Seems Capital Region International Airport is having difficult times again. Losing Allegiant back in January (Orlando) and now Sun Country in November (DC and Minneapolis). International "fun in the sun" flights sponsored by Apple Vacations appear to be decreasing as well, only Cancun this upcoming winter.
- 4 years ago, the airport was on the upswing, in terms of passenger flights (Apple Vacations and Sun Country offering flights to Cancun, Montego Bay, Vegas, Orlando, Fort Myers, DC, Minneapolis)
- Sun Country is having labor/financial issues (Google it for more info), and may be downsizing, which may be a contributor to their departure?
- Airline consolidations have hurt Lansing's airport: Northwest/Delta merger saw elimination of daily flights, Southwest acquisition of Air Tran has made less charter flights available for companies such as Apple Vacations, etc.
- Delta, in response to Sun Country's Minneapolis flights, greatly increased their own offerings (up to 3 flights/day). I can see Delta now reducing their Minneapolis flights?
- Air fares - Lansing's airport has a perception/reputation for high fares. It may be warranted, but recent USDOT data suggests it fares are on par with Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, etc.
- Geography - Lansing will always be challenged due to it proximity to Detroit, Flint, and Grand Rapids.
- Cargo operations seems to be steady?
Bothersome that Washington DC is the number one end destination from Lansing, and Orlando is one of the top vacation destinations in the US, and Lansing struggles to support these flights. The article mentions the need to support the airport, which in turn creates more flights. Does the airport need to reach out to local businesses more? I remember in my years at MSU (~ 15 years ago) I don't recall hearing much about the airport. I wonder if that is still an issue there (considering many students are originally from out of town and not familiar with the airport)? Should we be optimistic about the near future?
I agree, Lansing will never have a huge airport (not in our lifetimes). Lansing's modest size and close proximity to Detroit prevent that. I'd almost be satisfied with what the airport had a few years ago:
- Delta: Detroit, Minneapolis
- United: Chicago
- Sun Country: Minneapolis, Washington DC
- Allegiant: Orlando
- Apple Vacations (via Sun Country or Frontier): seasonal to Cancun and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Delta recently added Atlanta seasonally -- Expand that to daily.
Allegiant add Las Vegas flights.
Love to see NYC flights (which is the #2 end destination from Lansing). I think best bet would be United to Newark, or Delta to LaGuardia (though both unlikely due to slot restrictions at NYC airports).
Only my opinion, but that's all I'd like to see, or would have expected to see.
Interesting that United planned flights to Washington Dulles airport (but dropped it what Sun Country began Washington Reagan flights). Maybe the airport could get United to begin Dulles.
In some ways, the airport has/had found a niche with the seasonal international flights and customs area at the airport. Trying to expand cargo operations (already used by UPS). Given that, I think the airport has acknowledged that trying to add additional passenger carriers is unlikely to happen in the near term.
Another challenge is money. A lot of carriers want revenue guarantees to expand service. (I read that Sun Country was already under a revenue guarantee for their DC service.) That's one advantage I think that Grand Rapids airport, for instance, has.
The airport is in a sad state now, it looked like things may turn around but apparently that isn't happening. It doesn't help that Capitol City's terminal is embarrassing compared to almost any other major airport in Michigan and North Grand River is hardly a welcoming entrance to the City. Lansing's airport needs a new terminal to even have a chance at decent passenger service, but with numbers like these I doubt they'll ever be able to justify it.
The Master Plan has the right idea with a new entrance and new terminal off of Dewitt Rd/MLK
A new terminal seems like a waste of money to me. I'd rather see demand increase to the point where the current terminal can't handle the usage before a new one is built. Building one just to get a temporary increase in usage would be a great waste of money that could have gone to some other large infrastructure project(s).
I'm kind of in the middle regarding the new terminal. We don't have to be like the Jones' and build a new terminal just because another airport did; but we don't want to be by far the worst either such that we're not competitive. Saginaw and Kalamazoo, airports not growing and similar in size to what Lansing's will be, both opened new terminals recently -- perhaps a waste of money -- but size does not need to be a determinant. Just build a terminal similar in size to the current. But no, a new terminal will not entice Southwest to come in with daily flights to 12 cities. ('If we build it, they will come' is not the case.)
I almost think Allegiant leaving (again) is more of an indictment to the airport. If we can't support Orlando flights twice a week... WOW. Allegiant was previously here from 2003-09, but Grand Rapids did not have low cost carriers then. It's maybe not that Lansing can't support them, but when everyone else has similar vacation flights -- Grand Rapids, Flint, Detroit, and Kalamazoo (for a time) -- they become hard to sustain. Flint's airport struck a gold mine with Air Tran (now Southwest), Lansing needs to find their own.
