Southwest axes all Ft Lauderdale non stops effective Nov 2

[jsjax37]

Haven't seen this covered in any media, noticed that the FLL nonstops will be terminated effective November 2 per the latest schedule update for Southwest.  Southwest currently flies three daily non stops to FLL.  After Nov 2, you will not be able to fly any airline nonstop to FLL, the only way to fly nonstop to South Florida will be via American Eagle to MIA on small 50 seat jets. 

Sometimes I wonder if Southwest will eventually pull out of JAX altogether.  In recent months, Southwest has cancelled nonstop service to Tampa, Birmingham and Norfolk.  Since they came to JAX, they have terminated nonstops to Islip, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Indianapolis.  Southwest has become relatively useless for the business traveler seeking nonstop service in the South.  They have pretty much ceded the southeastern market from JAX to Delta.

[spuwho]

How many of those routes were legacy Air Tran?

FWIW: Southwest was the loudest complainer when OIA decided to build a multi modal terminal at MCO in support of AAF and future Lynx/SunRail.

Southwest doesn't have international flight profits to support connections in and out of Florida like Delta and American do.

[ben says]

Sucks, but can't say I ever flew that route

[Gators312]

Intra-Florida flying is not profitable, due to the short stage lengths.  The legacies pulled out of mainline intra-Florida ops years back. 

Adjustments to AirTran routes with the loss of the B717s SWA is giving away to Delta, and the end of the Wright Amendment is leaving SWA with tough decisions to make regarding fleet deployment.

One thing is for sure,  the SWA / AT merger has been anything but good for JAX. 

[johnny_simpatico]

I'd be surprised if WN pulls out of JAX-FLL.  They are investing $300 million to build an international terminal there (as they are at Hobby in Houston). They will want to max out feed to those flights. Perhaps it will come from elsewhere.  WN''s approach in recent years has been to avoid fleet expansion, but maximize return on existing assets.

[carpnter]

I flew JAX- FLL every other week several years ago when I had a project down there and the Southwest planes were always full heading down there and back.  It was much more convenient than flying into that dump of an airport in Miami, which I've had the displeasure of flying through on several occasions. 

[Dog Walker]

I used that Norfolk direct a number of times and loved it.

We need a fast train to connect all of the points in Florida.  In Europe you don't fly anywhere unless you are crossing water (channel excepted) or going more than 500 miles.

[Steve]

I've flown this route before. Surprised by this decision, and this was a legacy Southwest route (not AirTran).

I really don't know what their strategy is, truthfully. It doesn't make much sense at this point. While I understand their business model of flying only 737's, considering the size of the company.

I would agree that rail really should serve Florida better than it does. This would be better service with rail.

[ProjectMaximus]

Took this flight a couple times. Seemed to be decent capacity but always low fares.

[goldy21]

I flew JAX- FLL every other week several years ago when I had a project down there and the Southwest planes were always full heading down there and back.  It was much more convenient than flying into that dump of an airport in Miami, which I've had the displeasure of flying through on several occasions.

That was my experience as well.  Planes were always full.

[Stephen]

Too bad Governor Scott turned down all that high speed rail money..

No Lumb No Love   No LumbLove                      Jacksonville needs to Aim High

[johnny_simpatico]

Actually the story is even more horrible than the loss of the FLL flights.  In addition to losing that short-haul flight, JAX willl also lose ALL seven of its weekly flights to Las Vegas. BWI service will decline from from 26 weekly flights to 21. ATL service will be halved, from 14 to 7 weekly flights.  Finally, Nashville will lose one weekly flight, declining from 21 to 20.

All told, JAX will experience a 36.1% drop in weekly Southwest departures between May and November and a 35.3% drop in weekly seats.

If it makes anyone feel better, Silver Airlines will be replacing WN's 19 weekly B737 operations to FLL with 37 operations on their 34-passenger Saab 340 turboprops. American will add an additional 7 flights to MIA on their Embraer regional jets.  Silver will drop their once-a-week operation to Marsh Harbour.  (Does that mean JAX is once again an international airport with no scheduled international service?) JetBlue will dump its San Juan service.

Finally, Delta will shed one of its two daily departures for Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Taking into account all the losses and increases, JAX will see a net decline of 6.6 in weekly seats.  The drop in weekly operations will be less severe, because larger aircraft will tend to be replaced by tiny ones.

Between November 2007 and November 2014, schedules indicate JAX will have lost 25.3% of weekly capacity as measured by seats.  The FAA classifies airports according to prominence.  Among Medium hubs (JAX's category), JAX was the 12th biggest loser. 

In recent years, airlines have been consolidating operations at larger facilities and cutting back at smaller ones.  Among Medium Hubs, only Austin, Houston (Hobby), New Orleans and Dallas (Love) saw increased capacity between August 2007 and August 2014.

I suppose that may be some consolation for the people operating the airport, but if Jacksonville wants to be a big-league city, it needs connectivity.  With it becoming tougher and tougher to fly out of JAX, businesses will tend to locate elsewhere.

The Ft. Lauderdale problem is particularly troubling, because Southwest's investments there will make the place a huge gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean. Without the WN connections, the paths to LATAM from JAX will largely be on AA through MIA (on regional jets) and UA through Houston (on regional jets).

I've seen something on this forum about JIA being a highly rated facility.  A nice airport is okay, but it's far more useful to have lots of connectivity. 

Meanwhile, St. Augustine, with its scrubby little terminal, is grabbing flights on Frontier, part of the growing and profitable ultra-low-cost carrier segment, while JIA is emulating beautiful and empty facilities, such as Ontario, California, and Cincinnati, Ohio.

[mtraininjax]

When is the Amtrak service to start along the FEC lines? If Scott is all about "getting to work", what about the passenger stations along the route?

[spuwho]

Silver Airways announced Jax to Ft Lauderdale service today for $79.

http://www.silverairways.com/

[Buforddawg]

I'd be surprised if WN pulls out of JAX-FLL.  They are investing $300 million to build an international terminal there (as they are at Hobby in Houston). They will want to max out feed to those flights. Perhaps it will come from elsewhere.  WN''s approach in recent years has been to avoid fleet expansion, but maximize return on existing assets.

Ok, I'll bite... what is WN?