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Phoenix Sky Harbor International is a bustling domestic airport, with competing hub operations on both Southwest Airlines and US Airways. If you are flying around the American southwest, odds are that you will pass through Phoenix at some point.

City of Phoenix

But if your destination is somewhere abroad, Dallas-Fort Worth or Los Angeles are much more likely to be in your future. 

International service from Sky Harbor is limited to mostly Canada and Mexico with a daily nonstop to London Heathrow on British Airways. International traffic represented just 5.4% of overall passenger traffic, or 2.19 million passengers, in 2012, according to airport data.

"We want more nonstop [international] service to places where there is demand," Deborah Ostreicher, deputy aviation director at Sky Harbor, tells Airline Business on the sidelines of the Phoenix International Aviation Symposium on 25 April. She names Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Tokyo as well as an additional flight to London as markets where the airport sees demand for nonstop service.

Airlines may be coming around, too.

The proposed American Airlines-US Airways merger creates a huge amount of possibility for the airport. Ostreicher says that the airport is targeting the merged carrier for new service as well as its Oneworld alliance partners, naming Japan Airlines to Tokyo as a possibility.

Andrew Nocella, senior vice-president of marketing and planning at US Airways, says that there are no specific plans for international service from Phoenix after the merger but that it would create many opportunities for the hub, at a media event on 24 April. He cites the combined fleet and networks.

Together the carriers had 148 widebody aircraft with an additional 62 on order at the end of March. The orderbook includes 42 787s, which - along with the Airbus A350 - is seen by many analysts as ideal for international service from Phoenix.

"The 787 is the right type of airplane for a Oneworld airline to serve Asia from here," says Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at Hudson Crossing, on the sidelines of the Phoenix symposium.

Ambitions and possibilities aside, the reality for international service to Phoenix is very much up in the air. The merger has yet to be approved while no route launched by an airline specifically with the 787 has flown long enough to prove its worth. 

International travellers would be well advised to keep up on the dining options at Dallas-Fort Worth and Los Angeles for at least the near term.

So Delta Air Lines is expanding at Los Angeles. What else is new?

The Atlanta-based SkyTeam alliance member has been dribbling out the expansion since December when it loaded flights between Los Angeles and Seattle (from 8 April). Flights to Nashville (from 8 April) were added in January, Anchorage (from 21 June), Bozeman (from 22 June), San Jose, California (from 1 July) and Spokane (from 10 June) in February. It will also begin flights to San Jose, Costa Rica, from 1 July.

Delta will boost frequency to Guadalajara, New Orleans, Oakland, Phoenix, Puerto Vallarta, Sacramento and San Francisco as well, it says.

Flickr user InSapphoWeTrust

Stephen Hedden, team leader for network planning at Delta who focuses on the US west coast, said that the airline is taking advantage of "opportune flying" on aircraft that have down time at either Los Angeles or outstations with its new flights, on the sidelines of the Network USA 2013 forum in San Antonio on 4 March.

Delta is testing markets to see where best to allocate its aircraft out west beyond its third quarter schedule, he added.

Even with the expansion, Delta will still be third fiddle to United Airlines and American Airlines in terms of available seat kilometres (ASKs) out of Los Angeles in July, according to Innovata FlightMap Analytics. United will have a 14.1% market share with 1.9 million ASKs, American a 12.7% share with 1.7 million ASKs and Delta a 10.3% share with nearly 1.4 million ASKs.

While it may be third, Delta benefits from a large network of partner airlines at the airport. Its strategic partners Alaska Airlines, Air France-KLM and Virgin Australia, and codeshare partners Aeromexico, China Airlines, China Eastern, China Southern, Hawaiian Airlines, Korean Air and WestJet all serve Los Angeles.

It will be interesting to watch what routes Delta sticks with and what it does not as it tests out markets Los Angeles, especially as the competitive landscape changes with the American-US Airways merger.

Frontier Airlines will have 10 routes from Trenton-Mercer airport from April - barely six months since it began service to the airfield.

The Denver-based low cost carrier began flights to Orlando in November 2012, is adding flights to Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, New Orleans and Tampa later this month and in February, and announced flights to Atlanta, Chicago Midway, Columbus, Detroit and Raleigh-Durham from April on 7 January.

Frontier is the latest a long line of attempted commercial operations at Trenton. These include Eastwind Airlines in the 1990s, Shuttle America (when it operated as an independent airline) in the late 1990s and early 2000s then later as US Airways Express, Delta Connection in 2006 and 2007, and Boston-Maine Airways until 2008. 

The airline's build up in Trenton is curious. While it is an established carrier out west, it lacks a significant presence on the east coast and only has four weekly flights to Philadelphia (it ended daily flights to Denver this month) and none to Newark (flights ended in April 2012) - the two airports that Trenton competes with.

