For years, travelers have wondered when Southwest Airlines would add
The day has finally come. The Dallas-based discounter, widely credited with forcing traditional carriers to hold down fares and costs, launches its first flights from
It is a bittersweet milestone in some respects. Southwest’s arrival comes only through its buyout — and gradual elimination over the next year or two — of AirTran Airways, the market’s scrappy No. 2 for the past 18 years.
Southwest launches 15 daily flights from
The loss of AirTran is bemoaned by some travelers who valued AirTran’s business class and assigned seats, both of which will disappear when planes convert to Southwest’s all-coach setup with no seat assignments.
But Southwest has a much bigger national network than AirTran, offering some new options for
As the largest metropolitan area without Southwest service, not to mention the home of the world’s busiest airport,
“People have always wanted Southwest to come here,” said Chris McGinnis, editor of The Ticket, a newsletter for travelers.
Southwest wasn’t ready in 1991 when Hartsfield-Jackson had a gaping hole left by Eastern Airlines’ demise. By the time its growth made a move into
Southwest could have tried to carve out some gate space and hustle its way into the hearts and minds of
Other rivals that fly to Hartsfield-Jackson use the route more to feed their own hubs than to make a serious dent in the
Its efforts to gain market share starting with just a few routes might have sparked a major fare war in which it would be at a disadvantage, said Port Washington, N.Y.-based airline consultant Bob Mann.
If Southwest had tried to simply come in on its own as a third competitor, it would have been “great for the
Coming into the market by buying out AirTran, on the other hand, allows Southwest to “eliminate the idea of having a three-carrier battle for [market] share,” Mann said.
For much of its history, Southwest avoided major hub airports. But as its network grew over the past 15 years, it entered many and
“The major market that we don’t touch domestically that our business customers in particular want is
McGinnis thinks fares will “remain much the same” in many markets where AirTran already flies, while they could go down in new markets Southwest enters not flown by AirTran.
Because Southwest controls AirTran and will eventually displace AirTran service, “that explains why you wouldn’t expect to get the so-called Southwest effect in this sort of transaction, because Southwest is acquiring an operator who has already done that for the market,” Mann said.
AirTran “has already been the low-fare leader in the market for a very long period of time,” he said.
Southwest plans to dismantle AirTran’s connecting hub, transform it into an operation focusing on people traveling to and from
Rodman & Renshaw analyst Daniel McKenzie said in a note to investors that there are no signs of a market share battle in
In fact, Southwest is shrinking flight capacity in the second quarter in markets where it competes against Delta, including in
After a difficult year with high fuel costs and economic uncertainty, both airlines are “striving for better returns in 2012,” and “getting
The launch of Southwest service is “kind of historic for
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