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Post by Granola on Aug 28, 2018 12:24:15 GMT -6
Harlingen now has seasonal non-stop service to Denver, starting November 22 and running through February 12. Flights are three times weekly (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday). Flights are now bookable. Harlingen also got seasonal non-stop service to Chicago O'Hare three times weekly on Frontier (Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, November 21 through February 13). Flights are also now bookable. Press release from HRL: www.flythevalley.com/frontier/Valley Morning Star article: www.valleymorningstar.com/news/ ... 7347f.html
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Post by miles on Sept 6, 2018 7:28:52 GMT -6
Southwest Airlines Adds More VIA Flights Southwest Airlines is now offering an additional 17 non-stop flights between Valley International Airport and Dallas/Love Field during high demand days for Thanksgiving and Christmas 2018. Additionally, effective March 10, 2019, Southwest Airlines will offer nonstop service between Harlingen and Dallas Love on Sundays. valleybusinessreport.com/industry/travel/southwest-adds-more-via-flights/
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Post by miles on Sept 10, 2018 8:27:08 GMT -6
Too bad they have to pay them off to get them to come though. Valley International Airport in Harlingen wants to expand nonstop serviceHARLINGEN — The city is waving around a $1 million-lure to airlines offering nonstop flights to five popular destinations. The city’s new Air Service Development Program is offering as much as $1 million to incoming airlines with nonstop flights to Chicago, Las Vegas, Denver, Dallas and San Antonio. The one-year program is seeking one or more airlines offering flights to any one of the five cities to expand Valley International Airport’s travel destinations, City Manager Dan Serna said. This past week, city commissioners approved a resolution establishing the program and authorizing Serna to execute agreements with prospective airlines. “Our airport is a vital part of our economy, for Harlingen and the entire area,” Serna said. “Expanding services to the airport brings in new visitors and that helps the economy.” The city would dip into its $43 million general fund budget to fund the incentive program, Serna said. He said airlines participating in the program — to run from Dec. 1 to Nov. 30, 2019, or earlier if incentive funding depletes — would share in the $1 million incentive package. The prospective airlines would offer a minimum of one weekly nonstop flight to at least one of the destinations no later than April 1, 2019, under to the program. As part of the incentive program, the city would offer prospective airlines $15.26 per seat. Serna said airport officials and consultants selected the five cities as popular destinations among area travelers. “These are destination markets we want to target,” he said. Last month, the airport announced Frontier Airlines was launching nonstop flights between Harlingen and Chicago and Denver starting in November. Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines will offer nonstop flights between Harlingen and Dallas during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays before launching nonstop flights between the two cities during Spring Break. www.themonitor.com/news/local/article_cdcdb120-b502-11e8-9885-370f0f266907.html
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Post by mctx on Oct 2, 2018 13:35:40 GMT -6
What the heck is going on at HRL that it's attracting all this new service. Now it's American to DFW starting in March of 2019. I think by end of next year HRL will dominate the valley again like back in the day. I'm sure it's going to surpass MFE. MFE rather celebrate their 5 years with aeromar and make a big deal on social media versus trying to attract or tout new airlines. I'm not a Cameron County dude I'm from and live in McAllen and use MFE to travel for work with the exception of flight to Austin on SWA from HRL. But man, HRL is on a role again . MFE won't be the busiest for long
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Post by Minion on Oct 2, 2018 14:14:23 GMT -6
What the heck is going on at HRL that it's attracting all this new service. Now it's American to DFW starting in March of 2019. I think by end of next year HRL will dominate the valley again like back in the day. I'm sure it's going to surpass MFE. MFE rather celebrate their 5 years with aeromar and make a big deal on social media versus trying to attract or tout new airlines. I'm not a Cameron County dude I'm from and live in McAllen and use MFE to travel for work with the exception of flight to Austin on SWA from HRL. But man, HRL is on a role again . MFE won't be the busiest for long What's going on? Um read the article above. HRL has been offering $$$ incentives to the airlines. If they were doing so well, they wouldn't need to give $$ away to attract more flights. If and when BRO gets their airport redone and rebuilt, HRL will fall back to 3rd place. Especially after the incentives end November 2019.
