Mirman: How the Valley can attract thousands more Winter Texans from the Upper Midwest

HARLINGEN, Texas - The Rio Grande Valley can attract thousands more Winter Texans from the Upper Midwest thanks to the daily flights Delta Air Lines is putting on from Minneapolis to Harlingen.This is the view of Nicolás J. Mirman, director of air service and business development at Valley International Airport. “Via Minneapolis, Delta has connections to more than 35 Upper Midwest and Canadian destinations. It will be the first time in a long time that places like North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, even Toronto in Canada have such easy access to our beach at South Padre Island.”Delta will be utilizing an a320 Airbus that carries about 165 passengers to fly from Minneapolis to Valley International Airport seven days a week from mid-February to the end of May. This presents a great opportunity to attract more tourists from the Upper Midwest, Mirman said.But, there is a challenge for the Valley, the commercial aviation expert said. Sun Country also flies from Minneapolis to Harlingen. Mirman said the Valley cannot afford to have Delta cannibalize Sun Country’s passengers.“The challenge for the Rio Grande Valley is to absorb such an expansion of capacity. We will have twice as many seats as we had last year from the Upper Midwest. So the challenge is to make sure that Sun Country can fill up their planes to Minneapolis and Minnesota and then for us to take full advantage of what Delta brings to the table,” Mirman said.American Airlines also flies to the Upper Midwest out of Harlingen, Mirman said, with one flight a week to and from Chicago. American also has a lot of Upper Midwest connecting cities to Chicago, he pointed out.“At the end of the day, for our region, the Minneapolis market is already mature, Sun Country and even Delta had flown here for 30 years. The challenge or the opportunity truly is to expand on those connecting markets in the Dakotas, in Montana, in Illinois, in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Nebraska,” Mirman said.“If we can start doing that this year, if we can keep both carriers (Delta and Sun Country) and even American flying in here for years to come, then it is going to have an enormous effect in the local economy.”Editor's Note: To read the full story go to www.riograndeguardian.com.Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.