Just got through listening to Southwest Airlines 4Q2011 earnings conference call. The question of what the airline was planning to do in Charlotte actually came up as a question. Southwest does not currently serve the CLT per se. It does own AirTran Airways though, which flies from Charlotte to Atlanta, Baltimore, and Orlando. Airline management hopes to have Southwest and AirTran on a single certificate (be one for legal and regulatory purposes) in about two months. After that, the transfer of aircraft and markets from the AirTran brand to the Southwest brand will begin.
Except that a number of current AirTran markets will be dropped rather getting Southwest service. Indeed, of the 33 domestic airports that AirTran flew to that Southwest did not serve when the merger was announced in fall 2010, 11 alrady are known to be out and only in one case (Atlanta, to no great surprise) has Southwest announced when they will begin service. The remaining 22 cities, including Charlotte, are in a holding pattern, waiting for a decision one way or the other. In response to the question, Southwest management provided no indication of whether Charlotte was a keeper or would be cut.
That said, most people (myself included) that follow the industry expect Southwest to keep CLT. The question is just when flights transition to Southwest and with what level of service.
Southwest management did provide some general guidance: They expect to have seven fewer planes at the end of the year than they do currently and relatively few aircraft (13) will be switched over from AirTran to Southwest this year. Those are both discouraging developments. I’d be surprised if Southwest comes to town before 2013 — and it could easily be 2014. And fewer planes makes it more difficult to increase flights and destinations from here beyond the total of seven per day to three places AirTran will soon be up to — though flights to Chicago Midway are pretty much a given if/when Southwest proper comes to town.
