Delta Leaving Toledo...Anyone Else?

Whose left offering passenger service and to where? Might as well pull out the plywood and board up the windows like the rest of Lucas county and City of Toledo.

Northwest (Mesaba) and American Eagle.

Will the last one out please turn off the lights.

AV, I do have an answer for you.

The answer is that it's none of my fucking business.

The carriers are businesses and it's incumbent upon then to enact profitable operations. They need to decide WITHOUT GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE what they want to do.

If it means "Toledo Depress" has to close, then so be it. The ANG fighter wing or squadron can retain 1 runway for their use, and just maintain that. Or they too can relocate.

ouch! guestzero always with the harshness :)

allegiant air is sill flying thru ttown, although they've cut back on destinations from such and daily flights

betcha can't get a non-stop flight from detroit to orlando/sanford intl for under 70 bux!

anyhow, we all know toledo express is headed downhill, and maybe govt subsidies is exactly what it needs to help it out...if we only had the money or the interest :(

i miss the $100 1-way flights to vegas

will never happen again, fly now cheaply while u have the chance

I wish those millions of dollars spent on upgrades to the terminal over the last couple of years had gone to infrastructure upgrades supporting the intermodal. We'll have a nice terminal, but without passengers what good does it do?

The Port should maintain commercial air operations and some light recruitment if they think there is a reasonable (not a long shot) opportunity at attracting another carrier. For the time being I don't see any other airlines biting, but if oil prices come down to <$100 then an airline like AirTran could come in and virtually control the market. If there isn't a reasonable chance then let's just focus on the intermodal and cargo operations out of Express. This is one area where DTW and Willow Run can't really compete with TOL, and the Port, City, and County should take advantage.

The Region may want to start identifying with DTW more. DTW is now "Toledo's Airport," and instead of using TOL as a marketing tool for companies and meetings they should start touting the benefits of DTW service. All of Metro Toledo can be at DTW in no more than 1 hour with its dozens of nonstop destinations. That's actually a pretty efficient way to travel. Most cities would kill to have as many nonstop international and domestic flights an hour away. Just out DTW's list of international travel: Paris, Beijing, Mexico City, Monterrey, Amman, Cancun, Toronto, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Bermuda, Calgary, Grand Cayman, Hong Kong, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, London, Manila, Mazatlan, Nagoya, Nassau, Montreal, Osaka, Taipei, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Vancouver. And of course there's over 100 domestic destinations as well served nonstop.

I wish some enterprising person would bring back shuttle service to/from Toledo to DTW. It would be wildly successful I believe given that we already sent thousands of people to/from DTW daily as it stands.

GuestZero just shows how ignorant he is on what actually makes up the business at Toledo Express. Passenger operations are just a small percentage. The major cargo hub, general aviation, and military all make up a higher percentage of the business out there.

It is citizens like him why Toledo fails as a community. You go onto many other city message boards, and rarely do you have the number of people so negative as there are here. Unfortunately Toledo doesn't have any infusion of younger talen/population coming in...so the existing bitter crowd will roost and get older and pull the city down with it - re-electing Carty 500 more times until the city is totally in ruin.

GZ was born miserable.

And I will NEVER understand why people drive to Detroit if a flight is available out of Toledo. you may save a few bucks, but not enought to make it worth it.

Simple, really... It takes about the same amount of time for me to drive to detroit as it does getting to the toledo airport. If I fly out of detroit i get to skip the connecting flight from toledo to detroit.

I have never seen a savings big enough for me to make that drive and deal with Metro. I love the walk right in and sit right down of Toledo.

I've tried to fly out of TOL several times. I've actually done it twice I believe. This last year DTW has been anywhere from 50-70% cheaper than TOL. I typically fly Southwest or Northwest, but I have also flown USAir. Southwest and USAir come up with some super cheap fares (I've flown numerous times for <$150 roundtrip out of DTW, and most of time they have been nonstop. The layovers and twice the risk of trip interuption is what deters me from TOL.

Ryan, I?m with ya, I would much rather be dropped off at the door of Toledo but, JHos is right.
Flights out of Toledo are limited unless you want to take that puddle jumper to DTW. Then you still have to deal somewhat with the Detroit hassle. It?s about 10-15 minutes longer. No biggie.

I've flown from Detroit and Toledo airports, and both are fine. Obviously, which you choose depends upon price and your destination. When my wife flies international for business, the obvious choice is Detroit because of direct flights from Detroit to the other side of the pond.