Frontier Airlines

Eastwind and Shuttle America as start-ups were unable to make the airport work, neither were the operations by Delta Connection and US Airways Express - mainline carriers with well-established brands and large frequent flier bases in the region. And Frontier is not even trying Boston, the one route that everyone else has flown.

Frontier, like its predecessors, is likely hoping that low fares can attract travellers who would otherwise drive the more than an hour to either Newark or Philadelphia. However, it must also anticipate drawing traffic from both metro areas and the surrounding region - which had a combined population of more than 10 million in 2011 - as the Trenton-Ewing, New Jersey, metropolitan area only had 367,063 people at the end of 2011, according to the US Census.

The airline did not respond to questions regarding its service to Trenton.

If Trenton fails to draw the crowds that Frontier anticipates, flights would likely be pulled out as quickly as they went in but, if the service succeeds, you can bet ultra low-cost carriers Allegiant Air and Spirit Airlines will not be far behind.

Porter Airlines, United Airlines and Virgin America are waiting for the music to stop at Newark Liberty International airport. 

American Airlines is awaiting bankruptcy court approval to terminate its existing leases for 14 slots to Porter (four) and United (10) and lease them plus one additional slot to Virgin America for $10,000 per month each ahead of the California-based low-cost carrier's launch of flights to the airport on 2 April. The schedules of Porter and Virgin hang in the balance.

Flickr user PhillipC

If the deal is approved, Toronto-based Porter would lose two of its slot pairs that could prompt a 15% cut to its schedule of up to 13 flights per day to Newark.

If it is not approved, Virgin America would not gain the slots it needs to serve the airport with six daily flights from Los Angeles and San Francisco - routes that it already has on sale - and likely be forced to delay service.

"We have contingencies in place to continue operating the full schedule into and out of Newark pending the bankruptcy proceedings," says Porter.

Virgin America declines to comment.

United, which operates a large hub from Newark, says that they anticipate little to no impact on their schedule from the proposed slot changes.

The whole situation is reminiscent of United agreeing to lease 18 slot pairs at the airport to Southwest Airlines in 2010 in order to gain US Department of Justice approval for its merger with Continental Airlines. More recently, JetBlue Airways paid $40 million and WestJet $17.6 million for eight pairs each at New York's LaGuardia in December 2011.

American's request to the bankruptcy court also includes a deal to return three of its six gates at Newark to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), one of which would be subsequently leased to Virgin America.

With slots at such a premium at New York's three airports it will be interesting to see how the judge rules on the transaction. A hearing is scheduled for 23 January in, fittingly, New York.

San Diego International airport wants to build on its recent growth with new nonstop service to destinations mostly to the south and east, in the second instalment of Flightglobal's two-part series on the airfield.

Yesterday, we looked at Japan Airlines' new nonstop service to Tokyo Narita on the Boeing 787 and Alaska Airlines' growing focus city at the airport.

"A lot of our [US] hub markets are running at over 90% annualised seat factor, so we need to make sure that we have enough capacity to maintain our convention business," says Hampton Brown, director of air service development at the airport. "That kind of business is very important for our region."

Many of the routes that his team is targeting include nonstops to cities with existing traffic to San Diego but without a flight. Brown says that south Florida is an example of such a market the airport is working on developing. Others include smaller western cities.

San Diego domestic routes, January 2013

Innovata FlightMaps Analytics

Alaska Airlines would likely be well placed to offer some of these domestic flights as they expand from the city. Brown says that he sees "opportunities" for the Seattle-based carrier to further strengthen its network from San Diego.

International targets include cities in Central and South America. Brown says that the airport would like a nonstop to a "geographically strategic hub" in the region.

San Diego is also considering seeking additional service to Europe, likely to either a SkyTeam Alliance or a Star Alliance hub, and would like a flight to the Philippines to serve the large visiting friends and relatives market between the city and the country.

San Diego international routes, January 2013

Innovata FlightMaps Analytics

But San Diego's capacity constraints could limit future growth. Located in a bowl between two hills and surrounded by city and water on all sides, Keith Wilschetz, director of airport planning at the airport, says that they anticipate that the runway will reach its operational capacity of 260,000 annual take-offs and landings by 2040 but that the terminal and landside facilities will reach capacity before that.

Projects to address these landside issues include a 10-gate expansion to terminal 2, an overnight aircraft apron and a two-level roadway that are slated to open in the third quarter. A consolidated rental car facility, new cargo buildings and a new fixed base operator are expected to open in the second half of 2015.

San Diego is also studying options for the future of terminal 1, which is nearly 50 years old, says Wilschetz. 

Beyond these projects, the physical presence of the San Diego airport will change little in the foreseeable future as there are no plans to expand the boundaries of the airfield. This means that spotters will continue to be able to watch planes land over a cocktail at Mister A's and runners can continue to jog from the gate to the nearby Harbor Avenue bike path if they so please.

