GFK to SLC?

[GeauxSioux]

With UND joining the Big Sky and the new GFK terminal coming on line soon, I wonder what the possibilities are for Delta to provide service between Grand Forks and Salt Lake City.

SLC seems to be the hub for a lot of the Big Sky schools.

[star2city]

With UND joining the Big Sky and the new GFK terminal coming on line soon, I wonder what the possibilities are for Delta to provide service between Grand Forks and Salt Lake City.

SLC seems to be the hub for a lot of the Big Sky schools.

Minot just had their SLC service dropped, so not sure if Delta will go for it yet.

For schools like Portland St, EWU, Montana, and Montana St, they all have access to MSP Delta. Although they would add air miles going east of GFK, it's actually fewer miles than going south to SLC or Denver.

Still, SLC or Denver to GFK would be great.

[WYOBISONMAN]

Minot just had their SLC service dropped, so not sure if Delta will go for it yet.

For schools like Portland St, EWU, Montana, and Montana St, they all have access to MSP Delta. Although they would add air miles going east of GFK, it's actually fewer miles than going south to SLC or Denver.

Still, SLC or Denver to GFK would be great.

Wow.....that surprises me with the big oil boom going on. You would think that would be money maker for them. Thats a shame. All former Northwest cities in ND ought to get service to both Delta hubs (that are in this region of the country).

[star2city]

Wow.....that surprises me with the big oil boom going on. You would think that would be money maker for them. Thats a shame. All former Northwest cities in ND ought to get service to both Delta hubs (that are in this region of the country).

Minot is keeping it's United flights to Denver: that's where some oil traffic comes in. Salt Lake and points west don't really have oil companies that are involved in Bakken.

What the ND oil industry really needs is a direct connection to Houston or Dallas, not Salt Lake. That type service could be coming later.

MINOT, N.D. (AP) - Delta Air Lines is ending daily flights between Minot and Salt Lake City only a few months after they began.

Minot International Airport Director Andrew Solsvig said the service will end Oct. 4 because of lower-than-expected demand for the flights, which began May 4. Only about half of the planes were filled on average.

Delta's flights between Minot and Minneapolis are not affected.

[lomackman]

Minot is keeping it's United flights to Denver: that's where some oil traffic comes in. Salt Lake and points west don't really have oil companies that are involved in Bakken.

What the ND oil industry really needs is a direct connection to Houston or Dallas, not Salt Lake. That type service could be coming later.

Minot will keep its United flights until the 500K Minot is using to subsidize the service runs out and bye bye United. Delta was not even filling half a 50 seat plane to SLC. We would be better to have a direct flight to Detroit than SLC. Even Patrick Dame agrees that a SLC flight gains GFK nothing. All it does is make a two stop trip a one stop to 13 cities. Who is up for a trip to Medford,OR? No one? That is one of the 13 places you could get with one stop. Jay do a comparission of connecting through Detroit using a 5:00 AM departure and see how much GFK gains from that compared to a SLC flight. Take into consideration the flights that have been cut from MSP that now require a connection in Detroit or Atlanta. You will be surprised that you will find we would be better off with the Detroit flight like Duluth has.

[GeauxSioux]

Minot will keep its United flights until the 500K Minot is using to subsidize the service runs out and bye bye United. Delta was not even filling half a 50 seat plane to SLC. We would be better to have a direct flight to Detroit than SLC. Even Patrick Dame agrees that a SLC flight gains GFK nothing. All it does is make a two stop trip a one stop to 13 cities. Who is up for a trip to Medford,OR? No one? That is one of the 13 places you could get with one stop. Jay do a comparission of connecting through Detroit using a 5:00 AM departure and see how much GFK gains from that compared to a SLC flight. Take into consideration the flights that have been cut from MSP that now require a connection in Detroit or Atlanta. You will be surprised that you will find we would be better off with the Detroit flight like Duluth has.

You may not reduce the number of stops, but the hours are significantly reduced by going thru SLC rather than MSP. I chose Missoula and Spokane for a test flight and the time was cut at least 2 hours each way.

Detroit? Why would one want to go that far east to travel to Spokane, Missoula, Bozeman?

[lomackman]

You may not reduce the number of stops, but the hours are significantly reduced by going thru SLC rather than MSP. I chose Missoula and Spokane for a test flight and the time was cut at least 2 hours each way.

Detroit? Why would one want to go that far east to travel to Spokane, Missoula, Bozeman?

Not east to go to Missoula but to connect to the east coast, southeast, Caribean, South America, Europe, and Asis is better through Detroit. Is there that large of a demand to go to Spokane, Missoula, or Bozeman? You failed to figure what time would the SLC flight depart from to make this work.

[GeauxSioux]

Not east to go to Missoula but to connect to the east coast, southeast, Caribean, South America, Europe, and Asis is better through Detroit. Is there that large of a demand to go to Spokane, Missoula, or Bozeman? You failed to figure what time would the SLC flight depart from to make this work.

Go back to my first post on this topic and you will see why I'm talking about SLC. The Sioux are not playing in South America, the Caribbean, etc...

[lomackman]

Go back to my first post on this topic and you will see why I'm talking about SLC. The Sioux are not playing in South America, the Caribbean, etc...

I know what you were talking about but how would an SLC connection help when they will have to fly a charter to start with since the planes only hold 50 people?

[GeauxSioux]

I know what you were talking about but how would an SLC connection help when they will have to fly a charter to start with since the planes only hold 50 people?

If you knew what I was talking about, why were we discussing going to Europe through Detroit?

Not all of UND's teams need to charter. For example when I flew out of Grand Forks on Sunday, the NJIT volleyball team was on the same flight. They didn't charter.

I would think that the only team that would be "charter only" would be the football team. Maybe I'm wrong.

