Fewer than a quarter of the airport s travelers start or end their trips in Charlotte. That means lo

But it s still unclear how Southwest will affect Charlotte fares in the long term. Charlotte Douglas will still be one of the most single-carrier dominated airports in the nation. US Airways currently operates about 90 percent of the airport s 700 or so daily flights. That proportion will rise even further when the airline completes a merger with American later this year, to about 93 percent of daily flights.
family hotel barcelona spain Southwest will have six flights a day from Charlotte, to Houston s Hobby Airport, Baltimore, Orlando family hotel barcelona spain and Chicago s Midway Airport. Travelers family hotel barcelona spain can connect to 78 more destinations from there, Southwest executives said.
The arrival family hotel barcelona spain of Southwest at Charlotte Douglas was greeted with a water cannon salute from firefighters and penguins from SeaWorld brought by the Make-A-Wish Foundation to surprise for a sick child from Mint Hill.
At other airports that have switched from AirTran to Southwest, the effect on fares has been small, according to reports. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in February that the effect family hotel barcelona spain on fares there had been limited, in part because Southwest operated about 2 percent of daily flights.
Gone from Southwest family hotel barcelona spain s schedule family hotel barcelona spain right now is AirTran s daily flight to Atlanta. Hartsfield-Jackson family hotel barcelona spain was AirTran s main hub, and Southwest is still shuffling its schedule there as it integrates AirTran into the company. Ridley said he couldn t say whether Southwest family hotel barcelona spain will add an Atlanta flight back to its Charlotte schedule.
The Southwest effect is dead, said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst with Hudson Crossing. He said the increased competition from a national airline such as Southwest will help consumers by keeping other airlines honest in their pricing, however.
Out of the nation s top 100 airports, Charlotte Douglas ranks as 29th most expensive from which to fly, according to the most recent federal data available. A roundtrip domestic ticket from Charlotte averaged $401 in the third quarter of 2012.
Fewer than a quarter family hotel barcelona spain of the airport s travelers start or end their trips in Charlotte. That means local passengers have nonstop access to more destinations than they would if the airport weren t a hub, but fares are higher than they would be otherwise.
A study released last month by travel research family hotel barcelona spain firm Topaz International found that Southwest isn t always the lowest cost airline. In a comparison of fares between 100 different city pairs, Southwest was the cheapest family hotel barcelona spain of nine major airlines 40 percent of the time.
But Southwest doesn t charge a fee for checking a bag, and the Topaz researchers found that if a bag fee is included, Southwest was the cheapest airline a full 60 percent family hotel barcelona spain of the time. US Airways charges $25 for the first checked bag on North American family hotel barcelona spain flights.
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