Good Fares Aren’t Over, Columbus, Ohio, Airport Says
By Marla Matzer Rose, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
Apr. 24–Port Columbus no longer can boast of having more low-fare airlines than any other Ohio airport, but its fares remained far below the national average through December 2007.
The average fare in Columbus during the fourth quarter was $281.44, according to data released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Transportation. That was a 10 percent drop from the fourth-quarter average for 2006, giving Columbus the fifth-largest decrease nationally in fares year-over-year.
The national average for the quarter was $331, up 4 percent from fourth quarter 2006.
Cincinnati, with its Delta Air Lines hub, continued to rank among the nation’s priciest airports. Its average fare of $531.73 for the quarter was bested only by the $539.21 average in Anchorage, Alaska. San Francisco, in third place, had an average fare of $427.58.
Akron-Canton was the only Ohio airport to have lower fares than Columbus during the quarter, at $271.88.
After losing both Skybus and JetBlue airlines in recent months, Port Columbus last week removed from its consumer Web site, flycolumbus.com, its claim of having the most low-fare carriers of any Ohio airport. But airport officials want to tell people that Columbus’ fares and flight offerings are still competitive and attractive.
Starting Monday, Port Columbus will run commercials with that theme for two weeks on all the Columbus network-TV affiliates. The 30-second ads will feature footage of destinations such as Las Vegas and Orlando and Tampa in Florida, which are served with nonstop flights from Columbus.
“This year, with the changes and some perception that the bottom has fallen out with the Skybus news, we want to reinforce the fact that that isn’t the case,” said David Whitaker, vice president of business development for Port Columbus. He said the airport will spend about half of its annual $100,000 regional marketing budget on the spots.
Skybus was the second-busiest carrier at Port Columbus in March, its last full month in operation. It served 124,708 passengers — an 18.3 percent market share — compared with 155,139 for Southwest. United Airlines and Delta both showed double-digit percentage declines in flights and passengers in March year-over-year, and Delta is set to make more cuts here in April and May
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