"Why not more flights? Question for Georgia airport panel"

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Why not more flights? Question for airport panel
Lack of service an economic issue
By Blake Aued
The Athens (GA) Banner-Herald


Far fewer commercial flights fly out of Athens-Ben Epps Airport than in
comparable cities, and airport officials want to know why.

Only one of 15 cities surveyed by the Athens-Ben Epps Airport Authority had
fewer flights per month than Athens, and Great Bend, Kan., has only
one-seventh the population.

For years, Athens-Clarke officials have been wondering why airlines refuse
to fly more than morning and evening daily flights to and from Athens, and
worrying that the lack of service is hurting the local economy. Four to
seven flights a day is more appropriate for a city Athens' size, and would
make commercial air travel convenient enough so businessmen and tourists
would use it in large numbers, airport authority members say.

"Two (flights a day) makes it very difficult for business travelers to use
it regularly," authority member Doug Toma said at a meeting Tuesday. "It
becomes such a challenge to use it that people just decide to go to
Atlanta."

Toma, who chairs a subcommittee that's examining how to convince an airline
to add flights, researched 15 cities ranging in population from 27,000 to
245,000 - the Athens metropolitan area is home to 174,000 - and found that
nearly all of their airports offer more flights carrying fewer passengers.
All of the cities, like Athens, are located near major hub airports.

Florida-based Gulfstream Air is set to take over commercial service at Ben
Epps from Air Midwest, but will offer only 12 flights per week to Charlotte,
N.C., one fewer than Air Midwest. The airport authority lobbied the Federal
Aviation Administration, which will provide an $825,000 annual subsidy
commercial service to Gulfstream, to force Gulfstream to offer 18 flights
per week, including three on weekdays, but failed.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Ben Epps routinely featured five flights per day.
Airport authority members believe Athens can now support four to seven daily
flights.

"That would make us a very attractive alternative to people who are facing
that drive to Atlanta," Toma said.

Toma recommended a study to measure the market for commercial service in
hopes of convincing Gulfstream to expand or another airline to come to
Athens. Such a study would cost about $50,000 to $150,000, according to
authority member Greg Crane.

County Manager Alan Reddish said he is skeptical of the county funding such
a study. The county subsidized a third daily flight several years ago, and
Air Midwest dropped it after the subsidy ended because it was unprofitable,
he said.

"If this market is so viable, why aren't these business folks seeing that?"
Reddish said.

And small airports across Georgia are facing cutbacks from airlines. Macon
recently lost commercial service, Columbus is down to one airline from four
and Valdosta is down from five flights a day to three, Airport Manager Tim
Beggerly said.

"This is not just happening in Athens," Beggerly said. "It's happening all
over."

Plans for the airport include building a new terminal and extending the
runway to expand it into a regional airport that would offer four to seven
flights per day on medium-sized jets to multiple destinations.

A long-dormant commission also is set to reconvene this week to begin
searching for a site for a 20- to 24-gate airport in Northeast Georgia that
would take pressure off busy Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
Athens officials say Ben Epps is too small and too close to residential
neighborhoods to expand to that size.

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