Pelham Aviation by Michael Gutta

  COVID-19 Takes Its Toll On Delta Flagship Aircraft September 13, 2020 By: Michael Gutta   On May 14, 2020, the CEO of Delta Air Lines Ed Bastian made a shocking announcement due to the global coronavirus pandemic: the airline would retire its Boeing 777 fleet within a mere 8 months. The statement from the airline started by saying, “Delta plans to retire its 18 widebody Boeing 777s by the end of 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The retirement will accelerate the airline’s strategy to simplify and modernize its fleet, while continuing to operate newer, more cost-efficient aircraft.” There have been many aircraft put into storage and several aircraft type retirements for airlines around the world, but this has been the biggest fleet announcement for a United States airline. What makes this announcement even more surprising is that the Delta 777 fleet is only an average of 15 years old, and the whole fleet has been refitted since 2018 with the latest seats and...

Southwest Airlines at Greenville-Spartanburg Intl. Airport November 6, 2019 By: Michael Gutta On November 3, 2019 Southwest Airlines resumed flights from Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP) to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, a service that was previously discontinued on April 12, 2016. The history of Southwest Airlines at GSP has been relatively short and has already seen highs and lows. Southwest service in South Carolina began on March 13, 2011 with flights from both GSP and Charleston International Airport (CHS). Service from GSP began with 7 daily departures to 5 destinations: Baltimore (BWI, 2x), Chicago-Midway (MDW, 2x), Nashville (BNA), Houston-Hobby (HOU), and Orlando (MCO). Southwest introducing service at GSP was a major boon for the airport and Upstate South Carolina region for reducing prices and keeping flyers from driving to Atlanta or Charlotte for lower fares. Southwest B737-700 N931WN in Lone Star One livery a...

Atlanta to Seoul 5 Year Route Analysis August 19, 2019 By: Michael Gutta In this edition of the Pelham Aviation blog I decided to look at the past 5 years of travel data from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, Georgia to Incheon International Airport (ICN) in Seoul, South Korea. The inspiration for this post comes after having a connection at ATL and taking off directly past a Korean Air 747-8i parked at gate F1 of the international terminal. I decided to look back at the one-way travel data for this city-pair which has been served by Korean Air, Delta Air Lines, and Asiana Air Lines (cargo only). Per AirwaysMag.com, Korean Air has been flying into Atlanta since June 2002. Delta previously offered service for a brief period and then resumed service on June 3, 2017. Asiana’s seasonal cargo service seems to have ended on this route. I investigated the total market between these two cities, the split between carriers, and finally, the different aircraft ty...

ROUTE ANALYSIS: Atlanta to San Francisco Market Share Surprise? July 29, 2019 By: Michael Gutta In this article from the Pelham Aviation blog I looked not at past travel data but at future schedule numbers for the route from Atlanta to San Francisco. During some searching on Google Flights for potential vacation destinations I was very surprised at the available service between these Delta and United strongholds. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International (ATL) is of course the world’s busiest airport and Delta Air Line’s largest hub. Meanwhile, San Francisco International (SFO) is dominated by United Airlines. When I began my search, I expected to see a somewhat even split of flights for the two US legacy carriers. I also wanted to find out capacity by day of the week, and I wanted to find the largest aircraft on the route. I was quite surprised by the search results, and also found a third airline option for this route. Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-200 N681DA departing ru...

ROUTE ANALYSIS: Tampa to San Francisco on United Hits Two Years of Service May 18, 2019 By: Michael Gutta For this edition of the Pelham Aviation blog I’ve decided to look back on the first two years of direct service from Tampa to San Francisco on United Airlines. The airline announced on July 25, 2016 that it would be starting a once daily service connecting the two cities on February 16, 2017. Prior to the direct-flight service kicking off, the airport reported that roughly 600 passengers traveled this route daily, albeit with a connection. According to the Tampa airport this was the largest unserved route in America. With the daily service having begun in February 2017, it recently surpassed two years of daily service by United Airlines. The passenger data reported by the USDOT indicates, to no surprise, that this route has been successful. In fact, United Airlines has announced that beginning on June 6, 2019 the route will be served twice daily, with an evening departure ...

CARRIER ANALYSIS: Copa Airlines at Tampa International Airport May 5, 2019 By: Michael Gutta With my first five blog reports I have reviewed domestic airlines, routes, and fleet changes. For my first investigation of a foreign air carrier, I have chosen to evaluate the service history of Copa Airlines at Tampa International Airport. Copa Airlines is the flag carrier of Panama, with a major connecting hub for Latin America at Tocumen International in Panama City. Copa began service to Tampa International on December 16, 2013, offering four flights weekly each way. For this blog report I decided to look back at the USDOT data all the way back inaugural flight. Unfortunately, the full-year of 2018 international flight numbers will not be published until June 13, so for now this study encompassed 4 years (2014-2017) of data, plus December 2013. Copa Airlines Boeing 737-700 registered as HP-1371 at Tampa International Airport (Michael Gutta). In the first 4 years of ser...

ROUTE ANALYSIS: Tampa Bay to Houston April 19, 2019 By: Michael Gutta Following a trip from Tampa Bay to Houston, I decided to explore the USDOT T100 data available for this sector. I considered all commercial flights between St. Pete-Clearwater (PIE) and Tampa (TPA) to both George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) and William P. Hobby (HOU) during the year 2017, the last full year of published data. For this year, there were no scheduled flights from St. Petersburg-Clearwater (PIE) to the Houston airports. The primary carrier at PIE, Allegiant Air, actually has no presence in the Houston market (either HOU or IAH). I also only looked at commercial passenger carriers, so the cargo numbers reported are only for belly cargo, not scheduled cargo carriers. This study was unsurprisingly dominated by the primary carriers at Hobby (Southwest) and George Bush (United), but I wanted to see who seems to be leading on this route, and how much of a contribution the ULCC carrier Spirit has made ...

ROUTE ANALYSIS: Tampa Bay to Washington DC Metro Area February 24, 2019 By: Michael Gutta After my previous data scrubbing and report about Southwest Airlines’s activities at Tampa International Airport revealed their most popular destination to be Baltimore/Washington International Airport, I decided to look more closely at the Tampa Bay to DC metropolitan area air travel market. For this investigation I considered all commercial flights between any combination of St. Petersburg-Clearwater (PIE) and Tampa (TPA) to Baltimore-Washington (BWI), Washington-National (DCA), and Washington Dulles (IAD) during the year 2017, the last full year of published data. For this year, there actually were no regularly scheduled flights departing St. Petersburg-Clearwater (PIE) to the DC Metro area. I also only looked at commercial passenger carriers, so the cargo numbers reported are only for belly cargo, not scheduled cargo carriers. United B737-800 (N18243) departing runway 19R at TPA ...