Could Southwest Enter Smaller Markets?

I was emailing the Director of Business Development at my local airport (I will post the email) about the potential of JetBlue service in Daytona. He said he was talking to a few airline spokespeople such as JetBlue, Gulfstream, AirTran, US Airways, a start up called Paragon, and Southwest. Out of all those airlines, believe it or not, Southwest was the most receptive of all of them due to their fuel hedging. They want to pick up the pieces that other airlines left behind. With Southwest's style of flying, and since we are close to MCO, could we maybe see some WN service? I know that a large number of residents would fly out of DAB if there were more nonstops, so could WN be the best thing to keep passengers from leaking to other markets? I am not saying this isn't an uphill battle, but with the way things are now, maybe Southwest could pick up the local economy, as DAB is a county owned airport. The market coverage from DAB actually extends into Seminole, Brevard, Flagler, and St. Johns (St Augustine Area) Counties. I am not telling Southwest to dissolve their service at MCO, but maybe start up like they did with ISP back in 1999. They could definitely fill up some planes to MDW, BWI, PVD/MHT, and ISP, and maybe even ALB. UA did well with ORD service, and FL actually did pretty well with LGA service, along with DL.

Here is the email:

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Evan:

Thank-you for your e-mail. I did have a meeting with JetBlue last month in Pittsburgh. There was a great deal of doom and gloom among most of the airline representatives at this conference. As an example of the discussion, AirTran Airways advised that 52% of their airline operating costs are now fuel costs. Not so long ago this number was around 15%. As a result, there is significant contraction among most of the major airlines except for some like Southwest who have purchased fuel hedges at around $60 per barrel that will not run out for another 18 months or so. JetBlue did not seem that receptive however we will continue to follow-up. We also spoke with Continental, US Airways, Southwest, Gulfstream and a start up carrier named Paragon. Of these, Southwest was most receptive as they are looking to pick up the pieces the others are leaving behind. In the meantime, we are continuing to expand our ground handling activities to keep airline costs extremely low in Daytona Beach.

Best Regards,

Stephen J. Cooke
Director of Business Development
Daytona Beach International Airport
Telephone: 386-248-8030, ext. 8309
Fax: 386-248-8038
Email: [email protected]

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I would like to also mention that the airport is able to cut costs by doing all the ground handling for the airlines. WN may actually do better than you think if they fly to some east coast cities. What I do fear, is that if Southwest comes to Daytona, we might lose US Airways.

I definitely think we'll see Southwest enter some small markets being abandoned by the legacies. Nothing too small, but DAB could be one.

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Originally Posted by GothamSpotter

I definitely think we'll see Southwest enter some small markets being abandoned by the legacies. Nothing too small, but DAB could be one.

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If they do go to DAB, expect to see a slight reduction at MCO as they are close enough to "steal" traffic from one to the other.

They may poach some of the origin traffic, but DAB would be a welcome service to people whose destination is the central coast. The service doesn't even have to be much to, quite literally, put it on the map. 2 or 3xBNA, 2xBWI (with same plane service originating from PVD or MHT), and 1 or 2 from any of CMH, PIT, PHL or even ALB would probably do just fine.

What about ISP?