Suffering Colorado Springs Airport Tries to Lure Low-Cost Airline

Article Published: Tuesday, February 17, 2004  

Suffering Springs Airport Tries to Lure Low-Cost
Airline
By The Associated Press


COLORADO SPRINGS - A task force of business and civic
leaders hopes to lure a low-cost airline to help stem
rising fares and a decline in travelers at Colorado
Springs Airport. 

"Higher fares and lack of capacity and nonstop flights
have affected convention business, tourism and the
ability to attract employers to Colorado Springs,"
said Will Temby, president of the Colorado Springs
Chamber of Commerce. "We would welcome any carrier
that would bring down fares, add capacity and serve
more cities."

Service at the airport has declined for six years
since Western Pacific Airlines pulled out of the city
for Denver International Airport, then went out of
business.

At WestPac's peak in 1997, Colorado Springs had
nonstop service to 36 cities, down to 12 cities today.
Passengers flying out of Colorado Springs peaked in
1997 at 2.42 million, and was down to 1.01 million
last year.
 
Because there are fewer passengers, airlines have
replaced full-size jets that carry as many as 140
passengers on their Springs flights with smaller
regional jets that carry 30-70 passengers. With fewer
seats to sell, airlines have less incentive to cut
fares.

Meanwhile in Denver, major airlines faced with growing
competition from low-cost carriers have slashed fares
to and from Denver.

According to a Jan. 16 report compiled monthly for the
airport by Springs-based Globe Travel Service Inc.,
fares from Colorado Springs to 10 of 12 cities with
nonstop service cost $40-$192 more than flights to the
same city from Denver.

For instance, some passengers to Salt Lake City last
month paid $416, twice what they would have to fly
there from Denver, according to the survey.

However, airline representatives said their own
comparisons showed that fares were not that much
higher from Colorado Springs than from Denver.

Nevertheless, higher fares and other factors, such as
a slow economy, were blamed for a 5.3 percent decline
in passenger traffic at the Springs airport last year
from the previous year. At the same time, DIA traffic
for the first 11 months of 2003 was up 5.2 percent
from a year earlier.

Jim Poshusta, longtime station manager in Colorado
Springs for United Airlines, doubts low-fare airlines
will flock to Colorado Springs, given the record of
other low-fare carriers during the 1990s.

"WestPac and Vanguard both failed. Why did they?
Because they were not profitable. If you are going to
charge a $50 fare, you better fill the plane,"
Poshusta said. "Where does (the task force) think they
will get new or additional service and to what
cities?" However, Springs aviation director Mark Earle
said airlines may be enticed by fees and charges that
are less than half of those at DIA. The Colorado
Springs Airport has at least three available gates for
new or expanded service on its main concourse and five
on its mothballed east concourse.

The airport also could redirect some of its $400,000 a
year advertising budget to promote new or expanded
low-fare service, Earle said.
 

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