Aéreas focam nos mercados em desenvolvimento

Airports looking to expand air service in the next couple of years are finding lots of reasons to be optimistic.

Airline leaders at the 2016 International Aviation Forecast Summit stresses demand is continuing to grow at home and abroad. However, the industry continues to evolve, so how the airlines meet these needs is going to change.

The IAFS — hosted by Boyd Group International — wrapped up Sept. 20, at the Squaw Valley Resort in Lake Tahoe, Calif., where leaders from airlines, airports and industry suppliers came together to peer into the needs of the next few years of service.

International focus is aiming at the potential growth in flights to China due to a continued surge in economic activity out of that country and emerging middle class.

Domestically, many were asking about the impact the Alaska Airlines-Virgin America merger may have. However, representatives from both airlines were mum on details until the deal is approved.

Brian Znotins, vice president of network for United Airlines, said the company is creating plans to expand service into China in coming years as the marketing continue to mature. San Francisco International Airport (SFO) will be the focus destination for the added Chinese traffic, then grown to additional United Hubs.

The airline is servicing Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tai Pei from four gateway airports each in the U.S. United plans to grow service in secondary Chinese cities, such as Chengdu, Xian and Hangzhou. All of the secondary cities will have service focused out of SFO.

“It’s our primary Pacific gateway, it offers the best geography to connectivity and local market size of any gateway in the U.S.,” he said.

Znotins said there will be less of a China focus for Denver International Airport (DEN), which United plans to build up with more domestic service to connect the new mainline services added to cities in the east.

“We’ve been adding new markets in the east, we’ve added mainline in Nashville, we’ve added mainline in Memphis, we added Raleigh and Charlotte and Norfolk. Those are all the kinds of markets we’re adding,” he said.

“If you think about the way the county is set up, in the east, you have all these big cities and in the west, you have this handful of big cities and their populations are really focused,” he continued. “So, what we need to do is get bigger airplanes on Denver to LA and San Francisco, so that we have enough capacity to connect the new Charlotte-Denver passenger on to San Francisco.

“Denver is really about bigger planes west of the hub and new markets east of the hub in a general sense.”

Domestic Focus Shifts

Jude Bricker, COO/senior vice president of planning for Allegiant Air, said the company has grown by 20 percent annually as it continues to meet the needs of niche markets underserved by airline service. In 80 percent of the airline’s markets, there is no nonstop competition and due to limited service and usage of used planes, it allowed for the company to meet the needs of these markets while keeping prices low.

However, the company needs to replace its fleet of MD80s due to a lack of ability to get parts for them and sensitivity to fuel prices. The 757s it uses to service its Hawaii routes also need extensive work that and may need to be retires in the near future.

The company is aiming to buy used Airbus 320’s as part of the replacement and the company is purchasing new 320s from Airbus, which will start to arrive in May.

The airline historically aimed for service in small markets, but Bricker said there now is a focus on improving service in the existing network with midsized markets and secondary destinations. 

Bricker said Allegiant considers midsized markets to be areas with more than 1 million in population that fall between the 25th and 75th largest metro areas in the U.S.

“Cincinnati has 15 destinations. I think there are a dozen other cities that I think we can make look just like that,” he said. “So, we want to be the hometown airline for 30 markets throughout the country.”

Allegiant will start service to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to provide a new destination service within the New York metro area. It has also launched into Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI).

“I think what has really surprised me is our ability to grow into those destination markets,” he said. “Destin, Florida has been a really positive surprise in my mind. Jacksonville, Florida, Austin, Texas, New Orleans is doing quite well.”

David Clark, vice president of network planning for JetBlue, said the airline is working to fill holes in its network next year. The airline already announces a surge in service from Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) and LaGuardia International Airport (LGA) service coming on line next year.

Clark said the airline continues to look at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport (MHT) for potential service, but no decision has been made yet on the addition to New England service.

“In the past six or seven years we’ve rolled out in places like Hartford, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island,” he said. “Manchester has always been a part of those discussions and continues to be, but we have no announcement as of this time.”

JetBlue is also launching back into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) for the first time in a decade. Clark said JetBlue is a very different company since it left ATL with a much better financial situation.

“We’re not going into Atlanta now just chasing high fares, but because it’s strategically imperative for us,” he said. “It’s by far the largest metro area we don’t service out of Boston. Our Boston customers — both leisure and business — have been asking us to service it. It has gotten to the point where it’s just a big hole in our network and it’s time to fill it.”

Clark said there are no additional service announcement plans to announce for next year at this time, but JetBlue is considering all of the big markets it still underserves.

Airports Adjust for Changes

Portland International Airport (PDX) continues to surge in growth with 14 new markets coming online in 2015 and another 24 markets this year, coupled with 1 million in growth each of the past five years.

Janie Hansen, senior manager, air service development for Port of Portland, said they expect to surpass 18 million this year.

PenAir came into PDX and launched into five regional markets and Alaska Airline’s addition of E175 created new service opportunities for PDX as well.

“The demand has really come from all those different areas and we’re in a really good spot right now economy-wise,” she said. “Oregon’s economy is the strongest it has been since the 70’s and that strong economy has brought disposable income, it brings corporations resuming their travel even though there is technology available for them to meet with clients.”

International service grew from PDX with the addition of service from Condor and Delta adding transatlantic flights. PDX still wants Mexico City service, Hansen said, but the focus for 2017 is on more mid-continental service while also focusing on service retention.

“Our tourism partners at Travel Oregon and Travel Portland are out there marketing (Portland) as a destination” she said.

Kansas City International Airport (MCI) reported July was its busiest month in almost a decade. Justin Meyer, deputy director of aviation-marketing & air service development said the airport isn’t focusing on just trying to bring in new markets that might be unsustainable, but finding ways to enhance service on underserved routes, such as San Antonio and Austin.

“Raleigh-Durham has about 75 passengers per day,” he said. “It might make sense for Delta, who has a CR7. They have been growing Raleigh and it has been one of the top underserved routes for Kansas City and one of the top underserved routes for Raleigh, so it seems to make sense.”

The main issue with getting in more service continues to be the MCI terminal, which was voted down again by Kansas City officials. The cramped, 72-foot wide terminal cut in half due to security areas creates major traffic issues and will continue to be a concern, Meyer said.

Fonte: Aviation Pros 21/09/2016