"Montreal airport faces New York rival"

Monday, December 24, 2007

Montreal airport faces New York rival
BERTRAND MAROTTE 
Canada - The ReportOnBusiness.com


MONTREAL -- It cheekily bills itself as "Montreal's U.S. airport" and has
even put up bilingual signs at its new passenger terminal to lure Quebec
travellers.

Plattsburgh International Airport, in New York State on Lake Champlain, is
out to carve a niche for itself as a convenient facility offering cheap
flights. 

About an hour's drive away is a key target market - the populous Montreal
region.

The folks at Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport aren't
quite panicking but they concede the upstart can do some damage.

Opened in June, Plattsburgh airport boasts a gleaming new terminal done up
in mock-Adirondack-lodge style and offering low-cost regional and
sun-destination flights.

Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air LLC launched regular discount flights to Fort
Lauderdale, Fla., last month and the response has been so positive that the
airline has added more flights and a second destination - Orlando.

"It's been a very good market for us. It has well exceeded our
expectations," said Allegiant spokeswoman Tyri Squyres.

Garry Douglas, president and chief executive officer of the
Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce, says 80 per cent of the
passengers on Allegiant's flights to Florida come from across the border.

"We want to be Montreal's secondary airport. It's one of the last major
metropolitan areas in North America with no secondary airport," he said.

Burlington, in neighbouring Vermont, also has an international airport that
draws some business from Montreal but it's two hours away with no direct
highway link, he said.

The Plattsburgh facility - located on a former air force base - is not the
only U.S. border airport to offer an alternative to bigger rivals in Canada.

Sleepy Bellingham, Wash., attracts traffic from Vancouver. Buffalo, N.Y.,
lures passengers from Toronto's busy Pearson International Airport.

The strong Canadian dollar, cut-rate U.S. air fares and perks like less
congested terminals and free parking can add up to a powerful incentive. Mr.
Douglas tells the story of one man who drove from Quebec City to Plattsburgh
for the launch of Delta Connection air service to Boston recently.

The man told him it was worth it just for the free parking since he would be
gone for six weeks; leaving his car at Montreal-Trudeau would have cost him
a fortune, Mr. Douglas said.

James Cherry - president and CEO of Aéroports de Montréal, the non-profit
authority that runs Montreal-Trudeau - says he isn't losing sleep over the
new cross-border rival but concedes there will be some lost business.

"The first thing they're going to do is take passengers away from
Burlington. But are we going to lose some people? I think we might, though
it won't be substantial," he said.

"We're going to watch this carefully. It wouldn't have been as much of an
issue two years ago but it is now because of the high value of the Canadian
dollar."

Part of the problem competing with upstarts like Plattsburgh is that the
playing field isn't level, Mr. Cherry said.

Montreal-Trudeau (formerly Dorval) and other Canadian airports are burdened
with municipal taxes, rent to the federal government and having to cover
their own capital costs, he said.

Their government-run U.S. rivals, on the other hand, pay no taxes and
receive public funds, he said.


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