AirTran Back To Daytona?

[JetBlueAirwaysFan]

After observing AirTran's recent expansion into other small to medium sized markets such as ACY, TYS, AVL, and BKG/BBG (Branson), is it possible to see AirTran restart service into Daytona Beach from ATL with twice daily service?
My thoughts (and I feel they are valid):
Delta is reducing capacity in Daytona Beach (with the exception of now during Spring Break) to mostly CR7s to ATL. Two M80s will serve DAB daily come mid-April and I believe 4 CR7s will complement the M80s.
When AirTran previously flew to Daytona, passenger traffic at the airport hit an all time high, so we know people were using the service, because when they left, passenger traffic went down the toilet (and still is).
The only thing I would say to AirTran for DAB success is schedule your flights at good times. If they do that, AirTran will be a hit!

I ask for an honest opinion and no sarcasm please.

Thanks for your input.

[T-Bird76]

The fact is if AirTran made money they'd still be flying there...you can have every seat full on a plane and still not make a dime. Daytona is not a major center for business so you're only going to see rock bottom Y paying customers use the airport. Its a regional airport in the middle of retiree land with MCO offering far better choices only an hour away. If anything AirTran could serve it seasonally....maybe.

[JetBlueAirwaysFan]

What gets me is that they have a lot more incentives to offer than ACY. Which is why I am surprised they haven't reconsidered DAB.

[AA 777]

If comparing ACY to DAB for AirTran its really quite easy to see why they did what they did. ACY has no competition from DL where as flying into DAB would. If AirTran flew into DAB again, Delta would probably capacity dump to all mainline just like they did when FL came here the first time. AirTran can fly to ACY with no competition from Delta and maybe actually make money :!:

Tommy brought up a bunch of good points. First off if AirTran was making money to DAB we wouldnt be here talking about this. Secondly MCO is only about 1:10 drive from DAB airport and when the fares are so much lower and the frequency ex-MCO is through the roof it really narrows down the people that are going to fly from DAB.

This may be a personal pet peeve, but everyone got all excited when FL came here. Its just another flight(s) to Atlanta...we already got those...Oh Joy! :roll:

[JetBlueAirwaysFan]

Maybe AirTran is a bit too much. However, I just got an email from the airport telling me that there are discussions on getting CO back to fly to EWR again.

[Mateo]

Without much business interests in the DAB area, it's going to be pretty fare sensitive, not to mention that people are just going to drive the hour to MCO to save money and get the frequencies. Heck, even though Gainesville is soon going to have 11x daily service (4xCLT 7xATL), I'd be willing to bet that just as many people drive to JAX (1h40m) or MCO (2h) as who fly out of GNV directly.