"Location, low fares attract passengers to Manchester, N.H. airport"

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Location, low fares attract passengers to Manchester Airport 
By MATT WICKENHEISER
The Portland (ME) Press Herald


Manchester Airport, like the city itself, has exploded onto the regional
scene in the last decade.

The tale is apparent through the numbers:

   In 1997, the airport surpassed 1 million passengers. Two years later it
passed 2 million. It hit 3 million in 2000, and passed 4 million last year.

   A 2002 economic-impact study found the airport contributed more than $715
million to the local economy annually; it's projected to contribute more
than $1.5 billion annually by 2015.

   More than $500 million has been invested in the facility over the last 10
years.

Not bad for a 78-year-old airport that had only two to three flights a day
as recently as the mid-1980s and passengers had to walk onto the tarmac to
get to their planes. 

The success of Manchester's airport comes down to investment in
infrastructure, a marquee, low-cost airline that drives down ticket prices
and attracts travelers and, perhaps most important, a super-dense resident
and business population to tap into.

"It's not only financial strategy and planning, but location, location,
location," said Kevin A. Dillon, airport director. "There's a huge market
that sits between us and Logan (Airport in Boston), and people want the
convenience of what they consider a small hometown airport. There's a
convenience factor from here to the Boston business centers that naturally
doesn't exist for Portland."

In comparison, Portland International Jetport has also invested in
infrastructure in recent years, putting $94 million into parking, runway,
baggage and other areas. The jetport is still too small for the number of
travelers it serves, said Jeff Schultes, airport manager. It is studying
expansion plans.

The jetport hit a new record for passengers last year, with 1.36 million
total passengers - though that's less than third of Manchester's traffic.
But Portland is growing too, with passenger volumes up 20 percent
year-over-year, said Schultes.

However, it will never be the aviation powerhouse that Manchester is, he
said, because of the difference in population densities around the two
airports.

While the airports are in different if overlapping markets, Manchester does
draw passengers from Maine - roughly 400,000 in 2004, according to numbers
from Manchester. If half of those travelers had opted to fly from Portland,
the jetport would have seen 15 percent more passengers.

'THE VISION THING'

When people talk about the Manchester airport's explosive growth, they
always come back to "the vision thing."

Manchester Airport was even smaller than the Portland jetport in the 1980s,
but political and business leaders saw an opportunity - in fact, a need - to
turn the sleepy New Hampshire airport into a regional one, drawing
passengers from all around New England, said Tom Schwieger, former head of
the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce. 

"There was a realization in the early '90s that the city of Manchester
needed to get a kick-start from a facility such as the airport," Dillon
said.

There was strong opposition to expanding the airport, Schwieger said. People
didn't want to see change, but support for the project eventually grew.

"I have to give tremendous credit to the political leaders here in
Manchester, not only the ones in place in the early '90s, but today," Dillon
said. "They're very savvy in terms of understanding the economics of the
airport and what it means. They've supported the investment. People
understand the economics of this.

"I can't tell you what the political climate is in Portland, but that's a
key - to have the political support." 

A new $60 million terminal built in 1994 increased traffic to Manchester,
and low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines began service there in 1998.

Southwest's fares forced other airlines to reduce their prices out of
Manchester, and the race was on. Consumers responded to the low prices and
liked the ease of using the airport. Then Manchester made even more
investments, from terminal expansions to parking garages to runway
improvements.

Passengers from all over northern New England fly out of Manchester. Dillon
said 20 percent of the passengers come from Massachusetts, 10 percent from
Maine, 3 percent from Vermont, 37 percent from New Hampshire and the
remaining 30 percent from outside the region.

Manchester Airport has concentrated on keeping prices low, particularly
compared to Boston's Logan Airport, he said. For example, it costs $8 a day
to park at Manchester, $22 at Logan.

The airport seeks to draw passengers from northern Massachusetts, in
particular, who don't want to deal with the hassle of driving into Boston.
The airport sits off two north-south highways - Interstate 93 and Route 3 -
that provide easy access.

Now that Manchester's regional reputation is established, the airport is
looking nationwide.

TEAMWORK APPROACH

Manchester is teaming with T.F. Green Airport in Rhode Island, which
positions itself as an alternative to Logan to the south of Boston. The two
airports are marketing themselves to companies, travel agencies and others
in other U.S. regions. Dillon said they want to let people know that the
airports are close to Boston, and it might be easier to fly into Manchester
or Providence.

Manchester's success hasn't necessarily been at the cost of Portland, said
Schultes. There have always been Maine travelers who fly in and out of
Boston rather than Portland. He believes Manchester has tapped into that
population.

The jetport's passenger growth in the past few years comes down to an
improved economy and the fact that Portland finally got a low-cost carrier
last year, Independence Air. 

"I think some of the dynamics that exist here at Manchester are starting to
emerge at Portland, in terms of their ability to have low fares at the
airport," Dillon said. "That's the No. 1 thing a consumer will look at."

Schultes said the jetport has a clear goal: to be a small, efficient,
convenient airport and "the right size for this region."

"We know it's never going to be a Logan or a Manchester - we serve two
totally different markets," said Schultes. "It's not competition; it's
giving very good choices for our customers. Where else can you live when you
have, in a short distance, a choice of three different airports?"

Attached Photo's:

A Southwest jet heads for a landing at Manchester Airport. The low-cost
airline helps attract passengers to the airport, which handles more than
three times as many passengers as Portland International Jetport.  
 
Southwest ticket agents serve passengers at Manchester Airport. The number
of passengers using the airport reached more than 4 million in 2004.

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