"A tale of two airports: Four Corners Regional struggling, Durango-La Plata soaring"

Sunday, June 29, 2008

A tale of two airports: Four Corners Regional struggling, Durango-La Plata
soaring
By Cornelia de Bruin
The Farmington (NM) Daily Times


FARMINGTON - The numbers don't lie.

Nearly 12,000 passengers booked commercial flights out of Durango-La Plata
County Airport in May. Less than 50 miles to the south, Four Corners
Regional Airport has averaged about 2,000 passengers each month for 2008.

Two air carriers already have left the Farmington airport this year, while
Durango-La Plata has added successful, 75-seat Frontier Airlines service. 

Today, Four Corners Regional has one carrier, Great Lakes Airlines, and the
Durango-La Plata Airport has four.

More overall service on larger planes means more passengers - and the
Durango area airport is winning the fight for air travelers.

"It's good for the community," said Ron Dent, Durango-La Plata County
Airport Director of Aviation. "We're getting more Farmington customers,
along with passengers from Pagosa, Cortez and Telluride, Colo., and
Monticello, Utah."

What outsiders may find puzzling is the fact that San Juan County has a
population two-and-a-half times larger than La Plata County's 50,000
estimate. 

Yet, while Farmington clearly is the retail trade hub of the region, many
variables have led to Durango-La Plata becoming the true regional center for
commercial air traffic in the Four Corners.

The most telling factor likely is Four Corners Regional's short runway,
measuring just 6,702 feet long. The Durango area airport has a runway
measuring 9,200 feet, a distance that can accommodate the regional jets and
larger planes that Four Corners Regional cannot.

"... Regional service will be the key with larger airlines - from 50- to
75-seat airplanes," Dent said. "Anyone who can't serve the bigger planes
won't have service."

A lot of factors play into calculating runway lengths needed by various
aircraft, Dent said. An area's temperatures and altitude - known as density
altitude, and critical to safe landings and takeoffs - are key to pilot's
needs.

Dent said the bottom line is "Farmington has a runway that is too short" to
attract the larger planes. Land-locked on a mesa in west Farmington, the
runway cannot get any longer.

The process of courting airlines in the wake of Mesa Air's sudden Dec. 31
departure from the Farmington has been long and frustrating, Four Corners
Regional Airport Manager Brent Shiner said.

"We know there's frustration out there, but we don't get a lot of calls," he
said. "It was not a happy day when Mesa left, or when U.S. Airways left,
although they were down to one flight per day."

U.S. Air, which provided service to Phoenix, left Farmington at the end of
May. Mesa, which was founded in Farmington in the early 1980s, cut its final
Albuquerque route at the end of 2007.

"We get questions about whether we have no air service," Shiner said.

Great Lakes still provides Farmington-to-Denver flights four times daily on
weekdays, twice daily on Saturday and three times daily on Sunday. The
airline also flies Farmington to Phoenix once every day.

Shiner said regardless of whether Four Corners Regional has airline service,
"People don't realize the economic value of having an airport."

Beyond the jobs it creates and the money funneled into the community, is the
link to emergency services and medical help - the non-economic benefits,
Shiner said.

New Farmington carrier may be on the way

The city of Farmington's efforts to attract additional airline service from
Four Corners Regional apparently are about to pay off this summer. 

Vision Airlines spokesman Warren Kaplan said the Nevada-based airline is
close to committing to provide non-subsidized air service from Farmington to
Albuquerque and Phoenix.

"We want to make an announcement this month and start our service Aug. 1,"
Kaplan said.

Farmington has courted airlines since Dec. 31, when Mesa Air left the area.

Vision's plans are to offer two Farmington-to-Albuquerque flights every day
but Sunday, and one flight to Phoenix every day except Saturday.

Kaplan is Vision's director of business development. Headquartered in North
Las Vegas, Vision Air uses 30-passenger Dornier 328 turboprop jets equipped
with galleys and lavatories, and staffed by a flight attendant.

"We have various analyses on the Farmington market," Kaplan said. "We would
like to see the jets filled to 70 percent capacity."

That's about 42 passengers per day on the twice-daily Albuquerque route.

Shiner, who has joined Farmington City Manager Rob Mayes in discussions with
Kaplan to finalize details of the impending contract, said Vision indicates
the initial flights are a beginning point.

"They will expand as ridership increases and their marketing efforts take
effect," Shiner said. "They hope to expand into the Las Vegas market."

The timing with Vision couldn't have worked out better, Shiner said. The
airline company was in the process of getting the Federal Aviation
Administration Part 121 certificate that authorizes it as a "scheduled
airline" when it responded to the city's second request for proposals for
service.

"They had been operating under certification as an air taxi service," Shiner
said. 

Assuming all goes well with the continuing discussions, Vision's entrance
into the New Mexico market could open the opportunity for it to participate
in the intrastate Enchanted Air Partnership, launched in Roswell.

Shiner explained Vision's flights will terminate at a "sterile gate" - one
that's within the Albuquerque International Sunport's secure area. 

"That's critical for people who are connecting with interline service,"
Shiner said. "They don't have to go through security again, and their
baggage can be transferred from one airline to another."

Kaplan confirmed an expansion further into New Mexico could happen.

"We are in open negotiations with Enchanted Air for two markets," he said. 

He would not specify which markets, however.

The developments indicate a lessening of frustration Enchanted Air felt
toward the city of Farmington. 

"We are in an awkward position with the New Mexico Partnership (now
Enchanted Air)," Mayes told a June 11 meeting of San Juan Economic
Development Service. "They need our participation and we need to take care
of Farmington first."

Mayes added Island Air, which was negotiating with the intrastate
partnership, fell through when the airline decided to pursue opportunities
available in Hawaii.

"Continuing with Vision is the only hope for the New Mexico Partnership,"
Mayes said. "We could deliver the airline to the intrastate group."

He cautioned nothing is secure in the airline industry, adding, "but the
dominoes are falling in a way that couldn't have been better."

Durango continues to grow

Durango's obvious advantage is its new link with Frontier Airlines, which
launched flights April 22 and offers service from Durango, Grand Junction,
Aspen and Colorado Springs, Colo., to the Denver International Airport hub
and beyond. Frontier's jets carry 74 passengers, while Great Lakes out of
Farmington offers 19 seats.

Passenger traffic at Durango-La Plata County Airport "soared to record
levels," Dent said following Frontier's arrival.

"The airport experienced its single-largest monthly increase in its history
... 11,767 passengers boarded commercial airlines in May," a press release
stated.

Passenger traffic jumped 30 percent over May of 2007, itself a record year. 

Four airlines provide service through Durango - Frontier, Delta Connection,
United Express and U.S. Airways, whose combined flights total 15 daily,
round-trip connections to three hub cities. The airport describes itself as
"truly a regional airport."

The good news is the year is off the charts, but with all the good news,
Dent said he's "waiting for the other shoe to drop." The flip side is the
effect of high fuel costs. Aviation fuel is more than $4 per gallon. 

"It costs about 407 gallons to go 400 miles," Dent said. "The bad news is
the airlines are hemorrhaging money. There will be some adjustments."

He predicts fares will increase because of the fuel costs, and that airlines
likely will continue to move away from using smaller aircraft because they
are less economic to fly.

But for the moment, Dent said, "We're putzing along pretty well."

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