Highfill : Surprise Cleveland Service Tickles Airport Chiefs

Highfill : Surprise Cleveland Service Tickles Airport Chiefs
Arkansas Democrat Gazette, AR

Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2003

Airport officials went three years without talking to Continental Airlines
about providing service from Northwest Arkansas to the airline’s Cleveland
hub.

Then last week word unexpectedly came from Continental: Service between
Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport and Cleveland will start April 5. "We
were surprised, but we’re very pleased," said Scott Van Laningham, airport
CEO and president. "We hadn’t expected anything this quick."

The airline announced Monday that its regional partner, Continental
Express, will start with one nonstop flight a day to the Ohio city using
an Embraer regional jet. The plane seats 37 passengers, said Rahsaan
Johnson, a Continental Express spokesman.

Continental didn’t serve the Highfill airport until October 2002, when it
started three nonstop flights to Houston. In May, it added two daily
nonstops to its Newark, N. J., hub.

The airline now has five flights to Houston. The flight to Cleveland
Hopkins International Airport will be the airline’s eighth daily take-off
from the regional airport.

Some airport officials acknowledged they wondered why Cleveland, but they
recognized the airline closely tracks the final destinations of its
passengers.

Cleveland ranked 22 nd among the final destinations of Northwest Arkansas
travelers in the third quarter of 2002, the most recent report available
from the U.S. Department of Transportation. More passengers leaving
Northwest Arkansas were headed to cities such as Baltimore, Orlando,
Denver and Seattle than Cleveland, the Transportation Department report
shows.

Johnson said the flight to Cleveland isn’t all about Ohiobound travelers.
"Cleveland serves another purpose," Johnson said. "It’s convenient for
flights to Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Montreal and other northeastern
cities. This gives you an additional option to the northeast."

The Cleveland flight, which will depart Highfill at 7:15 a.m. and return
at 10 p.m., will put another plane overnight at the airport.

Space is at a premium at the regional airport, which opened in 1989.

Airport officials said they want to finish an enlarged ramp by the end of
this month, creating more space for the 12 planes that already wait all
night for their morning passengers. And by the time the flights to
Cleveland begin, they hope they’re well on their way toward completion of
a covered walkway.

The L-shaped walkway will extend to the west and north of the Alice L.
Walton Terminal Building and cost about $1.4 million. It will create new
space for airlines to board passengers on planes and should be done by
next summer, said Kelly Johnson, airport director. "These are good
problems to have," said Stan Green, chairman of the Northwest Arkansas
Regional Airport Authority. "We got the airport built without airlines,
and now we have airlines and we need more airport."


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