From our home in west Toledo, driving to Detroit airport takes only about 10 to 15 minutes longer than driving to Toledo Express. And it's an easy drive to Detroit airport: 475-75-275-Eureka Rd. And it's amazingly easy to get in and out of Detroit airport, especially if flying Northwest. The new Detroit airport feels small.

We are fortunate to have such a nice airport like Detroit's so close to Toledo. It shouldn't be an us-versus-them competition for passenger flight. The airports in this region should work together with each one focusing on its strengths, which in Toledo Express's case, that could be cargo.

HeyHey said :

I doubt this area will ever think regionally.

Sustainable competitive features of the Lake Erie West region :

• Time - At the crossroads of the two most heavily traveled roads in North America: I-80/90 and I-75.
• Education - 33 colleges and universities within a one-hour drive.
• Fresh Water - 18% of the world's fresh water supply.
• Transportation - Four international airports within a one-hour drive.
• Market Access - The center of a one-day drive, which reaches 50% of the population of both the U.S. and Canada.

The Detroit area, however, is not ready to surrender the region's cargo air freight traffic to Toledo Express. Toledo Express should probably specialize in this area sooner than later, otherwise, all the regional air traffic could go through the Detroit area. This is the competition Toledo Express needs to be thinking about.

From The Future Of Transportation In Lake Erie West article back in May :

The Future Of Transportation In Southeast Michigan, happening at the Anderson Theatre at The Henry Ford on May 15, 2008. This two panel conference, moderated by WWJ's Murray Feldman, will discuss Detroit's future in moving freight and moving people. How can Detroit's existing infrastructure be leveraged to drive economic growth for the region? How do plans for the Aerotropolis, the Port of Detroit - our under-rated/under-valued resource, customs and borders play a role in Detroit's transportation future?

Part One: "Moving Freight"

• Robert Ficano, Wayne County Executive, on the Aerotropolis Concept
• Marc Higginbotham, representing Norfolk Southern Corporation, on the Detroit Intermodal Freight Terminal (DIFT) project
• Dan Deane, President, Nicholson Terminal & Dock, Inc

From the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments' On the Move 2007-2035 Transportation Plan :

Freight Goal: Our region will be a world-class multi-modal freight transportation hub

Policy 8: To strengthen our role as a freight transportation hub, our region will work together to implement Lake Erie West Global Logistics Hub business plan. This plan comprises four major freight facilities: Toledo Express Global Logistics Park (see Policy 9), Trans-Pacific Inland Port (see Plan Project 1 and Policy 10), Golden Triangle Distribution Corridor, and the Toledo Seaport (see Policy 11). We will identify needed improvements/ resources; support public/private infrastructure investment for the sites, and connectivity between them (on public roads or off-road).

Policy 9: A regional priority is to expand use of the air freight mode and use of air facilities as intermodal hubs. This will include increasing airport capacity throughout the region and providing good road access. We will develop Toledo Express Airport as a major intermodal hub, to be known as the "Toledo Express Global Logistics Park," with needed infrastructure improvements (including Plan Projects C-3, 4, 59 and 60) and creation of a "transportation opportunity district."

Web site: The University of Toledo Intermodal Transportation Institute

Unfortunately, the Ohio-Michigan border must be an impenetrable wall.

Notice above that the May conference was called "The Future Of Transportation In Southeast Michigan" and not The Future of Transportation In Lake Erie West, which would have included northwest Ohio in that mix.

But last November, Toledo-area organizations held a Meta-Plan workshop that allegedly focused on regionalism. But no southeast Michigan orgs were invited. True regionalism would include orgs from both sides of the state line.

"I would much rather be dropped off at the door of Toledo ..."

That can also be done at Detroit, at least at the Northwest Terminal. When I drive my wife to the Detroit airport, sometimes I pull off to the side and park at the doors of the Northwest Terminal. She walks a few yards, and she's inside. When I use the Northwest Terminal short-term parking garage at Detroit, I almost always get to park near the door to the inside of the terminal. Once through the door, you're on a people mover conveyor belt. Detroit's Northwest Terminal is relatively new.

Jr, true. All accesses have gotten better. Is Cheers still there?

I guess I have been lucky. All my flights were non stop out of Toledo.

Chicago
Nashville
Atlanta

Just seems to make an already long day a bit shorter.

Plus, like anything else, sometimes you have to pay a bit more to support locals.

Actually, maybe GZ is on to something. I can see a potential thought in there that took some time to digest since you had to get past the bitterness.

