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Southwest Airlines Community

Please come to our airport!!!

Pluto1911
Explorer C

Dear Southwest,

 

As an ATC at the Eastern Iowa Airport, we see how more choices in airlines help our community travel. We often lament having to drive hours away FROM OUR HOME AIRPORT just to fly with you guys. Is there a way to reach out to corporate to suggest/campaign they come here? 

4 REPLIES 4

Re: Please come to our airport!!!

rtbarron
Frequent Flyer A

First of all, let me say that CID is great! I have many fond memories of traveling through the airport with my toddler son on the way to visit our friends in Marion and Alburnett. He was especially fond of the Herky the Hawkeye statue that used to sit in the terminal. And with the Grant Wood Museum in Cedar Rapids, the University of Iowa, the beautiful fall foliage along the Cedar River, and Rockwell Collins, it is certainly a great place to visit.

However, Southwest's business model requires a large number of local origin and destination ("O&D") passengers in order to provide frequent service with 737 aircraft. Unfortunately, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City just don't have the population to support frequent 737 flights. This is why the other major airlines at CID have switched from "mainline" aircraft like 737s to smaller regional jets. While Allegiant does provide service to CID with Airbus aircraft, their service is infrequent.

I would love to be proved wrong but I just don't see Southwest serving CID anytime soon. If they did, I'd be on one of the first flights there.

BTW, that toddler who was fond of the Herky the Hawkeye statue? He wants to be a Cyclone now. Go figure.

Re: Please come to our airport!!!

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@rtbarron wrote:


BTW, that toddler who was fond of the Herky the Hawkeye statue? He wants to be a Cyclone now. Go figure.


Thinking about engineering? Good choice!

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.

Re: Please come to our airport!!!

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@rtbarron wrote:

However, Southwest's business model requires a large number of local origin and destination ("O&D") passengers in order to provide frequent service with 737 aircraft. Unfortunately, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City just don't have the population to support frequent 737 flights. This is why the other major airlines at CID have switched from "mainline" aircraft like 737s to smaller regional jets. While Allegiant does provide service to CID with Airbus aircraft, their service is infrequent.

I would love to be proved wrong but I just don't see Southwest serving CID anytime soon. If they did, I'd be on one of the first flights there.


Southwest has historically been less hub and spoke oriented, using an approach where the aircraft flow across the county with lots of connections at the smaller airports.  On "the other guys" they are more likely to use a smaller aircraft to shuttle back and forth from a regional airport to the hub, travel among the hubs, then shuttle to the regional airport.

 

For Southwest going to CID like @rtbarron said, there wouldn't be enough traffic to fill multiple 737's every day, especially with Des Moines so close. Other locations where two Southwest serviced airports are in close proximity are much more populous.

 

The total number of enplanements at CID does fit with some of the smaller airports that Southwest serves with at least a few flights per day although towards the lower end. There would definitely need to be some more analysis on where people who fly to CID are coming from, and would that benefit Southwest's network overall.

 

Separate question would apply about whether gates were even available, where there are many airports that would seem to be desirable, but all of the space is contractually spoken for.

 

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.

Re: Please come to our airport!!!

tootalltraveler
Explorer C

I definitely agree, let's start a campaign to get southwest to CID!   Even though SWA is more direct than hub and spoke, it does treat STL airport as a mini hub (https://www.missourinet.com/2017/06/05/travel-options-from-st-louis-airport-hinged-to-growth-of-sout...  which would allow for one stop international travel to Mexico and the Caribeaan.  Some of the smaller SWA locations only have one flight a day, and this may be the pefect model that would fit CID - STL.