AUSTIN | ABIA Updates

[Austin1971]

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[DoubleC]

Just curious, where are yáll getting this news from? It's not on Google News, lol.

[airwx]

Council punted 2 airport items to council committees today. The staff from the aviation department said that a delay of weeks wouldn't be much of a problem, but a delay of months would be. The items were:
Authorize the use of the construction manager-at-risk method of contracting for construction of the new Parking Garage with Administration Offices Project at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
and
Authorize award and execution of a 36-month contract with CDW GOVERNMENT, LLC., to provide electric visual display systems for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in an amount not to exceed $1,600,000, with two 12-month extension options in an amount not to exceed $200,000 per extension option, for a total contract amount not to exceed $2,000,000.

I'm really hoping they don't end up slowing down the development of the new parking garage (next to the CONRAC facility). Council Committees aren't expected to really start meeting until April.

[Austin1971]

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[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by Austin1971

Could be a big announcement in April about new service. Kimchi anyone.....

hmmmmmm.... Kimchi but not Mochi... Well it's still exciting news either way if it's what I think your hinting at.

[ATXboom]

By the time terminal expansion is complete we will be at capacity. Always playing catch up.

[lzppjb]

Originally Posted by Austin1971

Could be a big announcement in April about new service. Kimchi anyone.....

Let your Seoul Glo!

[Mikey711MN]

Originally Posted by Austin1971

Could be a big announcement in April about new service. Kimchi anyone.....

From a logistical perspective, Korean Air seems plausible, particularly given the recent AA-KE codeshare on the DFW-ICN route that they currently both fly, i.e. far too much capacity.

For AUS-ICN to work, surely there would need to be an enhancement in the AA-KE relationship to tap into the area's AA account holders, e.g. earn AA miles on the flight. I imagine that incentives would need to be reworked to accommodate ICN (versus a Tokyo n/s as I currently understand the City's program to specify), and Samsung, et. al. would need to step up with contract commitments.

Beyond that, KE's relationship with DL (and perhaps within SkyTeam in general) is waning, so perhaps there's some momentum for them to "diversify" their relationships versus going all-in with SkyTeam.

So this is certainly an interesting rumor that seems to make more sense than any Tokyo flight options, e.g. ANA or JAL 787s, and I don't see any of the US Big 3 to overfly any of its west coast hubs to cater to AUS traffic. Interesting times...

[DoubleC]

Originally Posted by Mikey711MN

From a logistical perspective, Korean Air seems plausible, particularly given the recent AA-KE codeshare on the DFW-ICN route that they currently both fly, i.e. far too much capacity.

For AUS-ICN to work, surely there would need to be an enhancement in the AA-KE relationship to tap into the area's AA account holders, e.g. earn AA miles on the flight. I imagine that incentives would need to be reworked to accommodate ICN (versus a Tokyo n/s as I currently understand the City's program to specify), and Samsung, et. al. would need to step up with contract commitments.

Beyond that, KE's relationship with DL (and perhaps within SkyTeam in general) is waning, so perhaps there's some momentum for them to "diversify" their relationships versus going all-in with SkyTeam.

So this is certainly an interesting rumor that seems to make more sense than any Tokyo flight options, e.g. ANA or JAL 787s, and I don't see any of the US Big 3 to overfly any of its west coast hubs to cater to AUS traffic. Interesting times...

I think so too about KA doing this route. Unfortunately, if BA is doing pretty well on this route with a load factor of.... 80% I think? That's a B. There's obviously not as much traffic into Seoul as there is to London, so a 788 (they only have 1 ordered with the rest being 789s) would not fill up as much. Their a332 can handle that route, although I've looked into it, and I'm not sure if the a330 has the minimum ETOPS to fly such a long route.