Sun Country to Washington was at risk -- the landing slots at Reagan airport that Sun Country used had I believe a 1,250 mile limit, so Sun Country could not fly non-stop from Minneapolis to DC (too far away). So Lansing was likely used only to support Minneapolis-DC. Sun Country 1-2 years ago acquired another slot at Reagan without the 1,250 mile limitation, so the Minneapolis-Lansing-DC route was less important to them.
It's sort of a vicious cycle. Folks may not fly from Lansing due to cost or limited flight options, but the lack of fliers raises costs and limits flight options. Hard to break it.
The airport is doing well to have Cancun flights (outside of Detroit no one else in Michigan is offering it). I think the airport needs less reliance on Detroit flights (many people drive it anyway) and maintain their Delta-Minneapolis flights and increase Atlanta. Beyond that, maybe entice United to fly 1x daily regional jets to Dulles (DC) airport. American to Chicago, Dallas, or New York seems like a stretch.
I think the airport will have a hard time attracting new low-cost carriers to the airport:
Allegiant -- just left
Sun Country -- leaving
Southwest -- serving Detroit, Gd Rapids, Flint already
Spirit -- has a hub in Detroit
Jet Blue -- not big in midwest, flies to Detroit already and I think Chicago
Frontier -- hub in Denver (Grand Rapids already has Denver flights from Southwest and United), not sure Lansing could support.
It will be interesting to see what the next few years bring to the airport.
I appears American will resume Lansing-Washington Reagan airport flights, likely this summer. The USDOT approved a slot exception at Reagan, allowing 1 daily round trip flight.
This has been done before -- most recently with Sun Country on Boeing 737s. About 10 years ago, Independence Air, an then Northwest offered daily flights to DC.
Delta also put forth a proposal (but only after American submitted theirs).
The nice thing with American flying the route 1) regional jets - better size for the LAN-DC market 2) DCA is a small American hub, so it will provide connecting flights (unlike prior Sun Country or Northwest/Delta service)
American also plans to offer 3 daily flights to Chicago -- would compete with United already serving the route. Hopefully this would lead to United stepping up their game and offering more daily Chicago flights also.
Lansing airport has it up and down moments in terms of air service and has struggled in recent years to maintain flights outside of the Detroit/Chicago/Minneapolis offerings.
Lansing's airport is going to receive a large grant from the infrastructure funds recently made available. I hope they spend some of that money on the terminal building, it seems dark and old fashion in that building with the low ceilings and windows that face the covered drives it can also feel cold. Some of the car dealerships in Lansing have nicer buildings that could be mistaken for bright modern airport terminals!
Yeah, our airport is pretty embarrassing even for a city of our size. Unfortunately that grant is only for $2 million and that won't be enough to do anything of consequence, a new terminal would almost certainly be well over $100 million. There were plans in the airport's master plan to build a new terminal off Dewitt Rd on the east side of the airport property, I don't think there's been any serious discussion of actually doing a new terminal though. IMO the airport will never see much growth in passenger traffic until there is a new terminal, I do hope to see it happen sooner rather than later.
I had forgotten about how extensive their plans for expansion are, they plan on going way past State Rd. It's kind of disappointing to see how little of this plan has been realized as our airport falls further and further behind other cities in the region. I'm not surprised at the $200 million+ price tag on the new terminal, even that may be pretty conservative given inflation and what not. After all, the new terminal will include new roads, parking lots/garages, possibly a new control tower, the diagonal runway extension, taxiways, fueling and other plane infrastructure all before you get to the actual terminal building. I wonder if they're even actively working towards this master plan in any way right now?
The things I listed, besides maybe the diagonal runway extension, are directly related to and required for the new terminal, I thinks it's safe to say those costs are considered in their projected costs for that project. I'll continue to argue that $200m is nothing for an airport terminal, especially a ground up one that requires entirely new parking, road access, fueling and everything. Major new terminals are measured in the billions and tens of billions of dollars, that's the reality of the costs involved. One of the most recent projects I see is a new terminal at Kansas City, at 39 gates it's probably twice as large as what we'd need in Lansing. It's price tag is $1.5 billion.
Comments
Sun Country leaving Lansing airport in November
Thoughts:
- 4 years ago, the airport was on the upswing, in terms of passenger flights (Apple Vacations and Sun Country offering flights to Cancun, Montego Bay, Vegas, Orlando, Fort Myers, DC, Minneapolis)
- Sun Country is having labor/financial issues (Google it for more info), and may be downsizing, which may be a contributor to their departure?
- Airline consolidations have hurt Lansing's airport: Northwest/Delta merger saw elimination of daily flights, Southwest acquisition of Air Tran has made less charter flights available for companies such as Apple Vacations, etc.
