3 Links I Love: Avianca Rising, Demolition in Phoenix, Norwegian Says No Heathrow

Feb 8, 2020

More Reading on This Topic: Avianca, Links I Love, Norwegian, PHX – Phoenix

This week’s featured link

Interview: Avianca CEO Applauds Airline Consolidation In Latin America – Airways
Keep your eyes on Avianca. With United’s support, Avianca has the time and resources to restructure. The new CEO is assembling a team to really make some noise. I’m expecting to see good things out of that place now that the previous ownership is no longer in control.

Image of the Week: Here’s one slide from my presentation at the Wendy Perrin Global Travel Summit last week. We last got together 3 years ago, so I went into Diio by Cirium schedule data and pulled new routes added in that time by region. Here you see the incredible number of new US-Europe markets that have launched since then. (Photo credit: Tim Baker)

Two for the road

Terminal 2’s final flight: Sky Harbor Airport passengers, employees mark the end of an era – AZCentral
For those who always wondered why Phoenix had a Terminal 2, 3, and 4, but no 1, it’s finally changing… but not how you might expect. As of this week, Terminal 2 is now empty and will be knocked down, following Terminal 1 to the same fate it met nearly 30 years ago. That means it’ll be just the newly-renovated Terminal 3 alongside the massive Terminal 4 at Sky Harbor. I don’t think a re-numbering is in the cards, but you can just call them the Maverick Twins. Terminal 4 is named after Barry Goldwater with Terminal 3 after John McCain. I know people loved Terminal 2 because it was small and easy to navigate, but it was old and had limited amenities. More importantly, it is the byproduct of a previous era where the roads were configured differently. The end of Terminal 2 means that the roads will eventually get straightened out and airport access will be better.

Norwegian Returns Heathrow Lottery Slots To Airport – One Mile at a Time
Norwegian had won 3 slots a week at Heathrow, but it decided to give them back. I get that. With no presence at Heathrow and only a few slots, it would take time to build that up to success. And right now, Norwegian needs to prioritize immediate cash over everything else.

Brett

4 responses to “3 Links I Love: Avianca Rising, Demolition in Phoenix, Norwegian Says No Heathrow”

DesertGhost

Feb 8, 2020 at 7:47 am

When I came to Phoenix in 1976 the only terminals at Sky Harbor were 1 and 2. The largest carrier at the airport was Hughes Airwest (“The Top Banana in the West”). I flew into Sky Harbor on an American DC-10, and got off the aircraft on one of the only jet bridges at the airport at that time. The only two airlines serving Phoenix non-stop from Chicago in those days were American and TWA. United didn’t serve Phoenix in those days. Not long after I arrived, so did deregulation. Hughes Airwest was bought out by Republic, and Herman landed in town. Shortly, that was followed by the arrival of another airline, Southwest, which ultimately took over Terminal 1. On the heels of Southwest’s arrival, a new airline began flying out of Sky Harbor – America West – which essentially filled the vacuum left by the departure of Republic. Needless to say, things have changed a bit since those days. I’m saddened to see Terminal 2 go. The airport I knew then is now gone. Terminal 2 was convenient, but it was a relic of a different era. The demolition won’t be easy, as the building has a lot of asbestos. But it’s nice to know that the large murals will be saved.

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GringoLoco

Feb 8, 2020 at 8:10 am

Adios Terminal 2. My first flight (Western Airlines, the Onnnnllllyy Way to Fly) departed from there. Over the years I flew Bonanza, the flying banana, PSA, AA and waaaaaay too many UA flights out of the “East Terminal”.

Thanks for the link to distant memories.

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Eric in ICT

Feb 8, 2020 at 3:36 pm

I for one will not miss T2 in Phoenix, other than the nostalgic feeling like walking into airline eras far gone every time you caught a United flight from there in recent years. Weird layout, very few amenities, but it did have some incredibly cool airplane carpet. That part I will miss.

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rich

Feb 17, 2020 at 10:23 am

I spent late 2000 and all of 2001 working in the Phoenix area on a per diem contract. I would fly back east (roughly) every other month. At that time the daily lot cost was low so if I was flying United and had a short weekend trip, I could park at the daily lot, walk across the street, check in and head to security in a few minutes. It was great. Unfortunately most of my flights were on American West.

Then over the years the parking fees started catching up to other airports and using the daily lot wasn’t very practical.

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