Tucson Airport Stuck in Economic Squeeze

By JACK GILLUM

Rising fuel costs lead to fewer flights, cutting revenue for airport

Tucson International Airport on Tuesday celebrated the addition of a new US Airways flight to Charlotte, N.C., from the Old Pueblo.

But such an event – new air service – may be a rarity these days.

The rising cost of fuel and low passenger turnouts on TIA flights has led to several airlines cutting non-stop flights at the airport this year – cuts that are affecting the airport’s bottom line. It’s a struggle airports across the country are facing.

“The airport will have to adjust,” said George Hamlin, managing director of Fairfax, Va.-based Airline Capital Associates Inc. He said some facilities “will have to take a hard look at their budgets.”

The biggest reduction in service this year occurred in May, when ExpressJet Airlines said it was slashing four of its flights to other medium-sized cities, less than a year after the airport ushered those flights in. JetBlue Airways in March also stopped its service to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

US Airways is planning to cut its non-stop service to Las Vegas Aug. 18.

Dick Gruentzel, vice president of finance and administration for the Tucson Airport Authority, said the JetBlue cut represents a loss of about $500,000 in the 2009 budget. The ExpressJet cuts account for a loss of between $125,000 and $150,000, he said.

Gruentzel did not have a revenue figure for the US Airways flight.

The Tucson Airport Authority’s total operating revenue in 2007 was $51,115,840, according to budget figures released Tuesday. That’s up from $47,405,122 in 2006.

“Any of the individual cutbacks aren’t huge,” Hamlin said. “But if you add up a lot of people doing them, it does make a difference.”

AIR SERVICE CUTS THIS YEAR

ExpressJet Airlines

* Spokane, Wash. (June 4)

* Austin, Texas (Aug. 23)

* Omaha, Neb. (Aug. 23)

* Reno, Nev. (Aug. 23)

* El Paso (ended March 31)

JetBlue Airways

* New York (May 12)

US Airways

* Las Vegas (Aug. 18)

* Contact reporter Jack Gillum at 573-4178 or at jgillum@azstarnet.com.

Originally published by JACK GILLUM, ARIZONA DAILY STAR.

(c) 2008 Arizona Daily Star. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.