The remainder of the teams, such as the volleyball team, would be flying commercial. Wouldn't it be faster and likely cheaper to go through SLC than MSP. That was the premise of this topic to start with.

[lomackman]

If you knew what I was talking about, why were we discussing going to Europe through Detroit?

Not all of UND's teams need to charter. For example when I flew out of Grand Forks on Sunday, the NJIT volleyball team was on the same flight. They didn't charter.

I would think that the only team that would be "charter only" would be the football team. Maybe I'm wrong.

The remainder of the teams, such as the volleyball team, would be flying commercial. Wouldn't it be faster and likely cheaper to go through SLC than MSP. That was the premise of this topic to start with.

I just talked to a football player outside O'Kelly and he said they have chartered everywhere all season, he also said the UCDavis team flew into FAR and bussed here last weekend. They would not have come through SLC since the planes are too small there. FAR has one 319 and one DC-9 still flying there.The BB team flies charters as does the hockey team a lot of the time. VB teams are a lot smaller than the others. No it really would not be cheaper or faster through SLC, and Delta is not going to add a flight just for UND sport teams. Price wise for the last couple of years it has been cheaper or the same price to fly from GFK as FAR. For faster we really have no idea because we have no departure or return times to use to compare with. My Detroit comment was secondary to the thread topic. I just threw it out there as a thought.

[star2city]

Losing flights to North Dakota

If the Winnipeg airport could keep every passenger it loses to airports in Grand Forks and Fargo, it could add, and fill, a direct flight to Phoenix and another to Florida every day of the year.

That

[lomackman]

Losing flights to North Dakota

This is not surprising since this was Allegiants goal from the start. According to GFK Flight Support it is Canadians that are filling the Allegiant flights.

[LeftyZL]

I just talked to a football player outside O'Kelly and he said they have chartered everywhere all season, he also said the UCDavis team flew into FAR and bussed here last weekend. They would not have come through SLC since the planes are too small there. FAR has one 319 and one DC-9 still flying there.The BB team flies charters as does the hockey team a lot of the time. VB teams are a lot smaller than the others. No it really would not be cheaper or faster through SLC, and Delta is not going to add a flight just for UND sport teams. Price wise for the last couple of years it has been cheaper or the same price to fly from GFK as FAR. For faster we really have no idea because we have no departure or return times to use to compare with. My Detroit comment was secondary to the thread topic. I just threw it out there as a thought.

Not sure on the basketball teams, but the only place that the UND hockey chartered this year was to Maine and Alaska. Everywhere else is either a bus trip or commercial flight.

And how much bigger is a basketball team than the volleyball team? Or soccer/softball/baseball? Doesn't make any sense why the BB teams would charter as you said and make all similar teams fly commercial.

[lomackman]

Not sure on the basketball teams, but the only place that the UND hockey chartered this year was to Maine and Alaska. Everywhere else is either a bus trip or commercial flight.

And how much bigger is a basketball team than the volleyball team? Or soccer/softball/baseball? Doesn't make any sense why the BB teams would charter as you said and make all similar teams fly commercial.

Distance and no nearby airport maybe? Als soccer, softball, and baseball bring in zero dollars, only take.

[Vegas_Sioux]

No the hockey team didn't charter to Alaska but that was the reason they chartered to Bangor, when the team went to anchorage they flew on the scheduled service from GFK to MSP to ANC which lead Delta to have to leave everything but the hockey bags in MSP on the return from Anchorage because the CRJ that Delta thinks is appropriate for GFK was unable to handle the all the luggage from the team plus the the rest of the passengers luggage.

[lomackman]

No the hockey team didn't charter to Alaska but that was the reason they chartered to Bangor, when the team went to anchorage they flew on the scheduled service from GFK to MSP to ANC which lead Delta to have to leave everything but the hockey bags in MSP on the return from Anchorage because the CRJ that Delta thinks is appropriate for GFK was unable to handle the all the luggage from the team plus the the rest of the passengers luggage.

RJs are the appropriate size planes for the market. If you did your homework you would find markets even larger only have RJ service e.g. Bentonville,Ar, Knoxville,TN.

[Vegas_Sioux]

Not Really, they are often are weight restricted can't take a jumpseater but they might work if you like the 7 a day to MSP that result in oversold flights and you can't leave until 3 or later after I've had to pull you off the plane.

[lomackman]

Not Really, they are often are weight restricted can't take a jumpseater but they might work if you like the 7 a day to MSP that result in oversold flights and you can't leave until 3 or later after I've had to pull you off the plane.

Load factors do not justify larger planes. Also with Delta's DC-9 fleet being so small now they would have to use a larger plane with only half the seats filled. Do you want to crunch the boardings and load factors for the last 20 years as I have?

[Vegas_Sioux]

So use an e170, or a cr7 or a cr9. anything but the stupid 50 seater.

[lomackman]

So use an e170, or a cr7 or a cr9. anything but the stupid 50 seater.

Load factors do not justify a larger plane.

[Vegas_Sioux]

Load factors do not justify a larger plane.

I don't agree with load factors they can be made to be artificially low

[lomackman]

I don't agree with load factors they can be made to be artificially low

Well if a fifty seat plane is not being filled why use a larger one? Explain how load factors can be made artificialy smaller?

[Vegas_Sioux]

because the load factor is there for at least 1 flight larger then 50 seats, with these rj's all you do is alienate large groups. In the days of the red tail the 8am DC9 was always full.

[lomackman]

because the load factor is there for at least 1 flight larger then 50 seats, with these rj's all you do is alienate large groups. In the days of the red tail the 8am DC9 was always full.

The numbers are not there to fill a DC-9. Fargo has lost its 319 and DC-9 service. They have almost 4 times as many boardings as GFK.