March 04, 2006

Festival Airlines

We should reach out to them ASAP. Looks to me like they are going to follow the role model set by Allegiant Air. Doubt they will take on Sanford/Orlando but go after the other destinations in Florida from secondary airports like Pensacola/St Petes/Fort Lauderdale/Fort Myers/etc. Check out this story:

A company trying to become a "vacation-only" airline announced Thursday that it plans to serve Pensacola, as well as perform some maintenance and training there.
Festival Airlines, based in Chicago, also plans to offer flights from Chicago's Midway Airport and Rockford, Ill., sometime this year. The idea is to offer cheap tickets at times convenient for leisure travelers.

Festival plans to start by chartering planes, then to get approval as a full-fledged airline from the Federal Aviation Administration. No date for the first flights has been set. Festival hopes to serve as many as 10 destinations in its first phase, all using Boeing 757-200 aircraft.

"We see this as a tremendous opportunity for Pensacola, not only for vacation destination tourists for the upper Gulf Coast, but also the opportunity for Pensacola for non-stop destination opportunities to cities where we currently don't enjoy non-stop service," Frank Miller, the airport's director, said in a statement.

The company's business model calls for offering low-cost flights and vacation packages to different locations that may shift from summer to winter. Among the target markets are Pensacola and other parts of Florida, Las Vegas and ski resorts.

The Rockford airport has been trying to position itself as an alternative to Chicago's O'Hare airport, 60 miles to the southeast. However, some carriers that have offered service to Rockford have pulled out. Some companies have had long and relatively successful runs as charter airlines geared to vacation packages, including Minnesota-based Sun Country Airlines.

But some experts are dubious of Festival's plan, especially the focus on Rockford and Chicago.
"All the danger signs are here," Michael Boyd, president of airline industry consulting firm the Boyd Group, told Crain's Chicago Business. "There is no major opportunity out there, especially out of Chicago," Boyd said.

6 comments:

Continue to Spread the Word!!! said...

I disagree. Although they seem to hit the smaller cities I already heard they will be going to MIDWAY AND CLEVELAND. So really they are hitting the major airports over the smaller airports. I think this will fail but I still think all of our airports should go after it.

Bill Randell said...

If Festival thinks they can break in at Midway and Chicago, they are making a big mistake. The article that I references says they are looking at Pensacola.

Couple that with Rockford and it seems to me that they are in fact targeting secondary markets. I would be very surprised if any of their first 10-12 destinations are either Cleveland or Midway.

Anonymous said...

From their website

Headquartered in Chicago, IL, Festival Airlines intends to operate point-to-point, direct flight service from major metropolitan primary and secondary airports in major markets. Festival Airlines intends to launch its first flights in 2006 from Chicago/Rockford International Airport (RFD), the site of its operations base, as well as Midway Airport (MDW) in Chicago. Pensacola, FL (PNS), will be the site for both light maintenance for the planned fleet of B757 aircraft, and dedicated training facilities for Festival Airlines’ personnel.

Continue to Spread the Word!!! said...

Still, the minds behind Festival are determined to see their plans through. They intend to operate out of 35 cities in the next three years and offer tickets priced between $150 to $350. And they plan to start flying Boeing 757 jets out of Rockford, Midway International Airport, Detroit and Cleveland by the end of the year.

Sorry Bill....
SOURCE: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=19698

Bill Randell said...

Don't be sorry..... The purpose of this blog is to get information out to people.

Although I still do not see how Festival Airlines will break into markets like Midway and Canton, when there are underserved secondary markets begging for service..

Bottom line is that Festival Airlines is a private business and it is their money to invest as to how they see fit. Keep the information coming....

Continue to Spread the Word!!! said...

cleveland and canton are two different airports.