GSP International

[gman430]

1 hour ago, distortedlogic said:

I see someone has been asking around for the scoop on an airliner forum!

 

If it's a new carrier I am guessing the sky may turn blue, or it's going to be extra sunny?

I doubt the frontier will be explored through an adventurous spirit or breezey avelo.

I’m actually hoping for Alaska Airlines. I know…hopes and dreams.

[cabelagent]

25 minutes ago, gman430 said:

I’m actually hoping for Alaska Airlines. I know…hopes and dreams.

LOL…There’s too many homeless people camped along Main St (front of CVS & Sticky Fingers), empty retail/restaurant spots, & really ugly store fronts for Alaska Airlines …so hope & dream on. 

Edited February 22, 2023 by cabelagent

[gman430]

1 hour ago, cabelagent said:

LOL…There’s too many homeless people camped along Main St (front of CVS & Sticky Fingers), empty retail/restaurant spots, & really ugly store fronts for Alaska Airlines …so hope & dream on. 

You’re right. That’s why we couldn’t support Frontier or Contour and why Southwest dropped a bunch of service from GSP over the past decade.  It will probably be some airline none of us have ever heard of that only uses Cessna’s and flies only to Orlando.

Edited February 22, 2023 by gman430

[gman430]

GSP doesn’t appear to be affected by this. I will double check but it looks like service actually increases out of GSP with AA as we go from Spring into Summer. New service to LGA and no cuts. Compare that to Charlotte who is going to have 3,991 less flights out of their airport…ouch: 

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2023/02/22/american-airlines-summer-schedule-flight-cuts-clt.html?utm_source=st&utm_medium=en&utm_campaign=ae&utm_content=CH&j=30629703&senddate=2023-02-22 

https://simpleflying.com/american-airlines-cuts-more-than-50000-flights-from-summer-schedule/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=Echobox-SF&utm_medium=Social-Distribution&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR0dZC8-M8O-DvHsg17_NL3mL5l6hQJOX2hzIxxymnrCraOqQv4ePGfkZwQ&mibextid=Zxz2cZ#Echobox=1677092611

Edited February 23, 2023 by gman430

[distortedlogic]

12 minutes ago, gman430 said:

GSP doesn’t appear to be affected by this. I will double check but it looks service actually increases out of GSP with AA as we go from Spring into Summer. New service to LGA and additional service to DCA. Compare that to Charlotte who is going to have 3,991 less flights out of their airport…ouch: 

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2023/02/22/american-airlines-summer-schedule-flight-cuts-clt.html?utm_source=st&utm_medium=en&utm_campaign=ae&utm_content=CH&j=30629703&senddate=2023-02-22
 

"will operate nearly 600 daily departures in June and July from CLT"; wow, shows just how much busier CLT is. I think GSP only has like 50 departures per day total with all airlines and they have 600 with just American.

[gman430]

On 2/22/2023 at 11:34 AM, rssgvegas said:

Keep your eyes and ears out.  GSP should be announcing a new carrier soon.  Service is going to start in June.   Maybe a mid-March announcement?

Can you give us a clue as to who it is? I imagine it’s Avelo or Breeze even though I am kind of hoping it isn’t. Those two carriers tend to switch up their routes and cities too much for my liking. They don’t have the name recognition either as other carriers. Just look at what Avelo is doing: https://thepointsguy.com/news/avelo-expands-network-3-new-destinations/amp/

Alaska to Seattle or JetBlue to Boston would be a game changer. Heck, I would even take a return of Frontier to Las Vegas and Denver.

Edited February 23, 2023 by gman430

[gman430]

There’s a Breeze plane landing at GSP tonight: 

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n120bz/#2f4e75bc

 The plot thickens.

[distortedlogic]

4 hours ago, gman430 said:

Can you give us a clue as to who it is? I imagine it’s Avelo or Breeze even though I am kind of hoping it isn’t. Those two carriers tend to switch up their routes and cities too much for my liking. They don’t have the name recognition either as other carriers. Just look at what Avelo is doing: https://thepointsguy.com/news/avelo-expands-network-3-new-destinations/amp/

Alaska to Seattle or JetBlue to Boston would be a game changer. Heck, I would even take a return of Frontier to Las Vegas and Denver.

I highly doubt we would get a Seattle flight so I think Alaska Air is a no go. I too would like a return of Frontier but I don't think that is in the cards. I would think that Avelo would be a no, they are sort of selective and smaller.  My guesses remain JB or Suncountry, but I would take Breeze over them. I know they have had some issues but I still think they will be able to iron out the details and become a decent airline; I just don't think they are ready to take a chance on GSP with all the other issues so far. We'll see.

