With OKC being Oklahoma City while TUL is Tulsa. Per the Charlotte Observer, flights start on July 2 and are twice-daily on large regional jets (have a first class section). Service levels are comparable to Des Moines and Omaha, which US Airways added flights to from CLT in 2012 and are of similar size and about the same distance from the Queen City.
The addition of flights to these two cities isn’t a surprise as they are the first and fourth largest markets lacking a nonstop within 1,200 miles of Charlotte. They are also the two unserved cities in which American Airlines is the strongest. Put another way, this is the low-hanging fruit in terms of connecting the dots from the merger. Indeed, US Airways adding Oklahoma City was pretty much inevitable — remember, the airline tried to get an additional Washington Reagan National slot with the additional hook being that it would add twice daily CLT-OKC flights as well if it won (it didn’t).
More analysis later.
