"Top three airlines at Harrisburg, Pa., airport struggle to stay airborne"

Sunday, September 26, 2004

Top three airlines at Harrisburg, Pa., airport struggle to stay airborne
The Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News


Just as Harrisburg International Airport settles into a new terminal, part
of a $240 million expansion, the top three airlines that serve HIA are
struggling to stay airborne. 

US Airways, the dominant carrier at HIA with nearly 35 percent of the market
share and 23 incoming and outgoing flights a day, recently filed for its
second Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in two years. The nation's
seventh-largest airline has promised that "customers should notice no
changes to flight operations." 

United Airlines, with 18 percent of the market share at HIA, has been in
bankruptcy since December 2002. 

And Delta Air Lines Inc., the No. 3 carrier at HIA, flying under the Comair
name, has 17.77 percent of the market share and teeters on the brink of
bankruptcy. 

HIA officials insist that even if any of these airlines should liquidate,
others would step in to pick up their business at the Lower Swatara Twp.
airport. 

"The key is we have a market. There are people buying [plane tickets] here,"
said Eric Clancy, chairman of the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport
Authority, which owns and operates HIA. 

Aviation industry consultants contacted by The Patriot-News agree that HIA
can weather the current turbulence in the airline industry and might even
prosper from coming changes. But they warn that midstate travelers could
experience some short-term inconveniences. 

"Airport people have a vested interest in showing that things are really
good," observed Adam Pilarski of Avitas in Chantilly, Va. 

"It's kind of hard to say don't worry at all, but there is logic to what
[HIA officials are] saying," Pilarski said. "It's not a big airport, but
there clearly are people who want to fly there or from there. If a flight to
Harrisburg makes money, they'll [airlines] continue flying." 

Delta announced on Thursday that it is adding a fifth daily flight from HIA
to Atlanta on Feb. 1 because of demand. But many financially troubled
airlines are often forced to make cuts. 

For instance, Delta has announced the elimination of 7,000 jobs and its hub
in Dallas. 

US Airways had decided to eliminate its Pittsburgh hub and de-emphasize its
hub-and-spoke system -- in which flights from smaller "spoke" airports feed
into big "hub" airports -- before its second bankruptcy filing. 

As a result, travelers using HIA might find it more complicated to reach
some destinations it they depend on picking up connecting flights at
Pittsburgh and other hubs, Pilarksi said. 

If any of the top carriers at HIA were to dissolve, it could take time for
another airline to get the planes and pilots to pick up the flights, noted
Morten Beyer of the Morten Beyer & Agnew aviation consulting firm in
Arlington, Va. 

But Beyer predicted that in the long term, regional airports like HIA will
benefit from the industry shake-up. 

"There's no more room to expand in the major hubs," so if airlines want to
grow, they're going to have to offer more direct flights from smaller
airports, he explained. 

HIA Aviation Director Fred Testa makes a similar argument. 

"The future of aviation is in the small markets, not the big cities,"
because people are "sick and tired" of long drives to metropolitan airports
and long waits once they get there, Testa said. "I'm selling a marketplace
that is ripe for expansion." 

The average wait in line for passenger security screening in HIA's new
terminal is one minute, and the new baggage-screening system can handle 530
bags per hour per machine, according to Testa. 

Low-fare carriers such as AirTran Airways, ATA Airlines and Independence Air
might be interested in moving into smaller markets such as Harrisburg, Beyer
said. 

One low-cost carrier not likely to land at HIA anytime soon is Southwest
Airlines. 

Southwest is slow to add cities and already serves nearby
Baltimore-Washington International and Philadelphia International airports,
Beyer said. 

Testa, who has been HIA's aviation director for three years, said it took
him seven years to get Southwest at Manchester Airport in New Hampshire,
where he used to be the director. 

Meanwhile, passenger traffic at HIA has grown in recent years after several
years of steady losses to BWI. 

These gains have come at a time when the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the
SARS virus scare, the war in Iraq and high fuel prices have delivered a
steady series of blows to the airline industry. 

The Boyd Group/ASRC, an aviation research and consulting firm in Colorado,
has ranked HIA the 15th fastest-growing airport in the nation. 

HIA's market includes 26 counties and about 3.5 million people, according to
a survey done for the airport. 

Last year, 1.5 million travelers used HIA, and so far this year, planes
leaving the airport are, on average, 62 percent full, airport spokesman
Scott Miller said. That compares with a national load average of 80 percent,
which includes flights from busy hub airports. 

HIA is the 92nd-largest among 430 commercial airports in the country, and
the top 100 airport markets "will always get served by someone, somewhere,
somehow," Testa said. 

HIA has the added advantage of serving the capital of one of the largest
states, which means it will always draw a certain number of airlines and air
travel customers, he added. 

In one setback, though, higher fuel prices have stalled Testa's efforts to
get US Airways and other airlines to reduce fares at HIA, although many
airfares remain competitive with those available at BWI, he insists. 

The new, larger terminal, with state-of-the-art baggage-screening and
security systems, enables HIA to sell more ramp and gate space to airlines. 

"We're marketing [to] every low-cost carrier out there," Testa said. "You
can't force anyone to come here. All we can do is work hard to convince them
that they can make money at this airport."


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

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


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