, no airline is going to pull a 150+ seat aircraft off of a route that is routinely full to service a small city with a 50 seat aircraft instead. It's simple math...

...and I'll say it again...
The new airport is being designed around the Airbus A320 model. It will be able to poetentially handle something as large as a 757, albeit, with very little fuel onboard due to the ramp and runway weight limitations so you will never get a true international flight from the new airport, anyway...

 

[traderx]

...and I'll say it again...
The new airport is being designed around the Airbus A320 model. It will be able to poetentially handle something as large as a 757, albeit, with very little fuel onboard due to the ramp and runway weight limitations so you will never get a true international flight from the new airport, anyway...

All I really care about is Delta or AirTran flying a real jet to/from ATL. I guess the French and Germans could change planes in ATL.

 

[scooterbug44]

My last flight from VPS to Atlanta was on a prop plane - the airbus is a long ways off! :rofl:

 

[Will B]

All I really care about is Delta or AirTran flying a real jet to/from ATL. I guess the French and Germans could change planes in ATL.

My last flight from VPS to Atlanta was on a prop plane - the airbus is a long ways off! :rofl:

Well...ya both get your wishes,,,at least from Delta / ASA. ASA is getting rid of the ATR72's. I think they have only 6 left and are due to get rid of them in several short months. As far as "real" jet service goes, I'm not sure if you're talking size or not. PFN is still going to be served by Regional Jets (50 or 70 seats). Eglin has 3 MD88 flights a day. One of the bits from the NW aquisition is the redeployment of their old DC9's. My guess is you will start seeing them in about a year.

 

[traderx]

By "real jets", I mean Delta proper, not ASA. My last ASA turbo-prop flight was from ATL to Asheville during a thunderstorm. I had to take it because a client was waiting in Asheville. I swore it would be my last and it was. I am not a nervous flyer; have almost a million miles on Delta and a bunch on America, Eastern, Southern, etc.

If the new airport only offers ASA and the others, I will keep driving and counting the years before Alabama finishes US 431 between Phenix City and Eufaula.