"South Dakota city wants more fliers to use airport"

Monday, July 11, 2005

Pierre wants more fliers to use airport
The Associated Press


PIERRE, S.D. - City leaders have started a yearlong effort to persuade
people to fly from the Pierre airport rather than drive to larger cities to
catch flights.

The goal of the "Fly From Pierre" campaign is to increase the number of
passengers using the Pierre airport, said Laurie Gill, a city commission
member who led a task force looking for ways to improve air service.

"About half of the people in this area who travel we are losing to competing
markets such as Rapid City and Sioux Falls," Gill said.

The campaign will involve newspapers and broadcast stations and a Web site.
Gill said a big target of the effort will be business travelers.

Businesses consider the quality of air service when deciding whether to move
to a city, Mayor Dennis Eisnach said.

It takes time to drive to Sioux Falls or Rapid City to get to those
airports, said Wade Troth, Pierre's airport manager.

Pierre has about 16,000 airport boardings a year, and Troth said he'd like
to see a 5 percent increase per year, eventually reaching between 20,000 and
25,000 passenger boardings.

"With growth and increased demand for services, we're in a better position
to talk about schedules and fares," he said.

Great Lakes Aviation, a partner of United and Frontier Airlines, and Mesaba,
which is affiliated with Northwest Airlines, serve the Pierre airport.

People should support their local airport when they can, said Mike Marnach,
executive director of the Sioux Falls Regional Airport Authority. He said
studies showed Sioux Falls losing "53 percent of our people to Omaha and
Minneapolis" airports.

A request for an air fare quote from Pierre to Minneapolis on Mesaba for a
Sept. 15-20 trip yielded a round trip quote of $263, while it would cost a
passenger $265 from Sioux Falls to Minneapolis on Northwest under the same
conditions, the Argus Leader reported Monday.

On the Net: http://www.pierreairport.com


 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


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