What idea I think he was trying to bring up, was maybe the port should sell the airport to a private company to run the airport for profit. Wouldn't be a bad idea as the airports in Mexico are currently run that way. I think Chicago - Midway is eventually going to go that way also. It's definitely something to think about, especially now things are in the tank.

I'm still thinking the Port needs to focus on Sky Taxis and other forms of that transportation. A lot of neat things going to be coming around in this sector of the industry...maybe they could capitalize on it.

I still don't hear any reason why the operations at Toledo Express are any of our business. If you tards really want to talk about local cultural tendencies, what happens is that you yahoos get all afraid of losing a First World icon like an airport, and then you vote for politicians and taxes just to subsidize the icon in question. Result: Another corporate welfare queen loads down the government and makes your tax bite harder.

If you really want to make a difference, then apply to be an employee at whatever companies are involved in the airport. But otherwise, I feel your fucking fingers in my wallet again. BURGLARY LEADS TO BITTERNESS. You can't argue that I'm supposed to ENJOY my chains!

P.S. I'd rather put a sharp stick in my left eye than vote for a clinically crazy moron like Czarty.

Damn you Megabus!!!

Eh, people complain about lack of service from Toledo...but they are the ones to blame because they never showed support. An airline isn't going to drop more capacity or destinations in if the existing routes aren't performing.

GZ...not really sure what to say to you. Maybe umm...run for local office or go for a long swim to Windsor. In other words, put up or shut up. The blessing of humans not being immortal...they'll eventually go away. :-P

It's amazing how much Toledo continues to slide into the cess pool it is. I got out 11 years ago, and so glad I did. The same stupid infighting politics. The same narrow thinking. The same people not wanting to change or do anything positive. It's just bitch about this and that and what are you going to do for me. Perhaps it is time to start looking at the cities not suffering now and what they are doing to succeed in the current environment.

Hint? 1) They don't sell their soul to one industry/company (Jeep), 2) The community as a majority gets behind radical ideas to improve their community, and 3) The community makes the needed sacrifices to fund projects to keep the community growing.

Eh, maybe the best thing will happen before long. Lake Erie back flush the Maumee, flood the entire area, wash it away...and allow a clean slate to start over.

But Justa, I already HAVE put up. The operation of an airport is just none of my fucking business. I have no desire to have anything to do with it. And so I don't. The walk matches the talk.

The only narrow thinking going on here is how puds like YOU think that you can continue sticking your fingers into the ever shrinking wallets of the ever-beleaguered middle class of this area. The poor are welfare recipients. The wealthy are also welfare recipients. You can't sanely continue to expect the shrinking base of middle class workers and small-businessmen to cover all this welfare.

And for the record, I've never complained about the service at Toledo Express. I just don't use it. Certainly after 911, when the airlines and the government began to blatantly ATTACK American citizens at the gates, I was through with using air service. If I can't get there by land or water, I'm just not going.

In conclusion, I've heard the stupid commentary about "need to do something" from the whiner class (that's YOU) often enough. The end product is more expenditures by government, which translates into nearly 100% waste. It sure does make a few connected people a lot of money, however. That seems familiar. Kind of like how a mafia runs.

I'd go on and try to explain economics and business and the free market, but since you already know those things and reject them for idealogical reasons, there's little point in continuing.

Sigh. Complain about the middle class getting squeezed all you want. They vote for the people getting elected, over and over again. They apparently like what they do with the local economy. No sympathy for those that do it onto themselves.

I don't think I've stated that public funds should be pushed into getting new air service at the airport. Except for 7% of Port funds coming from their levy, which goes to capital improvement projects, the airport is 100% self sustaining...one of the FEW in the entire country setup like that.

Considering the economy engine that an airport brings to a community, yes cargo is carrying the weight now, but in order to counter a cargo downturn...passenger service needs to be brought back up. Unfortunately, the local community continues with their head in the sand and doesn't really pay much attention.

I've said it before, Toledo needs to change just about everything. The best thing that will happen for that city is when Chrysler goes under and takes Jeep with it. Yes it will put thousands out of work, but it will finally break the areas main manufacturing lifeline to force it to go another direction to grow.

Think water. There's going to be a lot of industry re-thinking that a stale, imploding, cultureless, snow shoveling, backwater might not look so bad afterall.

Yeah, yeah. Toledo has tons of entertainment venues, nightclubs, places to shop and dine, theaters, zoos, museums, outdoor and indoor recreation. Why - we are a weekend destination! People to clamor to come here. We don't need a passenger airport. When people leave here they need a truck to take their belongings cause they ain't coming back.