San Diego International airport had a big year in 2012. It landed its first nonstop to Asia on Japan Airlines (JAL), made possible by the Boeing 787, and began to look like a new focus city for Alaska Airlines.

"We had the largest Asian community in the USA without a direct service to Asia," says Hampton Brown, director of air services development at the airport. "On paper, it looked like Orlando was the largest market without service but, when you add the drive market from San Diego, [Asia was] significantly larger than Orlando."

JAL began service four-times weekly between San Diego and Tokyo on 2 December 2012, which Brown asserts was made "economically viable" by the 787. Operations by large aircraft are limited due to the fact that the airport lies in a bowl between two hills and is surrounded by the city and water on all sides.

San Diego Airport

Brown says that the airport considers Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo as the only economically viable routes across the Pacific with destinations further afield in Asia requiring "another technical leap in manufacturing".

Orlando also landed service from San Diego last year. Alaska launched a flight on the route on 11 October 2012 and has since announced new services to Boston from 29 March and Lihue from 7 June. The new routes have prompted Wall Street analyst speculation - which management denies - on whether the airline is turning the airport into a focus city.

Alaska Airlines routes from San Diego, January 2013

Innovata FlightMaps Analytics

"When you look at its network and its growth planes coming down the line, the opportunities that it has out of its core airports - Seattle and Portland - are limited at this point," says Brown. "There are opportunities in other places, like San Diego, and we are happy to help them realise growth possibilities to strengthen the overall network of Alaska."

Other new flights in 2012 include Frontier Airlines to Colorado Springs, Spirit Airlines to Cabo San Lucas, Dallas-Fort Worth and Portland, and US Airways to Washington National.

Southwest Airlines remains king in San Diego despite the new routes. It carried more than 39% of enplaned passengers during the year ending 30 September 2012, according to the US Department of Transportation.

Columbus Day 2014 will be an exciting day at Southwest Airlines. That Monday, 14 October, the Wright Amendment will be repealed and the carrier will be able to launch flights from its home base at Dallas Love Field airport to anywhere in the USA for the first time since 1974.

Where those flights will go is still up in the air.

"We have a vision of what routes we want to undertake [from Love Field] in 2014, but it doesn't make sense to lock that down," said Gary Kelly, chief executive of Southwest, recently. He said that the airline needs to gain a clearer idea of its fleet size and economic environment before it will make the final decision.

I took a look at US Department of Transportation data for the top markets from Dallas-Fort Worth International during the 12 months ending in June, and it offers some insight into where Southwest may go. 

Source: DOT

Flights to Atlanta (number 3), Chicago (2), Denver (4), Las Vegas (10), Los Angeles (1), New York (5, though not including John F. Kennedy or Newark airports) and Phoenix (9) are probably at the top of Southwest's list, considering how much traffic the markets already generate from the Dallas area and the airline's large existing operations in each of the cities except New York. I am not including Oakland or San Francisco because I think the airline may continue to route travellers to the Bay Area on one-stops through places like Las Vegas or Phoenix due to limited room to expand at Love Field. 

Baltimore, Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando are also likely high priority markets for new flights from Love Field. Southwest has large operations at each of these airports, which provide significant connecting opportunities elsewhere in its network.

Source: Southwest Airlines

Chicago Midway, Las Vegas, Baltimore, Phoenix, Denver, Houston Hobby, Love Field, Los Angeles, Oakland and Orlando are Southwest's largest markets in terms of the number of flights.

Flights from Love Field are restricted by the Wright Amendment to Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas on any aircraft, or to anywhere in the USA on aircraft with up to 56 seats. Terminal capacity at the airport is capped at 20 gates once the restrictions are lifted.

Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport must really want JetBlue Airways. 

A four-tier cake arrived at the low-cost carrier's New York headquarters from the Virginia airport decorated with JetBlue aircraft and New York icons, including the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty, a few days ago.

JetBlue says that it has no plans to launch service to Newport News. It announced new service between Charleston, South Carolina, and Boston and New York's John F. Kennedy airport earlier this month.

Newport News has been scrambling for new service since Southwest Airlines-subsidiary AirTran Airways, the airport's largest airline, ended service in March after 17 years. AirTran flew to Atlanta, Boston, New York's LaGuardia airport and Orlando at the time.

Following the announcement, Allegiant launched twice-weekly service between Newport News and Orlando Sanford.

Start-up People Express announced plans to launch service from Newport News with flights initially to Orlando and Pittsburgh on Boeing 737-400 classics earlier this year. However, the launch date has already been pushed to at least early 2013 from mid-2012 due to paperwork and certification delays.

Newport News likely wants to hedge its bets with JetBlue as People Express is far from a sure thing. The LCC could gain a foothold in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, which also includes Norfolk and Virginia Beach, with flights to the airport much like AirTran did when it served the city.

Source: JetBlue Airways

JetBlue's strategy is its own for now but one thing is clear - it will take more than a (awesome) cake to woo the airline.