BWI has the dubious distinction of being right smack between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.. Despite having a population just under 3 million, the metropolitan Baltimore area is growing much slower than its similarly sized metropolitan competitors.
Cities similar in size include Charlotte, NC, whose distinctions include despising the use of ", NC" after its name, in addition to Orlando, and San Antonio. Up until the past couple of years, Baltimore struggled to maintain population, but was surpassed by Charlotte and Orlando. Baltimore is ahead of St. Louis, but St. Louis is losing population. I seriously doubt that St. Louis will ever seen another NFL team. Behind them is Austin, Texas, and I'm confident that Austin will surpass Baltimore in population by the end of the 2020s.
With the shrinking population and the competition with 2 much larger urban centers, Baltimore's BWI struggles to maintain a variety of airlines. In recent times, Baltimore has lost, or is losing, Allegiant Air, Air Canada, Condor, Southern Airways Express, and Contour Airlines.
Being in charge of recruiting airlines to BWI has to be one of the most difficult jobs in the aviation industry. Why should we come to BWI when we can just come to Dulles?
Who does BWI lose next? I suspect it will be Play or Icelandair. What do you think?
