I commend Southwest for posting opinions both positive and negative. You're taking a pretty good bashing! (If I were Southwest, I'd try to buy Frontier. But I'd try for AirTran first. They have the latest 737s, and the 717s might work at least for a while. Not sure what I'd do with Lynx).
BUT HOW ARE YOU GONNA HANDLE THIS ONE:
Frontier has managed to build a loyal following on its Denver to DFW route, as evidenced by the number of NONSTOP flights. Will Southwest try to move that traffic to its one-stops that go to Love Field via stops in Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Tulsa (and Albuquerque?)
Or will you swallow hard and start landing some of those 737s at the great aviation sprawl known as Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport? As a native son of the Great City of Fort Worth, I deserve an explanation!
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Other airlines, including Frontier for several years, have made a combination of Boeings and Airbuses work. Eventually the 737s would probably win out, although it might be to Southwest's advantage to replace its -300s and -500s with Frontier's newer Airbuses.
This would give Southwest a little more service to LaGuardia and open up flights to Washington National, assuming it wants to go there.
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Do I get extra points for predicting the Baltimore-LaGuardia service?
Midway is an obvious choice, given that the code-sharing flights with now-defunct ATA probably filled up regularly with both local and connecting traffic. The battle between Baby Delta and Southwest for MDW-LGA should be interesting!
The Baltimore flights make sense because they offer so many connection possibilities to Florida and other destinations. Combined with all the connecting possibilities at Midway, Southwest is in a good position to carry a lot of folks from New York City to virtually anywhere in the USA. In fact, getting a seat for the local portion of the route could be challenging on certain days.
Given the notorious delays at New York City airports, I'm curious as to whether Southwest will try to offer many direct flights that go beyond Chicago and Baltimore. Or will certain aircraft be dedicated to exclusively flying the two nonstop routes, so as to not bog down the entire system when something goes wrong?
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