07-31-2009, 06:18 AM
Southwest has broken out of its original operational formula and comfort zone by beginning service to congested urban airports such as Boston and New York Laguardia. The Frontier acquisition, if approved, would allow further movement in this direction. (Atlanta and other large Southeastern cities such as Charlotte are a void in Southwest's current network.)
I still don't think Hawaii is on their radar, though, except as a codeshare which would allow them to sell tickets and their customers to redeem frequent flyer awards on another airline. If used for ETOPS, those 737-700 aircraft would require special configuration and extra maintenance that goes considerably outside Southwest's cookie cutter "all one aircraft" model of operations. Of course, who thought they would ever fly into Laguardia? I could be wrong. I've been wrong before.
Cheers,
Jerry
I still don't think Hawaii is on their radar, though, except as a codeshare which would allow them to sell tickets and their customers to redeem frequent flyer awards on another airline. If used for ETOPS, those 737-700 aircraft would require special configuration and extra maintenance that goes considerably outside Southwest's cookie cutter "all one aircraft" model of operations. Of course, who thought they would ever fly into Laguardia? I could be wrong. I've been wrong before.
Cheers,
Jerry