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Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 949
Location: Carmel, IN

NW's stated strategy in making IND a focus city is to put a lock on their dominance of the Midwest. They've done a darn good job of aiding the TZ implosion at Indy, and many of their new nonstop routes are those on which TZ formerly offered the only nonstop service, such as CUN, or offered very competitive nonstop service, like LAS and MCO. It could be argued that NW isn't trying to squash TZ, at least not anymore, because TZ has basically abandoned its hometown and focused on MDW.

So we all know that the big gorilla in the airline industry is Southwest, coded WN. Ironic, maybe even creepy that NW and WN's airline codes are mirror images. But in any case, I thought it would be interesting to look at how NW might compete against WN out of IND. This might shed some light on whether NW might be trying to squash WN out of Indy, and we can judge how well they're doing, too.

WN flies 10 nonstop routes out of IND. LAX, LAS, and PHX out west, MCI and MDW in the midwest, BWI on the east coast, MSY in the south, and JAX, MCO, and TPA in the Florida market.

Let's look at where NW overlaps those 10 cities: LAX, LAS, and PHX are all offered by NW, although PHX is currently a "seasonal" route that is "out of season." MCI is offered by NW as well, as are MCO and PIE.

MDW is still the main feeder from Indy to the TZ hub as well as a primary feeder for WN flights (even though WN claims to be hubless). Not to mention that there is a ton of other flights on UA and AA to the Chicago market. So the origin & destination (o&d) traffic to Chicago is pretty well served by the jillions of flights on other carriers. Can't blame NW for staying out of the IND-Chicago game.

BWI is also a main feeder airport for WN flights, and there probably isn't much o&d traffic on this route, unless you consider BWI in the broader context of the Washington metro area. In that case, NW is squeezing in a little bit with flights to DCA, and there are a ton of additional flights for Washington o&d traffic with US to DCA and both UA and Independence Air to IAD. But you could argue that NW's flights to DCA don't compete with WN's to BWI.

So then there's the Florida market, which NW and WN both serve at TPA and MCO. WN also serves JAX from Indy. TPA and MCO are probably the highest volume routes from Indy to Florida. So here it's fair to say that NW is going right at the cattle cars of WN.

The MCI flights are interesting, as both WN and NW serve them now. And NW added a third flight daily. I have flown this route on both airlines and can tell you that there seems to be strong demand for this route. And it's certainly nicer to have a reserved NW seat than the sit-on-the-floor-for-two-hours-to-get-a-good-seat approach with WN.

WN also serves MSY out of Indy. Not sure how much o&d traffic there is on this route. But so far, NW hasn't shown enough interest to try a flight there. I'm travelling to MSY soon, but I usually connect via either MEM (NW) or IAH (CO) when I fly there, which are usually price competitive with WN.

So of the routes that WN serves nonstop from IND, NW has matched service on all but JAX, MSY, MDW, and BWI. 6 out of 10 matches. Doesn't prove much looking at it that way, and one would be forced to conclude that NW isn't really trying to get into it with WN. But look at some of the other cities where NW is offering nonstops, and you'll conclude otherwise. NW's IND routes include SEA, STL, Dallas (WN uses Love Field, NW uses DFW), AUS, BDL (Hartford), PHL, RDU, PBI and FLL. These are all airports (allowing for the different airport in Dallas) served by WN with connections from Indy. Tallying up the score, there are 23 new destinations (not counting NW's hubs) that NW has added nonstop service to from Indy. 15 of those are Southwest cities. If you allow that NW's service to LGA competes with WN's service to ISP (Long Island) and NW's service to DCA competes with WN's service to BWI (despite what I said earlier), then 17 of the 23 new cities that NW added ex-IND are "Southwest Cities".

Now that's what I call a shot across the bow. I'd have to say the jury is still out on whether NW is winning the war, but I for one am the kind of customer that will never, NEVER, fly Southwest if there is a nonstop flight offered by another airline on the same route.

Site Admin

Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 2316
Location: Indianapolis, IN

I don't know if NW is in any financial condition anymore to start a pissing match with the #1 LCC. About the only route they can target for another carrier at this time is MKE and Midwest Airlines. But my feeling is that WN doesn't care much for IND and if NW targeted those cities you may very well see WN pull out. Or cut back to just serving BWI, MDW and LAS. They have no apparent interest in IND so I wouldn't think it would take much for them to bolt.

Member

Joined: 27 Jun 2005
Posts: 333
Location: St. Louis, MO

Indy wrote:

But my feeling is that WN doesn't care much for IND


that is true. i've mentioned this a few times before in some other forums that IND officials irked off Southwest when they wanted to start their Quiket Ticketing Machines at airport locations. they prohibited Southwest from having the machine because airport officials didn't like the way it looks. i've heard a few other non-concrete rumblings here and there that Southwest and Indianapolis just do not do much for one another. part of the reason for that, I believe, is that their passenger demand is just not that huge. IND was always traditionally a strong US Air city and Southwest came very late into offering nonstops to Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Florida, the #1 travel destinations from Indianapolis. So people went to US Air, ATA, Northwest, etc. etc.

Site Admin

Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 949
Location: Carmel, IN

You may have a point about IND officials and attitude toward WN. But I would speculate that the reason may have had more to do with the fact that TZ was the hometown airline, HQ here, hundreds of jobs here (before the meltdown), etc. TZ always got whatever they wanted from BAA (the operator of IND) and from city and state officials. Of course, once the going got tough, TZ bailed out of IND and put all their eggs in the WN basket. And, of course, are now firmly wed to WN. But now the favorite of the IND admin crowd is NW, and you can see how they move heaven and earth for them. Wait to see how gates are assigned when the new terminal is opened....

Site Admin

Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 2316
Location: Indianapolis, IN

Its funny what you say about IND officials irking WN because it seems they have done the same with Republic as well. Apparently Republic (which has its HQ in Indianapolis) wanted to expand and the airport authority wasn't warm to them. I don't know if they meant to expland flight operations, maintenance operations or their corporate HQ on airport property or something. Either way it hasn't worked out well. But Republic has from what I heard rented out the last bays at the huge maintenance facility here.

Site Admin

Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 949
Location: Carmel, IN

Yeah, I was going to mention Republic in that last post as well, but I figured I had rambled on long enough. I think ego has really clouded the judgement of the airport managers sometimes. TZ was the golden child, to the detriment of Republic, the "other" hometown airline.

But then again, I shouldn't impugn the motives of BAA so lightly. Airlines big and small are all very good at playing airport and local officials. Witness the frenzy that took place among all the cities who were in the running to land the UA maintenance hub in the first place. IIRC, the finalists were IND and IAD, and UA played the state governments off each other to get more concessions. It's like the Colts stadium.

Republic played the game, too. They wanted concessions by the airport and the city, and made a lot of noise about moving to Louisville and taking a bunch of jobs with them. In the end, they just didn't have the juice to muscle any concessions out of Indy.