[Travelandtourism] Southwest announces which AirTran cities 'makethe cut'

Mon Jan 23 17:38:38 UTC 2012

Yes but Peter, no everyone can afford Socialflights services either.

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> From: pdonahue2 at satx.rr.com
> To: travelandtourism at nfbnet.org
> Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:37:38 -0600
> Subject: Re: [Travelandtourism] Southwest announces which AirTran cities	'makethe cut'
> 
> Good morning everyone,
> 
>     This is exactly why I suggested to Cheryl our conversation with Social 
> Flights. Airline route slashing is going on nation-wide with all airlines. 
> Social Flights is soon to announce community air service to a number of 
> cities once served by the airlines or who have never had air service of any 
> kind. It's good that we connected with them to insure that blind individuals 
> will be able to use public air charter services in addition to scheduled 
> airline routes. I'll be curious to see if they have anything to say about 
> Southwest's Airtran route slashing on their blog. All the best.
> 
> Peter Donahue
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Reese" <atlanticstar1 at gmail.com>
> To: "NFB Travel and Tourism Division List" <travelandtourism at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, January 23, 2012 9:12 AM
> Subject: [Travelandtourism] Southwest announces which AirTran cities 
> 'makethe cut'
> 
> 
> Southwest Airlines today gave a final count on exactly how many AirTran
> destinations will make the cut as it pushes forward with merging the
> carriers.
> 
> Southwest says that on Aug. 12, it will drop six more cities from AirTran's
> route map. They are: Allentown, Pa.; Lexington, Ky.; Harrisburg, Pa.;
> Huntsville, Ala.; Sarasota, Fla.; and White Plains, N.Y.
> 
> AirTran had a relatively small presence at all six airports, but the news is
> still likely to be devastating for local officials at those airports. The
> pullout means several of those airports will be left without any meaningful
> service on a low-cost carrier.
> 
> One of those those airports is Harrisburg International, which lamented the
> loss via an e-mail it sent its customers about an hour after Southwest's
> announcement.
> 
> "Obviously we are extremely disappointed that Southwest Airlines has decided
> to discontinue AirTran service at Harrisburg effective August 12th,"
> Harrisburg International says in the e-mail. "Since the service begin in
> November 2008, more than 250,000 people have flown between Harrisburg and
> Orlando at affordable fares. This region has demonstrated that low fare
> service from Harrisburg will be supported. Fortunately, we have some time
> before the service ends to reach out to other airlines who might have an
> interest in serving this route."
> 
> From the moment that Southwest's acquisition of AirTran was announced,
> officials from AirTran's smaller cities expressed both concern and hope
> about whether their airports would be blended into the Southwest network.
> 
> Speculation on which AirTran cities would make the cut for Southwest had
> been rampant in aviation circles since merger was announced, though it now
> appears that the topic can be put to rest.
> 
> With today's news, Southwest will end up paring a grand total of 15 cities
> as it combines its route map with AirTran's.
> 
> The other nine AirTran cities - all previously announced - that will not see
> Southwest-branded flights as part of the merger are: Asheville, N.C.;
> Atlantic City, N.J.; Bloomington/Normal, Ill.; Charleston, W. Va.;
> Dallas/Fort Worth; Knoxville, Tenn.; Miami; Moline/Quad Cities, Ill.; and
> Newport News, Va.
> 
> Of course, there was good news out of today's announcement for some other
> airports.
> 
> Southwest announced "22 AirTran airports that will continue to operate and
> will eventually join the Southwest route map ... ."
> 
> Domestically, they are: Akron-Canton, Ohio; Branson, Mo.; Charlotte; Dayton,
> Ohio; Des Moines; Flint, Mich.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Key West, Fla.;
> Memphis; Pensacola, Fla.; Portland, Maine; Richmond, Va.; Rochester, N.Y.;
> San Juan, Puerto Rico; Washington Reagan National and Wichita, Kan.
> 
> And internationally, Southwest said it will keep the following AirTran
> destinations: Aruba; Bermuda; Cancun, Mexico; Montego Bay, Jamaica; Nassau,
> Bahamas; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic;
> 
> Southwest says that AirTran service and employees at those 22 airports will
> "convert to Southwest gradually over the course of AirTran's integration
> into Southwest."
> 
> Additionally, Southwest notes:
> 
> Of the 69 cities AirTran served when Southwest acquired it on May 2, 2011,
> 53 cities are planned to convert to full Southwest Airlines service.
> 
> However, Washington Dulles was among the AirTran cities where Southwest
> decided to discontinue AirTran service. But since Southwest also flies to
> Dulles, its termination of AirTran's operation will not keep Dulles from the
> carriers' post-merger route map.
> 
> As for when fliers might begin to see an integrated operation, Southwest say
> that Seattle will become "the first jointly served airport to fully convert
> to Southwest." That will occur Aug. 12.
> 
> 
> Peachtree Travel
> Independent Travel Consultant
> 
> (phone) 770-280-5029
> 
> (website: http://www.peachtreetravel.net.
> 
> Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel CST-1018299-10
> _______________________________________________
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