Airline Cutbacks Will Make It Harder for Miami Valley Residents to Travel

By Jim DeBrosse Staff Writer

DAYTON — Dayton International Airport is the only airport in Ohio that won’t see an immediate loss of flights from airline cutbacks announced in recent weeks, but fewer flights in connecting cities will make it harder for Miami Valley residents to reach their destinations beginning this fall, travel experts say.

“The airlines are in worse shape today than they were immediately following the attacks on 9/11″ due to soaring fuel costs, said David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association. Last year, the industry spent $41 billion on fuel. This year, it’s on course to spend $61 billion — a 50 percent jump over last year and nearly four times its $16 billion fuel bill in 2000.

With fares nearly maxed out, airlines are looking to reduce costs by eliminating flights and grounding inefficient planes, he said. American, United and Continental airlines all have announced cuts in seating capacity, ranging from 11 percent to 18 percent, for this fall and next year.

Total seating on flights from Ohio airports will drop 7.5 percent in October, according to the Official Airline Guide. Youngstown Municipal Airport will lose all commercial flights by year’s end, Castelveter said. But Dayton will see an 0.1 percent increase.

Iftikhar Ahmad, director of aviation at Dayton International Airport, said Dayton has been spared so far by several advantages — few connecting flights, a large regional market of 5.1 million potential passengers and the lowest boarding costs per plane in the state.

Micki Dudas of AAA Miami Valley warns that even local travel ers can expect bumps ahead: Fewer connecting flights in other cities will make it harder and more expensive to reach their final destinations. The biggest impact will be on flights to popular tourist destinations, such as Disney World in Orlando, cruise ports in Miami and vacation packages in Hawaii. Those destinations have the most low-cost carriers and the least profit to offset rising fuel costs.

“We will start to see the effect for fall travel and certainly in 2009,” she said.

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