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Post by Minion on Jul 20, 2020 10:34:16 GMT -6
Ouch. June #s down 74% MAYBE NOW, A TRUE DISCUSSION ABOUT MERGING THE THREE AIRPORTS CAN BE HAD.
HARLINGEN — As the coronavirus pandemic continues to create hardships, communities and businesses are faced with the task of recovering from and adapting to these trying times.
During a meeting held Friday, the City of Harlingen Valley International Airport (VIA) Board discussed June reports and safety measures they’ve implemented.
According to director of aviation Marvin “Marv” Esterly, the amount of airline passengers is way off compared to where it was.
In June, Southwest Airlines was down 73 percent compared to last year. United Airlines was down 81 percent. American Airlines was down 64 percent, and Frontier Airlines was down 73 percent.
Overall for the year, Esterly said VIA is down 21.4 percent.
“I think there’s at least a glimmer of light as last month I was reporting that we thought we would be off about 77 percent over last year, but we’re at 74 percent so a little bit better than we projected,” Esterly said. “It was good to have the big uptick in the first six months of the fiscal year. That really helped us out, but we’re still down.”
Coinciding with the timing of the pandemic, VIA’s number of passengers began to go down in the beginning of the year.
“You can see us coming down starting in February down to March and April where we hit pretty much rock bottom. We’ve been climbing out of that hole slowly over the last few months,” Esterly said. “We hope that continues despite a lot that’s going on in the pandemic at this point. It’s really making the airlines nervous.”
According to Esterly, VIA’s reports compared to other airports in the Valley are about the same.
“We have about the same dip and we’re starting to come out of it. The RGV is climbing out of the hole,” he said. “All of them are starting to trend up. Hopefully, that trend continues.”
Esterly said the number of VIA’s website users in June was 4,602, and this amount was greater compared to May.
Additionally, VIA’s Facebook page had a 200 follower increase from May to June.
According to Esterly, VIA is continuing to open its marketing along with the opening of the economy.
“We want to show the citizens all that we’ve done here at the airport to promote social distancing, as well as keeping them and our employees safe,” Esterly said. “We’re also going to highlight the airline schedules because they are ever changing at this point so we want to make sure that they know what’s going on.”
Some of the VIA’s implemented safety measures include — disinfecting high touch surface areas, adding hand sanitizing stations throughout the terminal facility, installing Plexiglass barriers and taking temperature checks of employees every morning.
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Post by Granola on Jul 21, 2020 7:37:14 GMT -6
Ouch. June #s down 74% MAYBE NOW, A TRUE DISCUSSION ABOUT MERGING THE THREE AIRPORTS CAN BE HAD. HARLINGEN — As the coronavirus pandemic continues to create hardships, communities and businesses are faced with the task of recovering from and adapting to these trying times. During a meeting held Friday, the City of Harlingen Valley International Airport (VIA) Board discussed June reports and safety measures they’ve implemented. According to director of aviation Marvin “Marv” Esterly, the amount of airline passengers is way off compared to where it was. In June, Southwest Airlines was down 73 percent compared to last year. United Airlines was down 81 percent. American Airlines was down 64 percent, and Frontier Airlines was down 73 percent. Overall for the year, Esterly said VIA is down 21.4 percent. “I think there’s at least a glimmer of light as last month I was reporting that we thought we would be off about 77 percent over last year, but we’re at 74 percent so a little bit better than we projected,” Esterly said. “It was good to have the big uptick in the first six months of the fiscal year. That really helped us out, but we’re still down.” Coinciding with the timing of the pandemic, VIA’s number of passengers began to go down in the beginning of the year. “You can see us coming down starting in February down to March and April where we hit pretty much rock bottom. We’ve been climbing out of that hole slowly over the last few months,” Esterly said. “We hope that continues despite a lot that’s going on in the pandemic at this point. It’s really making the airlines nervous.” According to Esterly, VIA’s reports compared to other airports in the Valley are about the same. “We have about the same dip and we’re starting to come out of it. The RGV is climbing out of the hole,” he said. “All of them are starting to trend up. Hopefully, that trend continues.” Esterly said the number of VIA’s website users in June was 4,602, and this amount was greater compared to May. Additionally, VIA’s Facebook page had a 200 follower increase from May to June. According to Esterly, VIA is continuing to open its marketing along with the opening of the economy. “We want to show the citizens all that we’ve done here at the airport to promote social distancing, as well as keeping them and our employees safe,” Esterly said. “We’re also going to highlight the airline schedules because they are ever changing at this point so we want to make sure that they know what’s going on.” Some of the VIA’s implemented safety measures include — disinfecting high touch surface areas, adding hand sanitizing stations throughout the terminal facility, installing Plexiglass barriers and taking temperature checks of employees every morning. yes! shut down VIA and let McAllen and Brownsville duke it out.
