This has been my belief for years. Upwards of 10 million people--probably closer to 15 million--live within an easy drive of either Sacramento or Fresno (or both). The Central Valley has long been, and will continue to be, the true growth area of California. (Make all the jokes you want about Fresno being the murder capital of the US: the city is growing bigger every year and is just not going to stop.) A lot of people live there and work elsewhere, either for cost or quality-of-life reasons. And yet, the air service in the area rivals that of third-world country. I think Southwest has, to a large extent, missed the boat on the interior California market. Sure, they have the coastal corridor (San Diego to LA to San Jose to Oakland) locked up, but they have largely ignored the interior of the state, save Sacramento (which is really just a feeder to Oakland). Fresno to LAX is four hours by car and a lot of people think nothing of doing that on a weekly or even daily basis. Why not do it by air? I think a high frequency, low-fare airline would do a land office business in many parts of California. Fly between Fresno and Burbank 15 times a day, between Fresno and San Jose 15 times a day. Sacramento on a similar volume. Make San Jose and Fresno your fortress cities. Then, expand into other little-served California markets. Carlsbad (in the growth area north of San Diego) is a good place, as is my old hometown, Santa Maria. Over to Vegas and up to Portland. But it has to make sense with low fares at all times: $30 with 7 day advance purchase, $60 at the gate. All day, every day. Service on board? In the morning, a cup of coffee. In the afternoon, a can of soda. It is a simple equation, really. High frequency, low fares, in and out. I'd give the 717 a hard look, especially with the low-cycle TWAA birds on the ground. Maybe do a 2x2 like Midwest Express, or keep it 2x3. Or a mix of both to cater to business and leisure clientele. Aircraft doesn't really matter as much as getting people out of their cars and onto planes. It is going to take awhile, though, especially in California. You'll need some deep pockets to weather the initial storm and get people talking about the benefits of one-hour plane ride over a four-hour car ride. I really thought Allegiant Air might have a chance at doing this, but they blew it early on. Instead of focusing on a few core cities, they had the dream of a massive route network like so many other startups. They were so focused on eventually competing with United and American that they forgot they had to build a product first. Now they are stuck doing weirdo charters with "plans" to go back to scheduled service. How about it. Anybody want to invest? -----Original Message----- From: The Airline List [mailto:AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] On Behalf Of User169331@aol.com Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 12:36 AM To: AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU Subject: Re: [Sky-1] Hawaiian to Add Sacramento and Ontario Nonstop Service In a message dated 3/21/02 9:20:07 PM Pacific Standard Time, dks28@cornell.edu writes: > Yes, except when you factor in the poor air service in California's > Central Valley. Think about it: Fresno itself is larger than St. Louis > and it basically has nothing other than regional turbo-prop service. > Sacramento can draw from up and down the valley and pull away people > who would otherwise drive over to SFO. > > People over there are dying for solid air service to anywhere. Hawaii > is as good a place as any. > Amen, indeed! If you have not recently been to the greater Sacramento area (including the Sierra foothills and the "Gold" country, etc.), you'll be amazed at the dramatic growth in population, jobs and new housing in recent years. Many people from the San Francisco Bay Area have either "cashed out" of their real estate positions here and relocated to the Sacramento area, or have been forced out due to the cost of living pressures that culminated in the "Dot.coN" era. The predominant demographic expansion from SFO is toward the East; the far East Bay and the upper Central Valley of California. It'll be no surprise to see these new Hawaii flights do very well. ............"Book 'em, Danno!!!"...............Aloha. Mike/SFO