[timbach]

1 hour ago, gman430 said:

There’s a Breeze plane landing at GSP tonight: 

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n120bz/#2f4e75bc

 The plot thickens.

Based on what I can tell with their flight numbers and the locations, the 64XX flight numbers are when they're positioning planes for charters. Then the actual charters fly with 63XX flight numbers.

For instance, the plane that landed at GSP was used by the University of Virginia's basketball team to fly from Charlottesville to Bedford, MA for their game against Boston College yesterday (educated guess). The plane then returned to Charlottesville with the 63XX flight number and then when they moved it back to Norfolk, VA (which is one of their actual airports and likely where they base that plane) they used the 64XX flight number.

I'm guessing someone has chartered that plane to fly out of GSP tomorrow and you'll see it leave with a 63XX flight number.

(They use the same number schemes to fly the University of Nebraska basketball team, for instance https://flightaware.com/live/flight/MXY6310/history/20230215/0430Z/KEWR/KLNK - this is the flight when they returned to Lincoln from playing Rutgers)

Sorry, I may have ruined the fun.

Edited February 24, 2023 by timbach

[gman430]

41 minutes ago, distortedlogic said:

I highly doubt we would get a Seattle flight so I think Alaska Air is a no go. I too would like a return of Frontier but I don't think that is in the cards. I would think that Avelo would be a no, they are sort of selective and smaller.  My guesses remain JB or Suncountry, but I would take Breeze over them. I know they have had some issues but I still think they will be able to iron out the details and become a decent airline; I just don't think they are ready to take a chance on GSP with all the other issues so far. We'll see.

Well, if service is slated to start three months after the announcement it is definitely looking like Breeze or Avelo. The other carriers tend to start service later than three months after announcement especially JetBlue. Definitely would rather have Breeze over Avelo if I have to choose one. They remind me a lot of Independence Air in a good way. 

Edited February 24, 2023 by gman430

[timbach]

55 minutes ago, timbach said:

I'm guessing someone has chartered that plane to fly out of GSP tomorrow and you'll see it leave with a 63XX flight number.

Looks like it's flying to Charlottesville as a charter and the Virginia women's basketball team just played at Clemson tonight. I'd say that's your mystery answer

[gman430]

Latest rumor is Air Canada with non-stop direct service to Toronto. I know GSP has been trying hard to land them over the past few years. 

Edited February 24, 2023 by gman430

[NewlyUpstate]

2 hours ago, gman430 said:

Latest rumor is Air Canada with non-stop direct service to Toronto. I know GSP has been trying hard to land them over the past few years. 

Ooo. Would this be our first international destination??

I tentatively need to go to Toronto twice a year for work, so this would be great news for me.

[Exile]

This would be Air Canada's second try. As I remember, they had all but started service 20ish years ago, but pulled out after the dot.com bust and/or 9-11.

[distortedlogic]

32 minutes ago, Exile said:

This would be Air Canada's second try. As I remember, they had all but started service 20ish years ago, but pulled out after the dot.com bust and/or 9-11.

Correct. They announced it back in 2001 or 2002 but it never happened.

[distortedlogic]

Problems or not Breeze has been an enormous boon for CHS. They now serve 22 destinations from there; thats as many as we have altogether. Expecting 6MM this year, on their way to becoming the RDU of the state.

https://www.postandcourier.com/business/breeze-airways-to-add-22nd-destination-from-charleston/article_e7619986-abe7-11ed-b4f3-eb0287b98b1a.html

 

Jan numbers out for GSP. 

165.6k total, up from 129.8k last year. 

Jan record was 192k in 2020 right before COVID.

Edited February 25, 2023 by distortedlogic

[gman430]

It could be worse. Imagine living in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, or Columbia. I was looking at Birmingham, Alabama and their airport isn’t much different than GSP in terms of airlines and destinations served. I’m still worried about name recognition when it comes to Breeze. If it is them, I expect the airport to launch a major advertising campaign which would definitely help. 
 

Wait…did I just defend GSP? 

Edited February 25, 2023 by gman430

[Exile]

5 hours ago, gman430 said:

It could be worse. Imagine living in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, or Columbia. I was looking at Birmingham, Alabama and their airport isn’t much different than GSP in terms of airlines and destinations served. I’m still worried about name recognition when it comes to Breeze. If it is them, I expect the airport to launch a major advertising campaign which would definitely help. 
 

Wait…did I just defend GSP? 

What distinguishes GSP from all those airports that you mention is the fact that GSP is hemmed in on two sides by fortress hubs that are both pretty easy to get to. Heck, when I lived in Concord, I once drove past CLT to take a flight from GSP because my wife found me a much cheaper deal (this was before the I-85 construction, of course). Yes, it did afford me the opportunity to visit family, but it at least points up the fact that it's really easy to travel up and down the Piedmont.

