Sound Bites

As airlines impose more cutbacks, air taxi's and business aviation is expected to benefit. Below are a few sound bites from last week's news coverage.

Falling Off the Map
WSJ: “Fifty-nine airports that had commercial service in 2007 don’t have any today,” says David Castelveter, vice president of communications for the Air Transport Association (ATA). “Another 38 have it, but won’t at some time in 2008.”

“If you live in a small city, fares might be up 50–70 percent over last year; if you live in a bigger city or one served by Southwest, they may be up only 10–15 percent,” said Rick Seaney, CEO of Farecompare.com.

The Street.com: Medium sized communities will have fewer hub choices as the result of the capacity cutbacks going into effect this fall. The publication cited changes at Lansing and Toledo, which are losing Delta’s RJ service to Atlanta. Toledo is also losing Cleveland via Continental.
In general, "The future will look very much like today," aviation consultant Mike Boyd told the publication. "Access to various places will drop off, there will be a diminution of the options, but it's not as if you will see New England lose all of its air service."
The publication also cited Harrisburg, Pa., as losing American’s service to La Guardia Airport just as regional execs feared, while gaining four daily flights to Newark, largely owing to the fact it has the seventh-highest fares in the country and a strong business community willing to pay them.

Financing Harder for BizJets
Two themes emerged from Farnborough concerning business jets – the softening of the U.S. market and the growing difficulty in financing jets already on order, according to Embrear President Federico Curado, who said the first signal was the downturn in new jet demand followed by difficulty in financing and, finally, cancellations or deferrals. It is not surprising that credit is more selective than a year ago, given the tightening of credit markets. Curado indicated it is not as easy to gain financing as even six months ago.
Another indicator is the charter market which has seen an uptick in activity as prospective jet buyers hold off purchases in favor of charters or fractional ownership