"Discount airlines boost air travel at Philadelphia airport"

Saturday, July 10, 2004

Discount airlines boost air travel at Philadelphia airport
The Associated Press


PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia International Airport is on track to set a
record for passenger travel this year, buoyed by the arrival of discount
airlines Southwest and Frontier.

Some travelers scared off by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks may also be
returning to the skies, officials said.

"I think we have a shot at 26 million passengers, which would be quite
an achievement," city Aviation Director Charles J. Isdell said. "We've
never had more than 25 million a year."

He believes the final tally will be about 25.8 million passengers, based
on figures from June 2003 through May, the most recent month available.

Southwest began its operations in Philadelphia on May 9, leading US
Airways and others to cut their fares in an effort to attract more
customers. That boost in overall passenger traffic is known in the
airline industry as "the Southwest effect."

US Airways, which offered various promotions to match Southwest's
discounts, saw its own business grow from 57 percent of the Philadelphia
market in recent months to 65 percent in May.

"We're adding capacity where we compete with Southwest," US Airways
spokesman David Castelveter said.

US Airways has been adding both domestic and international flights from
Philadelphia, and now has 409 daily departures - just one fewer than it
had before the terrorist attacks, Castelveter said.

American, Delta and United essentially tied for second place in May.

Southwest, in its 23 days of operation that month, had just over 60,000
passengers, about 2.5 percent of the airport's total.

Southwest started with 14 flights a day and last week doubled that
number, saying the early response has been stronger than expected, with
about 75 to 80 percent of available seats filled.

"The reaction to the second wave of flights is as good if not better
than it was for the first wave" Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King said.

Concession operators are reaping the benefits as well, with sales up by
40 percent in Terminal E and 24 percent airport-wide, officials said.

The record for passenger traffic was set in 2000, the last year of an
economic boom, when 24.9 million passengers flew in or out of the
airport, records show.

Frontier, which began offering three flights a day on May 23, had about
1,500 passengers in the month.

ON THE NET

Philadelphia International Airport: http://www.phl.org


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