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Thanks for mentioning my blog on your show today. I unfortunately didn't hear about it until after the show, so I had to listen to the podcast and couldn't chime in live.

I have to say that I agree with Professor Gritta's comments about Horizon expanding into a smaller, 9-seat aircraft operation. That is not going to work. It really will need to be a separate operation that doesn't fly larger aircraft. Why? Because airlines operating aircraft that small can fly under different, less expensive operating conditions than larger aircraft. The 19 seaters used to be able to fly under that rule, but that changed about 10 years ago and those now have to operate under the same standards as larger aircraft. So, there can be cost savings by flying 9 seaters, despite the fact that there are fewer seats to spread the costs over.

It's true that not much can be done about fuel if you haven't hedged it by now, and that's why it's so important to keep all other costs low. That can make the difference between a viable flight and a loss of service. I don't know much about the $20m terminal that was referenced in the comments (and in the podcast), but that money has to be recouped, and one of the ways they do that is via higher landing fees. The best way an airport can keep an airline is to keep fees as low as possible, and generally a brand new terminal doesn't achieve that goal.

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
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