Monday, April 9, 2007
Passenger numbers at the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport dipped 7.5 percent in February, the largest monthly drop in nearly four years.
And they may keep falling as night construction to lengthen a runway continues at the airport this summer and fall.
However, airport manager Klaasje Nairne called the drop a hiccup, saying airports experience them routinely and it is nothing to be alarmed about.
"Although 7.5 percent sounds like a big number, the actual number of total passengers is 1,851. In reality, that’s not huge," Nairne wrote in an e-mail to The Tribune. "Would we like it to be better? Of course. But if you don’t have the seats to sell, this is the result."
Nairne said the construction, coupled with a US Airways reduction in flights to Las Vegas from seven to five weekly since last summer, have affected the numbers.
"Based on the Internet schedule, it looks like that pattern is going to continue," Nairne wrote.
However, she added, "we also just got back our third Phoenix flight March 1."
In addition, Delta Air Lines will begin new nonstop jet service from San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport to Salt Lake City starting June 11.
"It’s not a lack of people getting on board," Nairne wrote. "(It’s) simply not enough airplanes to serve each market on a continual basis."
She said airport passenger use is cyclical and affected by such factors as schedule changes.
"Hiccups happen, and sometimes burps," she wrote. "Changes in schedules are hiccups. Airline mergers are burps. "Our night construction has definitely caused hiccups that won’t be cured completely until we are done."
The main east-west runway will go to 6,100 feet, an addition of 800 feet, which will allow larger regional jets to take off fully loaded in hot weather. Construction began May 1, and is scheduled to be finished in the fall.
Use dropped most sharply after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, with declines of 15 percent to 30 percent for six months. The downward trend continued through 2002 and 2003.
In a quick primer on the roller-coaster nature of passenger use, Nairne noted that the airport had a 7.1 percent decrease in June 2003, a 6.1 percent decrease that July and a 6.8 percent decrease that August, then some lesser decreases for the remainder of 2003.
Then, 2004 and 2005 saw overall increases of 8.9 percent and 11.6 percent, respectively.
"We started 2006 with steady increases, but as soon as the night work started, the remainder of the year saw declines.
"In the end, everyone will benefit from the pavement length being added this summer," Nairne said.
"You really have to look at these things in averages, not single month or even yearly events," Nairne wrote.
Over the past 20 years, the airport has seen a growth rate of 4 percent, and Nairne sees it continuing to experience moderate growth with some ups and downs along the way.
"Generally, when seats are added to this market, the community fills them," she wrote. "We just need to make sure the seats are there."
Annually, San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport brings $142 million in revenue to the community and supports 1,541 jobs, Nairne said last year.