[drummer]

In my opinion, Incheon airport is one of the nicest in the world. Free massage chairs, movie theater with recliners, iPads for check-out (also free), very nice and easy transit hotel inside security, and, for someone who's lived in Asia for a while and misses the luxuries of the States - Dunkin' Donuts right next to said transit hotel. And did I mention free massage chairs?

If there's ever an airport that Austin should model...

[Digatisdi]

Originally Posted by DoubleC

I think so too about KA doing this route. Unfortunately, if BA is doing pretty well on this route with a load factor of.... 80% I think? That's a B. There's obviously not as much traffic into Seoul as there is to London, so a 788 (they only have 1 ordered with the rest being 789s) would not fill up as much. Their a332 can handle that route, although I've looked into it, and I'm not sure if the a330 has the minimum ETOPS to fly such a long route.

As for load factor, yes Incheon has a smaller percentage of people going there as a destination but I feel like a fairly large number of people would go from Austin to Incheon to get to Vietnam, or other parts of South and Southeast Asia similar to how I've seen people go AUS>LHR>DEL, and I could definitely see people using AUS-ICN to get to India as well. A lot of people coming in from China tend to transfer through Incheon as well especially with 22 cities in Mainland China served directly by Korean Air, and if I'm not mistaken ICN serves more Japanese airports than Narita does

As for their fleet, they've got six A330-200HGW planes on order which are specifically designed to compete with the 788, and I'm sure they'd seek a high ETOPS certification.

[Austin1971]

5

[ATXboom]

Originally Posted by Austin1971

74 3x weekly

Wow... 74 huh. I thought 3x/week was likely. Houston has 4x.

I also thought about same plane stop which is frequent in other continents. A large plane will hit 2 cities and then make the long haul. So for example, piggy back on the Houston flight... my guess is this doesn't work in a competitive market - only where there is no competition (for example: New Orleans, stop in Austin, then make the continent hop)

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by Austin1971

74 3x weekly

Forgive my limited airport abbreviations but what do you mean by 74? Are you referring to a Boeing 747? Man I would be so excited to see 747 passenger planes using ABIA!

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by Austin1971

74 3x weekly

Are you hinting that KE or OZ may be flying their B744's to and from AUS at least 3x per week?

If so, does anyone else think that utilizing the B744 on this route is a bit too big? These two airlines also have the B772ER and KE has the B773ER...both models of equipment can fly the route with smaller number of passenger seats than the B744.

Unless there is a huge demand on the cargo hold space...ergo BA's consideration on up gauging the equipment on the AUS-LHR route to the B772ER.

[Jdawgboy]

I can't wait to hear what happens regarding this major development but switching to another subject real quick.

With the recent news of the merger between Freescale and the Dutch Company NXP, I was thinking that the BA route had to have been an important reason albeit obviously not the only reason for the merger. Having a one stop transfer to Eindhoven definitely makes business travel which will be frequent between here and there easier and more convenient than if there was no direct route from here to London.

I was just wondering what others thought about it and what other economic benefits specifically with area companies has the BA route made a major impact with that otherwise would not have without it?

[Austin1971]

[

[Digatisdi]

I wouldn't be surprised if we overtake Nashville within the next few years.

How is transport going to be handled for the South Terminal reopening? Will the parking shuttles and/or the Airport Flyer be going there? These are probably dumb questions, I never used the South Terminal.

[Austin1971]

[

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

I can't wait to hear what happens regarding this major development but switching to another subject real quick.

With the recent news of the merger between Freescale and the Dutch Company NXP, I was thinking that the BA route had to have been an important reason albeit obviously not the only reason for the merger. Having a one stop transfer to Eindhoven definitely makes business travel which will be frequent between here and there easier and more convenient than if there was no direct route from here to London.

I was just wondering what others thought about it and what other economic benefits specifically with area companies has the BA route made a major impact with that otherwise would not have without it?

The Freescale "merger" with NXP is not a done deal...there is another suitor with an offer.

Also, I believe the BA flight had little, if anything, to do with the "merger."