Airport Trafficbegins to Take Off
By Paul B. Johnson, High Point Enterprise, N.C.
Jan. 17–GREENSBORO — The light may be at the end of the runway for Piedmont Triad International Airport officials trying to turn around their lagging passenger traffic numbers.Boardings were off less than 1 percent in December, the best month for PTIA airline traffi c in more than a year and a half. The number of people boarding flights totaled 97,170 last month, down 0.4 percent from 97,548 during December 2005.
PTIA has suffered 19 consecutive months of passenger declines, mainly because of contraction in the airline industry and higher overallfares compared to nearby, larger Raleigh-Durham International Airport and Charlotte/ Douglas International Airport.
But December was the least amount of monthly decline since the airport’s passenger downturn began in the summer of 2005.
“It looks like we’ve turned the tide,” PTIA Executive Director Ted Johnson said during the monthly meeting of the Piedmont Triad AirportAuthority. Following the meeting, Johnson said the nearly break-even December passenger count reflects the airport reaching an applesto — apples comparison level with the number of flights from a year ago.
When the downturn began, PTIA had about 100 daily flights. Today, the number is 76.
Johnson said that he hopes 2007 will be a better year as passenger boardings arecompared against similar numbers of daily flights from a year-ago period. The airport is making an effort to lure a discount carrier to PTIA, which would help with passenger counts.
For 2006, PTIA suffered through a tough year. Boardings were off 15.8 percent, from 1,301,218 passengers during 2005 to 1,095,828 during2006.
pjohnson@hpe.com|888-3528
—–
Copyright (c) 2007, High Point Enterprise, N.C.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.