Seattle/Tacoma International Airport

Allegiant’s latest round of Hawaii flights reflects its network strategy

Allegiant Air’s latest round of Hawaiian routes is more representative of the carrier’s historical service patterns rather than the Las Vegas-Honolulu route debuting in the initial roll-out during Jun-2012. While launching its first flights to Hawaii from Las Vegas was driven more by operational considerations, the second batch of flights Allegiant is introducing in November are small markets that are largely shielded from legacy competition.

After a lengthy process to obtain ETOPS, Allegiant now has all the requisite approvals to inaugurate service to Honolulu in June from Fresno, California and Las Vegas, Nevada with 223-seat Boeing 757s, a new fleet type for the carrier. Beginning in Nov-2012 the carrier is introducing flights from Eugene in Oregon and Santa Maria and Stockton in California to Honolulu. Other new service includes flights from Bellingham, Washington to Honolulu and Maui.

The protracted ETOPS approval created marketing obstacles for Allegiant in launching its highly-anticipated flights to Hawaii.

Alaska, Delta and JetBlue zero in on managing seasonality in an attempt to preserve profitability

US carriers are fine-tuning their revenue management mechanisms to better manage seasonally weak periods and avoid climbing out of losses recorded during those times. By shifting their networks into higher revenue generating markets during slow travel periods they are starting to challenge the historical status quo of losing money during low demand periods. Both low cost and legacy carriers alike are changing their strategies for managing down periods to flatten out the peak and trough patterns that have wreaked havoc on their attempts to remain profitable during the more challenging off-peak times of the year.

Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways are three such carriers making specific changes during off-peak periods to increase profitability. Alaska Airlines has shifted away from west coast routes to focus on Hawaii, Delta has bucked industry trends to decrease trans-Atlantic capacity while JetBlue has focussed on its Boston hub to drive corporate traffic.

American quietly relaunches Miami-Seattle as high costs force Alaska to Fort Lauderdale

American Airlines has opted to quietly backfill flights from Miami to Seattle being abandoned by Alaska Airlines, which has chosen to transfer flights to lower-cost Fort Lauderdale International Airport. It appears American believes it can capitalise on its dominant carrier status at Miami to operate flights to Seattle profitably.

The new flights were rolled softly, placed on a list of new routes featured on American's website and loaded into its schedules. American opted not to unveil the routes through a normal announcement.

Hedging halves Alaska Airlines' 3Q2011 profit

Were it not for fuel hedging losses, Alaska Airlines would have posted record net income during the third quarter. But unlike Southwest, which was pushed into the red, Alaska retained profitability by posting USD77.5 million in net income, down from the USD122.4 million posted in 3Q2010. Excluding special items, the company would have bested 3Q2010 income of USD118.1 million by posting net income of USD131.1 million.

Analysts expected USD118.5 million in profits for the quarter. The company noted a 12% increase in operating revenues of USD130 million as fuel prices offset traffic gains. Higher advanced bookings and load factor boosted Alaska’s confidence that demand is remaining stable.

Aircraft availability and capability continues to determine Emirates expansion plans

One-third of the world's population, so the explanation justifying Gulf network carriers goes, lives within four hours of the big three Gulf hubs: the UAE's Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and Qatar's Doha. Two-thirds live within eight hours, but that last third live more than 12 hours away in a range difficult for fully-loaded aircraft to serve. But Emirates, as exemplified by its announcement last month to serve Dallas-Ft Worth and Seattle, is trying its best to enter the lucrative US market despite still needing to build a profile for itself.

The Dallas and Seattle routes will be some of the longest in Emirates' network, and will see the carrier serve two more of the top 15 metropolitan areas in the US after New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, as well as two more of the 20 largest international airports in the US. A look at which other destinations rank in this list indicates where Emirates may plant itself next in the US.