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"More flights connecting through smaller airports"
Title:
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
More flights connecting
through smaller airports
By Ben Mutzabaugh
USA TODAY
Utter the
word "layover" to an air traveler, and crowded hub airports spring to mind —
Chicago O'Hare, Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth.
But increasingly, travelers
are being presented itinerary options that have them connecting in airports such
as Louisville, Little Rock, Tulsa or Akron-Canton in Ohio.
No one is
suggesting that cities such as Akron are overtaking Atlanta. But a national air
travel system that relies increasingly on more flights by smaller planes gives
air travelers more options in routing trips. With more smaller airports in the
mix, travelers might benefit from less congestion, a change of scenery or
sometimes, a cheaper fare.
Business traveler Mike Carver, for example,
frequently finds himself connecting in Tulsa on American Airlines trips between
Chicago and Dallas/Fort Worth. Even though American has more than a dozen daily
non-stop options on Carver's route, the Dallas consultant took the Tulsa
connection to comply with his employer's policy of taking the cheapest flight
available within a two-hour window of his planned departure.
Non-hub
landings
Airline analyst Jahan Alamzad, president at California-based
consulting firm CA Advisors, says airline industry conditions are right for a
modest increase of layovers in non-hub cities.
Among the
reasons:
• Higher overall volume. The growth of discount
airlines has brought more passenger traffic to second-tier airports, where
carriers can operate for less. At many of the airports, more connecting
passengers reflects more passengers overall. Take Louisville. The 363,000
connecting passengers there last year marked an 11% annual increase. But
connecting passengers as a share of total airport customers was little changed —
11% in 2004, vs. 10% in 2003.
• Greater use of 50- and
70-seat regional jets. Airlines have increased their use of smaller regional
jets in recent years. Smaller planes have led to more flights, and that's paved
the way for more offbeat connections, says Alan Bender, professor of aeronautics
at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
• More
sophisticated flight-scheduling software. As scheduling computers have become
more sophisticated, so has the airlines' ability to offer flights that could
allow their customers to connect at a non-hub airport.
Ohio's
Akron-Canton is one of the non-hub airports seeing more connecting passengers.
Back Aviation Solutions reports that 75,400 passengers connected at Akron-Canton
in 2004, a 20% annual increase.
"As the airlines are looking for more
revenue, I think you're going to see more of it," airport director Fred Krum
says.
New service by low-cost carrier AirTran Airways is one reason more
travelers are connecting at Akron-Canton.
The airline didn't intend
Akron-Canton to become a connection point, AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson says.
But as AirTran added destinations other than Atlanta, it has developed into one.
The discounter also flies from Akron-Canton to Boston, Las Vegas, New York
LaGuardia, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa and Fort Myers, Fla.
Normal
AirTran service between New York LaGuardia and Orlando, for example, connects at
the carrier's main Atlanta hub. But, since AirTran beefed up service at
Akron-Canton, it comes into play as a connecting airport for the
Orlando-LaGuardia traveler.
The November 2005 schedule shows AirTran has
nine departures from New York that allow for connecting service to Orlando.
Eight go through Atlanta. The ninth flight goes through Akron-Canton, where
passengers have a 90-minute layover.
In comparison, AirTran's Web site
shows LaGuardia-Orlando flights via its Atlanta hub have layovers ranging from
one to three hours.
Advance-purchase fares for those November flights
were the same, regardless of the layover time or connecting city.
An
unconventional layover sometimes can save money. Travel site Orbitz, for
example, showed a $109 one-way, advance-purchase fare for Atlanta to New York
LaGuardia via Greensboro-High Point, N.C. Fare for a comparable Delta non-stop:
$220.
Non-hub connections are nothing new at Southwest Airlines. The
carrier is widely credited with pioneering a network of point-to-point flights,
which, by definition, don't go through a hub.
The nation's largest
low-cost operator routes connecting passengers through almost all its airports,
whether that takes them through Little Rock or Las Vegas.
"Some of them
have more activity and more connection opportunities than others just because of
the sheer number of flights we have there," says Mike Van de Ven, Southwest's
senior vice president of planning.
"We're at almost 200 flights a day out
of Phoenix, so it has more connection opportunities than maybe an
Albuquerque."
Other options
Non-hub connections aren't limited to
low-cost carriers.
Most big traditional carriers, which are built on the
hub-and-spoke system, give customers options of unusual layovers on at least a
few routes.
No. 2 United Airlines has an occasional offbeat connection —
Chicago to Denver via Sioux Falls, S.D., for example. The scheduled layover is
13 minutes, and the fare is about the same as a non-stop.
Spokeswoman
Robin Urbanski says when flights happen to line up correctly at non-hub
airports, the carrier will make them available.
Des Moines and Lincoln,
Neb., are possible connecting points for travelers flying between the airline's
hubs of Chicago O'Hare and Denver, too, she says.
Most travelers would
opt for a non-stop United flight between hub cities such as Chicago and Denver,
Urbanski acknowledges.
But if the lowest-price seats on a non-stop are
sold out, a customer might find a cheaper fare with a stop-over.
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