Add in up-and-coming AVL, which is going to drain off some degree of potential traffic.

Is there another airport with comparable challenges? Maybe in the northeast, or maybe Grand Rapids (but it's not as close to ORD). I'd say that under the circumstances GSP is doing pretty dang well.

[motonenterprises]

23 minutes ago, Exile said:

What distinguishes GSP from all those airports that you mention is the fact that GSP is hemmed in on two sides by fortress hubs that are both pretty easy to get to. Heck, when I lived in Concord, I once drove past CLT to take a flight from GSP because my wife found me a much cheaper deal (this was before the I-85 construction, of course). Yes, it did afford me the opportunity to visit family, but it at least points up the fact that it's really easy to travel up and down the Piedmont.

Add in up-and-coming AVL, which is going to drain off some degree of potential traffic.

Is there another airport with comparable challenges? Maybe in the northeast, or maybe Grand Rapids (but it's not as close to ORD). I'd say that under the circumstances GSP is doing pretty dang well.

And this is what I'm always telling people. GSP has much more competition than other peer airports, yet if still fairs well. Some people complain too much here, and whine like a small spoiled child.

[PuppiesandKittens]

4 minutes ago, motonenterprises said:

And this is what I'm always telling people. GSP has much more competition than other peer airports, yet if still fairs well. Some people complain too much here, and whine like a small spoiled child.

Agreed.  It’s a terrific airport. I used to fly out of CLT but no longer will because of the hassle of dealing with I-85.  I have flown into and from AVL a few times recently because it has a direct flight to my destination; it’s also convenient but it’s a postage stamp-sized airport and in case of a delay, I’d much rather be at GSP, with a lounge and amenities and more flight options.

[GVLover]

An article from 2016: 

https://www.wyff4.com/article/gsp-in-talks-to-bring-air-canada-to-upstate/7021718

[gman430]

It still begs the question though: how was Huntsville able to land Breeze and Asheville able to land JetBlue along with SunCountry but not GSP? Tourism or not those metro areas are a lot smaller than Greenville-Spartanburg. I feel like our local leaders aren’t doing enough to land new air service. Why are no tax incentives being offered for new service? The cities and counties in this area offer it all of the time for new companies to locate here and create jobs. Isn’t that the same thing these airlines would be doing if coming here?  
 

 

Edited February 26, 2023 by gman430

[motonenterprises]

1 hour ago, gman430 said:

It still begs the question though: how was Huntsville able to land Breeze and Asheville able to land JetBlue along with SunCountry but not GSP? Tourism or not those metro areas are a lot smaller than Greenville-Spartanburg. I feel like our local leaders aren’t doing enough to land new air service. Why are no tax incentives being offered for new service? The cities and counties in this area offer it all of the time for new companies to locate here and create jobs. Isn’t that the same thing these airlines would be doing if coming here?  
 

 

I could give a crap what Huntsville or Asheville has. I wouldn't trade what Greenville offers for what they have. Stop being whiny sir. Be grateful for what you do have.

Edited February 26, 2023 by motonenterprises

[gman430]

28 minutes ago, motonenterprises said:

I could give a crap what Huntsville or Asheville has. I wouldn't trade what Greenville offers for what they have. Stop being whiny sir. Be grateful for what you do have.

Notice you didn’t answer my questions. Yeah, Greenville has a nice downtown but other than that it looks like every other city. What’s so great about Wade Hampton Blvd, Laurens Road, Woodruff Road, Pleasantburg Drive, etc.? Nothing any different than Huntsville or Asheville and nothing special. A bunch of sprawling shopping centers with crappy roads, above ground power lights, and street lights that don’t even work. Don’t forget about the lack of mass transit, bike lanes, and sidewalks also. 

Edited February 26, 2023 by gman430

[motonenterprises]

3 hours ago, gman430 said:

Notice you didn’t answer my questions. Yeah, Greenville has a nice downtown but other than that it looks like every other city. What’s so great about Wade Hampton Blvd, Laurens Road, Woodruff Road, Pleasantburg Drive, etc.? Nothing any different than Huntsville or Asheville and nothing special. A bunch of sprawling shopping centers with crappy roads, above ground power lights, and street lights that don’t even work. Don’t forget about the lack of mass transit, bike lanes, and sidewalks also. 

That's why we have the freedom to choose another city. If you don't like Greenville why stay in it? Go where you are happy. I'm not being condescending, I'm being honest. Don't stay in a place you aren't happy with.