Lauderdale Airport Tops in Growth; MIA Slips

Posted on Tue, Jan. 13, 2004   
 
Lauderdale Airport Tops in Growth; MIA Slips
Miami Herald, FL

Continuing to grow faster than any other major
airport, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International led
the nation in boosting passenger seats during the past
three years, a report released Monday shows.

Expansion from low-fare carriers -- the bright spot in
a dismal industry -- and competition from major
airlines propelled the Broward County airport to add
16 percent more seats in the past three years.

By contrast, Miami International Airport lost 13
percent of its seats -- the 11th worst showing among
large airports -- from December 2000 to December 2003,
according to the study by the Department of
Transportation's Office of Inspector General.

The differences reflect the airports' divergent roles:
Miami as an international gateway during a decline in
global travel and Fort Lauderdale as a popular choice
for domestic flights.

Much harder hit than Fort Lauderdale since the Sept.
11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Miami may not recover
until 2008, said Steve Baker, deputy aviation director
for Miami-Dade Aviation.

''We're not seeing the rebounding of the passenger
volume as we had initially hoped,'' he said Monday.

Overall, only three of the nation's largest 31
airports -- Fort Lauderdale, New York's John F.
Kennedy and Las Vegas -- saw an increase in passenger
seats from December 2000 through December 2003, the
inspector general's report found. St. Louis,
Pittsburgh and San Francisco airports saw the worst
declines -- 59 percent, 34 percent and 28 percent,
respectively.

For Miami and Fort Lauderdale, the figures show
improvement from a similar study conducted six months
ago. From June 2000 to June 2003, Miami's seats shrank
16 percent, while Fort Lauderdale's rose 11 percent.

LOW-FARE NICHE

Fort Lauderdale has been benefiting as a niche for
domestic low-fare carriers ever since Southwest chose
the airport as its South Florida base in 1996. And
with its focus on domestic flights, generally with
lower fares than at Miami, its traffic quickly bounced
back from the terrorist attacks.

Running a search on his website Monday, Bestfares.com
Publisher Tom Parsons found that passengers could fly
from Fort Lauderdale to 93 U.S. cities for $199 or
less -- compared with 42 U.S. cities from Miami for
$199 or less, he said.

''It's a very attractive tourist destination, a
growing community, with very competitive ticket
prices, and the costs for the airlines are very low
here,'' said Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood spokesman Jim
Reynolds. ``So that kind of winds up being a home run
for everybody.''

In terms of flights, Lauderdale gained 8 percent in
the past three years and Miami lost 23 percent, the
report says. The numbers don't exactly track with
seats because of plane variety.

With airline costs of $4.24 per departing passenger --
vs. $14.66 at Miami -- discount carriers, like JetBlue
Airways, Miramar-based Spirit Airlines and Delta Air
Lines' Song, have flocked to Fort Lauderdale. None of
them flies out of Miami.

In fact, from December 2000 to December 2003,
JetBlue's passenger volume soared 296 percent at Fort
Lauderdale, Spirit's rose 71 percent, and AirTran
Airways' jumped 72 percent, said Ed Nelson, Fort
Lauderdale-Hollywood's director of air service
development. American Airlines, combined with the
former TWA, boosted its passenger volume by 45
percent.

American flew so many passengers from Fort Lauderdale
in December that it catapulted ahead of Southwest
Airlines to be the second-largest carrier at the
airport that month, after Delta Air Lines, Nelson
said.

In the past year, Fort Lauderdale has also added new
international carriers like Cayman Airways and
Aeromexico, and new destinations such as
Port-au-Prince, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and
Cancún, Mexico.

AIRPORT HIT HARD

Meanwhile, Miami, where 48 percent of its passengers
are international, has been hurt by the war in Iraq,
economic downturns in Latin America and elevated
terrorism threat levels, Baker said.

''We continue to be hit by an assault of the factors
that affect the propensity of desire for international
travel,'' he said.

About a year ago, the airport hired aviation
consultants SH&E to attract low-fare domestic carriers
and additional international airlines. So far, some
carriers have expressed interest, Baker said.

At Fort Lauderdale, low-fare airlines have set the bar
low for domestic fares -- and major carriers have
reduced their prices to compete.

Stewart Chiron, a frequent business traveler who lives
in Coral Gables, checks fares at both Miami and Fort
Lauderdale before booking a trip. Last week, he flew
American out of Fort Lauderdale to Dallas/Fort Worth,
because the fare for his overnight trip was $150
cheaper.

''I'm not going to fly out of Fort Lauderdale for $60
or $100 [less],'' said Chiron, president of The
Leisure Pros. ``But for $150 or more, with a similar
schedule, I'm going to consider it.''
 

 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dc/dcboard.php

*****************************************