Good Luck with This One, United
Looks like Ted is coming to Chicago O'Hare. Not logistically surprising, given that United is ridiculously well tooled up for operations here. What strikes me as odd about this is how shark-infested the waters they're wading in are already. I thought Ted was a sun belt discount play only, bringing United's approach to discount flight to the west out of another powerhouse hub, Denver. Is United simply replacing its most profitable domestic routes with Ted service because that's the way the airline is eventually going to go? (Are they actually heading in a direction similar to the one I suggested a few days back? Oh for shame, ego.)
Maybe this is the start of a clinical product line cannibalization -- I can only hope Ted doesn't compete head-to-head with, well, United's service to their stated destinations (Tampa, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Vegas, Phoenix). But if Ted eventually becomes United's primary domestic arm and the new-look, long-distance fleet handles cross-continent and international duties, then that at least makes some structural sense. Thank God it's not my job to make the numbers work in that business. Yeesh.