The R.V.:

Southwest-AirTran merger looking like a blessing for Las Vegans

Las Vegas Strip casinos are viewed from the window of a Southwest Airlines passenger jet as it takes off from McCarran International Airport on Dec. 9, 2011.

Richard N. Velotta

Richard N. Velotta

VEGAS INC Coverage

Airline mergers and consolidations usually mean bad news for the cities served by the merging partners.

Not only do consumers have one less choice when making comparisons among carriers, but some flights simply disappear as the emerged airline makes business decisions on where to commit aircraft.

But that’s not always the case, and Las Vegas has tended to benefit when airlines merge.

Delta Air Lines, for example, currently operates 40 flights a day between Las Vegas and the various hub airports it feeds into the Delta network — Atlanta, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Detroit, New York Kennedy, Memphis, Cincinnati and Salt Lake City.

Back in 2007, Delta and Northwest Airlines, which merged a year later, had a combined 29 daily flights.

The jury is still out on the result for Las Vegas of the United-Continental merger. According to McCarran International Airport statistics, Continental now has 16 flights a day while United has 27. In January 2007, Continental had 16 and United 38, an apparent de-emphasis that isn’t complete.

But a recent announcement by Southwest Airlines regarding progress in its merger with AirTran gives reason for optimism that Las Vegas not only would get additional seats to the market but a new list of cities with nonstop or direct service by the Dallas-based carrier, the busiest at McCarran with 194 flights a day.

(A little statistical disclosure here: Southwest counts its daily flights differently than McCarran. If Southwest operates a flight six days a week, it considers it “daily” while McCarran breaks down the totals with decimal points.)

The Jan. 20 announcement, which didn’t get much play in Las Vegas because it doesn’t really directly affect us for now, was Southwest’s cut list — which AirTran cities would and wouldn’t have flights when the conversion was complete. Of the 69 cities AirTran served when Southwest acquired it in May, 53 will convert to full Southwest service.

Some cities, like Las Vegas, were already served by both Southwest and AirTran. But some will lose AirTran and won’t get picked up by Southwest beginning Aug. 12. Those are Allentown and Harrisburg, Pa.; Lexington, Ky.; Sarasota, Fla.; Huntsville, Ala.; and White Plains, N.Y.

Click to enlarge photo

An AirTran jet approaches Philadelphia International Airport in October 2010.

As of today, Southwest has nonstop flights from Las Vegas to 52 cities — 72 percent of its route map. When fully converted, Southwest will take on 24 new AirTran cities.

Las Vegas is, unquestionably, one of Southwest’s most popular destinations. We’re the second-largest destination in the Southwest system behind Chicago’s Midway Airport. While the airline hasn’t made any announcements, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that some of those 24 new cities would have nonstop routes to and from McCarran.

Based on Southwest’s history, it would be unlikely to assume we’d see any nonstop flights to, say, Key West, Fla. Or Portland, Maine. It’s also unlikely there’d be any new nonstops to Southwest’s new Caribbean destinations.

The AirTran merger will put Southwest well into the southeast: When converted, Southwest will take on Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Montego Bay, Jamaica; Aruba; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Bermuda; and Nassau, Bahamas.

Some of the more likely candidates for nonstop flights are seven cities that currently have no nonstop service to Las Vegas: Flint, Mich.; Rochester, N.Y.; Pensacola, Fla.; Dayton, Ohio; Richmond, Va.; Akron-Canton, Ohio; and Branson, Mo.

Five other cities that will be taken on by Southwest already are served by other airlines, including Las Vegas-based Allegiant, so there either could be new competition or a route shake-out: Charlotte, N.C. (US Airways); Memphis, Tenn. (Delta); Wichita, Kan.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Des Moines, Iowa (all Allegiant).

The AirTran acquisition also has opened the door for Southwest to fly to Mexico, a much more likely prospect for Las Vegas nonstops. Southwest has agreed to serve Cancun and late last year, the airlines announced that AirTran would begin flights to Mexico City on May 24 and San Jose Cabo on June 3. Those flights eventually will convert to Southwest.

The airline also has announced that the conversion to Southwest has begun at airports currently served by both carriers, like Las Vegas. Seattle will be the first to be fully converted with completion scheduled by Aug. 12. Other announcements are scheduled in the months ahead.

Just think: It was 30 years ago last week that Southwest first arrived in Las Vegas with just five daily nonstop flights to Houston and Phoenix.

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