Southwest Airlines to enter Minneapolis marketSouthwest Airlines Co. plans to begin service next March to Minneapolis, its first new city in more than a year, even as the airline faces a "very significant risk of slowing demand" due to an economic slowdown, Chief Executive Gary Kelly said Wednesday.The Minneapolis service will initially be limited to flights to and from Chicago.
Since Air Tran left last spring, Northwest has no competition allowing them to charge over $600 for some flights to and from Chicago!
And from the Strib:
Tickets on the Twin Cities-Chicago route currently are "very high priced," Kelly said in a Wednesday interview. "We love it when we find city-pair markets that are overpriced and underserved."
Tom Parsons, CEO of www.bestfares.com, said the Southwest development is huge. Southwest "saw high prices where they could come in and drop your prices like a rock," Parsons said. He added that Southwest also will appeal to consumers because it doesn't charge any fees for the first two checked bags. Northwest and many other big carriers now levy bag fees, such as $15 for the first bag on Northwest.
"You probably have 100 U.S. cities who are envious of Minneapolis, because they want Southwest," Parsons said.
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