Small Airports Must be More Creative

Smaller airports are getting creative in effort to retain service, attract low-fare carriers and even to regain service, according to press reports around the country. Some are offering per-passenger subsidies such as the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, N.C., while others are improving...

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Smaller airports are getting creative in effort to retain service, attract low-fare carriers and even to regain service, according to press reports around the country. Some are offering per-passenger subsidies such as the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, N.C., while others are improving the infrastructure, but that often means additional expense without the consequent air service to pay for it, such as with Hagerstown, Md.

Piedmont Approves Subsidies to Lower Fares
Piedmont Triad International Airport approved a $2.15 per-passenger subsidy on October 17, in an effort to retain and attract low-fare commercial service at the Greensboro, N.C. airport. The total subsidy could add up to $300 per flight, according to the Winston-Salem Journal. Skybus recently launched service at the airport, which is waiting to see if that is successful.
The Journal reported that legacy carriers are evaluating the subsidy but had no plans to change schedules at this point. The airport is currently serviced by United, United Express, American, American Eagle, Delta, Delta Connection, US Airways, US Airways Express, Allegient, Northwest, Continental and Continental Connection. However, it cited new Cleveland service by Continental, announced in September. At its peak, the airport had 165 daily non-stops from Piedmont and now offers 75.
High fares from regional/legacy partnerships have driving passenger counts at the airport down 1.9 million in 1995 to 1.1 million in 2006, according to the Journal, which reported that boardings were down another two percent this year. Part of the problem is Greensboro is within driving distance of the expansive service options at both Raleigh and Charlotte.
It also said increases in average fares jumped from $132 in 2001 to $212 in March 2007. The airport has seen six discount carriers come and go since 1986. The Journal noted that AirTran has received millions of dollars in subsidies from Wichita, since 2002, for east coast connections, which officials credit with saving passengers $20-$30 million. In addition, Frontier Airlines is eligible for $1 million in annual subsidies for returning service to Mid-Continent.

Hagerstown Improves Runway, Perhaps Too Late
Having invested $62 million in extending its runway another 1,500 feet to 7,000 feet, complete with two 1,000-foot overruns, Hagerstown is without commercial air service, having lost the federal subsidies that paid for Air Midwest’s two 19-seat daily flights to Pittsburgh as a US Airways Express. Related Story
 Legislation has been introduced in the Senate to subsidize the airport at $$600,000, but Air Midwest’s was $850,000 in its last year. A House version has also been introduced by Western Maryland legislators.
The runway project, which also incorporated better navaids, was part of an effort to restructure itself to accommodate regional jets to serve such destinations as St. Louis or Atlanta. But high fuel prices may now conspire to kill any potential service. In addition, West Virginia Senator Jay Rockeffeller, who chairs the Senate Aviation Subcommittee told another airport that “Any airport within 200 miles of a major hub won’t be subsidized in the future. Related Story Hagerstown is within an hour and a half of Baltimore.
Once the bustling hub of regional airline activity and the home base of Roy Clark’s Pennsylvania Airlines, Hagerstown’s fortunes have diminished despite its efforts to become the fourth mid-Atlantic-region airport as a reliever to BWI, Washington National and Dulles airports, which now only serve to siphon passengers away with their lower fares.
The airport has had a lot of instability moving from service with USAirways Express carriers Chautauque, Shuttle America and Piedmont. Service has gone from Saab 340 turboprops to the Beech 1900 since 9/11, all under the watchful eye of the local paper, which has speculated about the complete loss of service at the airport. Its five arrivals and departures have been reduced to three, further lowering passenger confidence. This familiar cycle traditionally, and, still does, mean passengers are booking away from the airport, especially given the options they can find 1.5 hours away at BWI or IAD, which offer greater connections. Hagerstown also lost its connection to PIT when US Airways rationalized its hubs.
Hagerstown is coping by continually tightening its belt with passenger traffic is now at a 15-year low at 10,000 passengers annually. In 1997 it was between 25,000 and 30,000. All this alters tenant agreements, which are based on a certain traffic flow, with the consequent rental decreasing when it falls below that. Fewer than 20 passengers a day flew Air Midwest from Hagerstown in 2006, down from nearly 40 a day in 2004. The Hagerstown area has a population of nearly 144,000 but could also draw from western Virginia, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.