OT: More are running from Jackson, MS

[Palos verdes]

I hope I am wrong, but I seriously doubt you will see fares on United like $59 to Houston once Southwest pulls out. Airlines match their fares in markets where they fly, that's why cities and airports love having Southwest as a tenant. I think you are getting ready to see airfares in Jackson go up significantly - pay close attention after summer 2014.

5 years ago you could fly to Atlanta, Memphis, Cincinnati, Washington Reagan, and Detroit on Delta out of Jackson - now its Atlanta only. Southwest had flights to BWI, Houston, Orlando, and Chicago Midway and those are all gone or will be by June.

Once American and US Airways complete their merger you will have 3 airlines and 6 non-stop destinations out of Jackson. I think the Washington DC flight will be at risk due to US Airways and American having to divest service at Reagan Airport as part of the merger though I know our congressional delegation will lobby hard to keep that one for their own convenience.

American - Dallas
US Airways - Charlotte, Washington DC
Delta - Atlanta
United - Houston, Chicago

That's a pretty poor lineup when you consider markets like Pensacola and NW Arkansas each have 10-15 non-stop cities.

This is entirely correct. Once Southwest leaves, airfares will increase in Jackson. The capacity left behind will never be completely replaced either, nor will the number of destinations.

 

[johnson86-1]

The catchment area that the Jackson airport serves, extends north of Grenada, east to Meridian, south to Hattiesburg and west to Monroe, la. JAN is not the only commercial airport in that area but it has the best options. That's approximately half of Mississippi's population. But people closer to MEM and MSY use those airports, and they offer a lot more options.

Really anything Winona or north is when people will be looking at Memphis first and it's often going to end up the better option, either because of price or flight time. Similarly, by the time you get to Hattiesburg, you're first look is probably going to be Gulfport or MSY.

Nitpicking, but I'm just pointing out that I think you're overestimating the Mississippi population that Jackson serves. While Jackson probably serves the plurality of the population with respect to commercial flight, a huge chunk of Mississippi's population is Hattiesburg and south of Hattiesburg, and they will look GPT, MSY, and Mobile before Jackson unless there is some logistics reason for going to Jackson. While more sparsely populated, there are also some decent sized towns in the north Mississippi that will look to Memphis or even Birmingham first (South Memphis, northern Delta, Starkville, Oxford, Tupelo, Columbus, etc. while mostly small, do add up compared to MS's population).

All that just bolsters your point. Jackson being Jackson may not help its airport, but mostly the Jackson Airport looks the way it does because it isn't surrounded by a population that is big and the population that is there is not particularly affluent.

 

[Palos verdes]

I agree to an extent, but remember, Jackson with Southwest, is a better option than GPT and certainly PIB or MOB as far as flight options for people in the Pinebelt area. MSY is the best option, but still, many use JAN. JAN draws passengers from the area that I stated earlier, which is the most populated area within the state, plus NE La. But JAN will lose some of its flyers from it's catchment area once Southwest is gone. It's a declining air travel market and all of central MS will pay the price if they want or need to fly.