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Post by miles on Dec 1, 2020 9:11:12 GMT -6
Haven't heard a peep about any airport's numbers in forever... anyone? Anyone?
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Post by mctx on Dec 2, 2020 12:04:36 GMT -6
I'm sure they're very low in comparison to previous years. All the fuss that I'm hearing regarding airports here in the RGV is Brownsville's with the opening of their new terminal and making a big fuss about it on social media
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Post by miles on Jun 7, 2022 7:14:36 GMT -6
All kinds of "excuses" below but none of the truth - Monterrey people don't want or need to fly to Harlingen. Mexican airline suspending operations at Harlingen’s VIA
By Rick Kelley - Valley Morning Star -June 6, 2022 HARLINGEN — Just 13 months after its arrival, Mexican low-cost airline Viva Aerobus is suspending operations at Valley International Airport effective Thursday. Demand for Viva Aerobus flights to and from Harlingen peaked as it entered the market in May 2021, and officials even announced that due to a high rate of reservations, it was doubling the number of flights to Harlingen even before the first one landed. Much of that demand was due to the closure of vehicle and pedestrian border crossings between the United States and Mexico due to the pandemic. Once the border re-opened to traffic, many travelers just drove to Monterrey. “Recent events have made it difficult to sustain air service from a financial standpoint to and from Monterrey, Mexico,” Marv Esterly, director of aviation at VIA, said in an email Monday. “Over the past year, we forged a great partnership with Viva Aerobus and expect to see them back in the near future to service new destinations in Mexico.” For years, airport officials in Harlingen had sought to bring in a Mexico airline offering international flights, and Monterrey-based Viva is Mexico’s third-largest airline. Part of the reason for the early success, officials say, was the suspension of Federal Aviation Administration regulations during the border closures, which allowed Mexico airlines to be listed as Category 1 airlines instead of the usual Category 2. “The basic way to understand it, is the best category is Category 1, and that carrier can fly anything they want, older markets, new markets … Category 2, which is what we have right now between the U.S. and Mexico, allows airlines from Mexico to keep the routes that they’re flying but they cannot add anything new. Category 3 is you’re not allowed to fly,” Nicolas Mirman, director of air service and business development at VIA, said Monday. “So when the border closure was lifted, they were unable to adjust, and the local market from here to Monterrey dried up,” Mirman said. “When you think about it, Monterrey is closer than Corpus Christi, so people started driving to Monterrey.” In March, Viva Aerobus had 374 passengers flying out of Harlingen. In April, just 53 passengers enplaned. The airport had been trying to boost Viva Aerobus for the past few months, aggressively pushing the airline’s destinations in Mexico from Harlingen in its mostly online marketing. At its peak, Viva Aerobus was flying six or seven flights a week to and from Harlingen, Mirman said. “We are working on the assumption that it is a suspension of operations,” Mirman said. “There are many other projects that we have been working on with them. We expect, hopefully, to have them back soon.” Low-cost airlines like Viva have been especially hard-hit by jet fuel costs which have increased by 50 percent over the past year or so, and that extra expense is showing up in a sharp rise in the cost of passenger tickets. Fuel costs make up about a third of an airline’s expenses. The Adobe Digital Economy Index reported passengers spent $8.8 billion for online flight bookings in March, a 28 percent increase in spending over the previous year. But actual bookings only increased by 12 percent year-over-year, indicating air passengers are paying far higher prices for tickets. myrgv.com/local-news/2022/06/06/mexican-airline-suspending-operations-at-harlingens-via/
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