Passenger Trains > Sea Port Airlines adding service between Burbank & San

Although I know this way off topic.

But I can only wonder if this Airline is trying to compete with Amtrak?

I got the news story via my facebook. And no. There is no mentioning of Amtrak in the report.

But I did see the airfare Burbank to San Diego is $77.50 one way. Amtrak fare is $76 round trip.
Its almost like comparing apples to oranges here. Anyways I wish the airline luck on this


Here is the link.

http://www.burbankleader.com/news/tn-blr-airline-to-offer-nonstop-flights-from-bob-hope-airport-to-san-diego-20140730,0,1753965.story

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/14 01:06 by GP25.

Your kidding, right.

If you read the article, u'll see that service is provided with 8 passenger Cessna 208 Caravan.
4 RT's a day,...that's 32 seats a day RT. 72.50 is the INTRODUCTORY fare.

I cud explain why they are doing this, but it's too much for me to type. The key words are
aircraft utilization and spreading out fixed costs over a broader operations base.

And of course, every nut out there that's got a small fortune to burn wants to run an airline.
Don't know why, but its true. I won't even bother with the "how to make a small fortune in the airline
biz" joke.

Sounds like a neat trip to me: one way by air and return by Amtrak.
I'd take a lot of pix on the air leg.
It will be about through passenger confidence in making connections between two air carriers or between an airline and Amtrak.

pdt Wrote:
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>I won't even bother with the "how to make a small fortune in the airline biz" joke.

Would that be to start out with a very large fortune?

Notice they go first to El Centro, then San Diego. Amtrak would probably be faster. Looking at their route map it is hard to believe they can make a business model around carrying so few passengers.

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

Not true...the four new flights are nonstop between Burbank and San Diego.

Gate-to-gate time is very much less than Amtrak at 65 minutes.
Amtrak takes 3 1/2 to 3 3/4 hours.

While Amtrak's East Coast-oriented marketing touts "downtown-to-downtown" as giving
rail an advantage in time, this doesn't apply as much, if at all, on the West Coast
where much business (this is a business-oriented operation) has located outside the
center city...and it does not apply at all at Burbank.

The NBC Tonight Show comment about "Beautiful Downtown Burbank" is noted!

The airfares are substantially higher; lowest is an instant-pay, no-refund/change $69;
Change for a fee but no refund is $107.50; Change for free but no refund is $167.50,
Unrestricted is $207.50. These are not joyride fares except for the $69 which is very
limited in availability (looks like two seats maximum per flight).



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/14 10:06 by GenePoon.

Sea-Port is a local operation here in the PNW. One of their major
selling points here in Portland is you don't have to go through TSA.
They load out on the tarmac away from the regular concourse gates.

Larry Dodgion
Wilsonville, OR

truxtrax Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sea-Port is a local operation here in the PNW. One
> of their major
> selling points here in Portland is you don't have
> to go through TSA.
> They load out on the tarmac away from the regular
> concourse gates.


Let's hope the TSA doesn't see your comments. Or they might be on
the tarmac waiting for you.

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

GP25 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Let's hope the TSA doesn't see your comments. Or
> they might be on
> the tarmac waiting for you.
=============================================

The Amtrak TO lurker, who just lunged for his phone and called TSA:

"Hey, TSA? How'ya doing? Hey, I just heard that..."

ONLY KIDDING!

Sea-Port is an EAS provider, primarily… They've proposals into the DOT for new service to Merced and Visalia from BUR and OAK with subsidies well into the millions. BUR-SAN would not be an EAS route, of course. But, as we've seen with Great Lakes, perhaps the leading EAS provider in the US, airlines can fly around empty and survive a number of years when your tax dollars make up for empty seats.

GP25 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> truxtrax Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Sea-Port is a local operation here in the PNW.
> One
> > of their major
> > selling points here in Portland is you don't
> have
> > to go through TSA.
> > They load out on the tarmac away from the
> regular
> > concourse gates.
>
>
> Let's hope the TSA doesn't see your comments. Or
> they might be on
> the tarmac waiting for you.

The TSA is well aware of this fact and doesn't have an issue with it.

Larry Dodgion
Wilsonville, OR

MaderaFlyer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sea-Port is an EAS provider, primarily… They've
> proposals into the DOT for new service to Merced
> and Visalia from BUR and OAK with subsidies well
> into the millions. BUR-SAN would not be an EAS
> route, of course. But, as we've seen with Great
> Lakes, perhaps the leading EAS provider in the US,
> airlines can fly around empty and survive a number
> of years when your tax dollars make up for empty
> seats.

That's ridiculous. Yank the subsidies.

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not true...the four new flights are nonstop
> between Burbank and San Diego.
>

I checked the schedule on the Sea-Port website and service is via El Centro with schedules even longer than Amtrak depending on the direction of travel. And fares are no prize either with the cheapest round-trip fare of more than $200. Why would I want to spend over $200 rt to sit in a tiny Cessna seat with no ability to move around when I could have a much more comfortable ride on a Surfliner with more frequent service options?

And maybe I'm also missing the compelling reason for providing subsidized air service to El Centro. There's already frequent Greyhound service to San Diego, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, among other places so it's not as if there aren't viable public transportation options.

SDGreg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> GenePoon Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Not true...the four new flights are nonstop
> > between Burbank and San Diego.
> >
>
> I checked the schedule on the Sea-Port website and
> service is via El Centro with schedules even
> longer than Amtrak depending on the direction of
> travel. And fares are no prize either with the
> cheapest round-trip fare of more than $200. Why
> would I want to spend over $200 rt to sit in a
> tiny Cessna seat with no ability to move around
> when I could have a much more comfortable ride on
> a Surfliner with more frequent service options?
>
> And maybe I'm also missing the compelling reason
> for providing subsidized air service to El Centro.
> There's already frequent Greyhound service to San
> Diego, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, among other
> places so it's not as if there aren't viable
> public transportation options.

Answer easy: airplanes good, trains bad.