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George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)


pineda

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As of February 2014, the Southwest Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft. The average fleet age is 11.3 years.

 

Fleet:

Aircraft In Service Orders Options Passengers Notes

Boeing 737 MAX 7 — 30 — TBA Scheduled to enter service in 2019

Boeing 737 MAX 8 — 170 191 TBA Scheduled to enter service in 2017

Boeing 737-300 122 — — 137143 Some retrofitted with electronic flight decks
In process of being retired Boeing 737-500 15 — — 122 In process of being retired

Boeing 737-700 393 52 36 143 Options convertible to -800 series.

Boeing 737-800 53 64 — 175 All to be retrofitted with Split Scimitar Winglets

 

Total 583(S) 318(Or) 227(Op)   

 

Why the disdain of Southwest?  Its a locally run/owned airline unlike United.

Edited by arche_757
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The range of 737 goes to Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico, El Salvador, and the entire Carribbean. You can't tell me United isn't concerned about that. If it wasn't why did it try SO hard to block hobby from going international?

Maybe because they were making planned capacity cuts...and needed to find an appropriate excuse to make the cuts. I can tell you United is not all that concerned.. they will compete with WN. No Big Deal.

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Maybe because they were making planned capacity cuts...and needed to find an appropriate excuse to make the cuts. I can tell you United is not all that concerned.. they will compete with WN. No Big Deal.

 

They will but they will have to lower fares on those routes. Once there are 10 international gates at hobby then southwest will be able to lower fares at the routes they run, probably vacation destinations in the carribbean and mexico and possibly northern south america.

 

I agree they were looking for an excuse to make cuts but at the same time they didn't want to lower any fare if they didn't have to.

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They will but they will have to lower fares on those routes. Once there are 10 international gates at hobby then southwest will be able to lower fares at the routes they run, probably vacation destinations in the carribbean and mexico and possibly northern south america.

 

I agree they were looking for an excuse to make cuts but at the same time they didn't want to lower any fare if they didn't have to.

Yeah, but I am sure UA will try to outmatch WN.

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That is an amazingly lengthy timeline!  6 years!  7 total to completion from today!

 

I'm always amazed at airport planning.  The overall masterplans are quite in keeping with forecasted growth, the individual projects that make it to fruition are not.  So this terminal will basically be large enough to handle the current capacity when its done in 7 years!  Not to mention the fact there may be additional carriers working out of IAH at that time (adding need for additional capacity).

 

But like someone else pointed out, I'll let Mario who runs the show (and his team) work on the logistics/costs/projections and just assume they must know what they are doing.

 

The timeline is a preliminary estimate made by the airport system.  They discuss that it may well (hopefully) be less than that.

 

Where do you get the idea this leaves them with only the capacity they need currently? 

 

It bears emphasizing that this plan is for 15 wide-body gates, including 4 A-380 gates.  There appears to be room for 30 narrow-body gates in the new Terminal D.

 

I recommend watching the videos.

Edited by Houston19514
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My usual time spent on this website is during work...  Therefore I don't really have the time to watch the videos (sorry).

 

My assumption that "...the design will only meet current capacity needs..."  is based on my observations of different building types in my years working in the design/construction industry.  Routine is to build JUST what you need for the immediate future (like next years needs - or maybe very forward thinking projects will build for 2-3 years down the road).  Very rare is the project that includes extra space to be utilized (assuming current growth 10 years later).  Granted that's the easiest way to get the money for construction, though given that airports can grow so quickly it seems foolish to not just build a 20 or so gate Int'l terminal now - if the extra gates aren't used immediately by large trans-Pacific/Atlantic capable planes - then smaller airliners can dock there in the interim.

 

So in a nutshell:  Does a new Int'l Terminal make sense at IAH?  Yes.  Should the plans be flexible enough that additional space can be built out as the project nears milestones?  Yes.  Will the project likely be designed like that?  Probably not.  When completed will said terminal actually be plenty big for additional growth and allow the users (airlines) a chance to spread additional flights to said terminal? Probably not.  So, what will happen?  Well, we will revisit the need for a new terminal after a few years of heavy use and/or addition onto terminal that should have been budgeted/built in the first place.

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I remember jetBlue started flights from EWR to Florida for $54 each way.  At that time Continental Airlines match it and added more flights.  Almost every Premier member got their FREE upgrades.  Continental had 15 non stops to FLL.  After one year jetBlue pulled out and consertrated on JFK.  jetBlue also did $15 one way tickets from JFK to BOS it only lasted a few months.  United does not seem WN is a major problem.  They only will have 5 gates.  American Airlines is the largest carrier to Latin America and they do not want to give them a share of the pie.  Each airlines looks at PRASM, person, revenue, available, per mile.  How much did that customer spent on their seat and how much the airlines spent.  

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Think about it at United for a non premier.  They paid $25 for bags,  Then $7 for a hamburger, They paid $25 to check in at the Premier line, then watched Direct TV for $6.  That is  one way and duty free.  Southwest will loose money without any amenities.  Customer in Latin America want fist class.  We will see how it works.  AirTran to Latin America has so many complaints because they suck.  You get what you pay for. 

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Think about it at United for a non premier. They paid $25 for bags, Then $7 for a hamburger, They paid $25 to check in at the Premier line, then watched Direct TV for $6. That is one way and duty free. Southwest will loose money without any amenities. Customer in Latin America want fist class. We will see how it works. AirTran to Latin America has so many complaints because they suck. You get what you pay for.

They will not lose money. And yes, united is scared to death of them flying to Latin America/Caribbean/Mexico

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The way it works in the industry is people want to pay the lowest fares.

 

United IS doing buy on board to Colombia and Ecuador now. This will make Southwest more attractive.

 

Think about it at United for a non premier.  They paid $25 for bags,  Then $7 for a hamburger, They paid $25 to check in at the Premier line, then watched Direct TV for $6.  That is  one way and duty free.  Southwest will loose money without any amenities.  Customer in Latin America want fist class.  We will see how it works.  AirTran to Latin America has so many complaints because they suck.  You get what you pay for. 

 

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But the idea that Southwest - which is the largest airlines working ONLY in the US - isn't a threat to United/AA/Delta is not accurate.  Southwest, while lacking the "prestige" of having Auckland, Tokyo, Munich etc as destenations has carved out a loyal following and besides that is often the cheapest airlines.  They may not fly 787s/777s/767s/A380s/A350s but they don't need to for the service and destinations they serve.

 

And lets face it - unless you fly first class or business class int'l you aren't really flying comfortably anyway - no matter the airlines.  I'm tall and airliners are jokingly uncomfortable.  The food sucks.  The drinks are well... nothing special.  The one item that I don't like about Southwest is the lack of being able to purchase a seat assignment from the get-go.  That's annoying.  Last time I flew I bought the tickets months in advance (3 to be exact) as I knew I was going no matter what - despite having those tickets well in advance of probably 60-70% of the other passengers I still missed checking in and getting a reasonable seat.

 

Lets face it - this is Not about Southwest or United (per say) but about the new terminal D and additional int'l airlines flying to-from Houston.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I am SO glad to hear that the plan includes "Modern, adequate - sized restrooms."

 

Though I guess living up to stereotypes would involve oil dispensers or some such.

 

Edited by mollusk
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