At 01:41 PM 5/7/2003 -0400, you wrote: >DEmocrat2n@xxxxxxx writes: > > > not having a single carrier in the LAX-Italy market is idiotic and a > > waste of a money-making oppertunity > > > >I had heard that the market to Europe in general (and Italy in particular) >from LAX was 99% low fare tourist traffic. Little or no high yield tkts sold >and little new traffic generated. AZ probably gets the same passengers now >via Chicago or NewYork that it carried on the LAX flights yaers ago. >Like it's been said--if there was a buck to be made---someone would fly the >route. >Dennis In particular, LAX isn't an airport with constrained landing rights, horribly constrained slots at the customs and immigration facility, or anything like that. You've got AMR and UAL who both have substantial presences, coupled with fairly decent feeder networks and plenty of O+D traffic. You've got DL, which has plenty of business to Europe, you've got lots of possible players and... nobody wants to do it. The airlines have a fair selection of plausible equipment, and plenty of them have 777 capacity at hand. If this was an open and closed case with obvious traffic, someone would fly it. Further, in these days of alliances, code-shares and the like, the major players like UAL and AMR and CO and DL can all see what the connecting traffic from LAX to Italy looks like, and see if the yields and loads are there. - David