- Delta, in response to Sun Country's Minneapolis flights, greatly increased their own offerings (up to 3 flights/day). I can see Delta now reducing their Minneapolis flights?
- Air fares - Lansing's airport has a perception/reputation for high fares. It may be warranted, but recent USDOT data suggests it fares are on par with Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, etc.
- Geography - Lansing will always be challenged due to it proximity to Detroit, Flint, and Grand Rapids.
- Cargo operations seems to be steady?
Bothersome that Washington DC is the number one end destination from Lansing, and Orlando is one of the top vacation destinations in the US, and Lansing struggles to support these flights. The article mentions the need to support the airport, which in turn creates more flights. Does the airport need to reach out to local businesses more? I remember in my years at MSU (~ 15 years ago) I don't recall hearing much about the airport. I wonder if that is still an issue there (considering many students are originally from out of town and not familiar with the airport)? Should we be optimistic about the near future?
- Delta: Detroit, Minneapolis
- United: Chicago
- Sun Country: Minneapolis, Washington DC
- Allegiant: Orlando
- Apple Vacations (via Sun Country or Frontier): seasonal to Cancun and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Delta recently added Atlanta seasonally -- Expand that to daily.
Allegiant add Las Vegas flights.
Love to see NYC flights (which is the #2 end destination from Lansing). I think best bet would be United to Newark, or Delta to LaGuardia (though both unlikely due to slot restrictions at NYC airports).
Only my opinion, but that's all I'd like to see, or would have expected to see.
Interesting that United planned flights to Washington Dulles airport (but dropped it what Sun Country began Washington Reagan flights). Maybe the airport could get United to begin Dulles.
In some ways, the airport has/had found a niche with the seasonal international flights and customs area at the airport. Trying to expand cargo operations (already used by UPS). Given that, I think the airport has acknowledged that trying to add additional passenger carriers is unlikely to happen in the near term.
Another challenge is money. A lot of carriers want revenue guarantees to expand service. (I read that Sun Country was already under a revenue guarantee for their DC service.) That's one advantage I think that Grand Rapids airport, for instance, has.
The Master Plan has the right idea with a new entrance and new terminal off of Dewitt Rd/MLK
I almost think Allegiant leaving (again) is more of an indictment to the airport. If we can't support Orlando flights twice a week... WOW. Allegiant was previously here from 2003-09, but Grand Rapids did not have low cost carriers then. It's maybe not that Lansing can't support them, but when everyone else has similar vacation flights -- Grand Rapids, Flint, Detroit, and Kalamazoo (for a time) -- they become hard to sustain. Flint's airport struck a gold mine with Air Tran (now Southwest), Lansing needs to find their own.
Sun Country to Washington was at risk -- the landing slots at Reagan airport that Sun Country used had I believe a 1,250 mile limit, so Sun Country could not fly non-stop from Minneapolis to DC (too far away). So Lansing was likely used only to support Minneapolis-DC. Sun Country 1-2 years ago acquired another slot at Reagan without the 1,250 mile limitation, so the Minneapolis-Lansing-DC route was less important to them.
It's sort of a vicious cycle. Folks may not fly from Lansing due to cost or limited flight options, but the lack of fliers raises costs and limits flight options. Hard to break it.
The airport is doing well to have Cancun flights (outside of Detroit no one else in Michigan is offering it). I think the airport needs less reliance on Detroit flights (many people drive it anyway) and maintain their Delta-Minneapolis flights and increase Atlanta. Beyond that, maybe entice United to fly 1x daily regional jets to Dulles (DC) airport. American to Chicago, Dallas, or New York seems like a stretch.
I think the airport will have a hard time attracting new low-cost carriers to the airport:
Allegiant -- just left
Sun Country -- leaving
Southwest -- serving Detroit, Gd Rapids, Flint already
Spirit -- has a hub in Detroit
Jet Blue -- not big in midwest, flies to Detroit already and I think Chicago
Frontier -- hub in Denver (Grand Rapids already has Denver flights from Southwest and United), not sure Lansing could support.
It will be interesting to see what the next few years bring to the airport.
MLive
LSJ
This has been done before -- most recently with Sun Country on Boeing 737s. About 10 years ago, Independence Air, an then Northwest offered daily flights to DC.
Delta also put forth a proposal (but only after American submitted theirs).
The nice thing with American flying the route 1) regional jets - better size for the LAN-DC market 2) DCA is a small American hub, so it will provide connecting flights (unlike prior Sun Country or Northwest/Delta service)
American also plans to offer 3 daily flights to Chicago -- would compete with United already serving the route. Hopefully this would lead to United stepping up their game and offering more daily Chicago flights also.
Lansing airport has it up and down moments in terms of air service and has struggled in recent years to maintain flights outside of the Detroit/Chicago/Minneapolis offerings.