Green Reports Drop in Passengers

By Paul Parker, The Providence Journal, R.I.

Apr. 17–Passenger traffic at T.F. Green Airport, in Warwick, dropped 3.7 percent last month, compared with March 2007, according to data scheduled to be released today by the Rhode Island Airport Corporation.

In March, 393,638 passengers used Green, compared with 408,746 in the same period last year.

Kevin Dillon, president and chief executive officer of the airport corporation, said two economic factors contributed to the decline.

He said one was that because of the slumping economy, fewer people were traveling.

The other, he said, was that airlines, reacting to higher costs such as fuel, are moving their bigger planes to more profitable routes, leaving fewer available seats on flights from regional airports, such as Green.

During the first three months of this year, 1,093,156 passengers used Green, a decline of 1.42 percent from the first quarter of last year, when 1,108,862 passengers traveled through the airport, according to the data.

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