Todays post is a compendium of airline news of possible interest to area travelers, plus a link at the end to an educational post on Airfarewatchdog.coms blog.
I will periodically – but not on a regular schedule – offer these news summaries. They won’t be limited to airlines but will include the other “usual suspects” of lodging, rail, destinations, and whatever else the cat dragged in that relates to travel and catches my eye.
Southwest:
Southwest announced that sometime in March 09 it will begin a modest operation in Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP). Unlike the usual splashy launch of Southwest service to a new city with nonstop flights to at least several destinations, the MSP operation will begin only with flights to Chicago-Midway (MDW) hence the modest attribute. Why is this relevant for local flyers? Southwest flies nonstop to MDW from Sacramento (SMF) so it will be easy to make a connection to MSP when Southwest begins these flights. If flights on Northwest (by March it will be part of the merged Delta) are too expensive this will be another alternative. Click here to see Southwests press release.
Horizon Air
Effective Nov. 9, Horizon Air will begin twice-daily nonstop flights on regional jets between Sacramento and Santa Barbara (SBA). This replaces the short-lived service on ExpressJet, which ceased operating its own branded service on Sept. 2. (ExpressJet is similar to our own United Express out of Chico in that it operates under the banner of a larger carrier [Continental and Delta] providing connecting service between hubs and smaller cities. It tried flying unsuccessfully under its own colors for a year in a very challenging environment.) At some point the Horizon Air service will migrate from regional jets to the Bombardier Q400 turbo-prop. The carrier has announced that by the end of 09 it will eliminate its regional jets and have an all Q400 fleet. Horizon already flies the Q400 out of Redding to Portland, LAX and Eureka/Arcata.
In another interesting Horizon tidbit, the carrier has declared its intention (although it hasnt promised) to initiate service to Paine Field in Everett, Wash. by the summer of 09. For those of you not familiar with the Northwest, Everett is a city somewhat larger (population 100,000) than Chico about 45 miles to the north of Sea-Tac. Paine Field is also home to a huge Boeing facility where it assembles 747s. Horizon wont offer service from Everett to California, only to Spokane and Portland. But for people living to the north of Seattle especially business travelers this will offer a very convenient way to avoid Sea-Tac for single day business trips to the two other large cities of the Pacific Northwest. For Californians destined to Everett or points north it means a connection from Horizon or Alaska in Portland would enable one to avoid the traffic getting out of Sea-Tac and through downtown Seattle. There is some local opposition to this service so its not a sure thing.
SFO Terminal 2 renovation:
San Francisco Airport has released plans to renovate and reopen Terminal 2, which was the airports original international terminal when it opened in 1951. It closed in 2000 when the current international facilty opened, but the renovation plan calls for a late 2010 reopening with Virgin America planning to use most of the gates for its domestic service.
Speaking of international service, did you know that starting Dec. 15 from SFO (and Oct. 26 from LAX) there will be nonstop service to the Middle East? The carrier operating the service will be Emirates, the flag carrier of Dubai. In 16 hours youll jet from the Golden Gate to the Persian Gulf. By the way, Emirates works with United so you accrue miles in Uniteds program when flying Emirates.
Consolidator fares see Airfarewatchblog:
Curious about consolidator fares? Never heard of em? For international travel, especially to Asia and Latin America they can be worth researching. Find out more here.
