Airport on Track for More Passengers in 2007

By Steve Cahalan, La Crosse Tribune, Wis.

Jun. 17–Through the first five months, the La Crosse Municipal Airport is on track for an increase in passenger numbers in 2007, after slight decreases the past two years. From January through May, 49,504 people boarded airplanes at the airport, up 4.2 percent from the same period a year ago, Airport Manager Dan Wruck said last week.

According to the Airports Council International, passenger traffic at airports around the world was up 5 percent for the first four months of the year compared with the same period last year.

The Air Transport Association, whose members transport more than 90 percent of all U.S. airline traffic, predicts 209 million passengers will travel globally on U.S. airlines from June through August, up 3 percent from a year ago.

“We’re certainly hoping we’ll be up” in 2007, Wruck said. A total of 117,899 passengers boarded airplanes in La Crosse in 2006, down 2.9 percent from the previous year. That followed a decrease of 0.5 percent in 2005, after a 10 percent increase in passengers in 2004.

All but two Wisconsin airports saw a drop in passengers in 2006, Wruck said.

He attributed the decreases in 2005 and 2006 in La Crosse to concerns about the economy, rising gasoline prices causing businesses and vacationers to trim spending, and Midwest Airlines ending its Midwest Connect commuter airline service to the city in October 2005.

Why have passenger numbers increased this year? “Air fares are still really a pretty good deal,” Wruck said. And when people compare them with the cost of gasoline for their car, as well as hotel and food costs, many people decide “it’s cheaper to fly and they’ll save time,” he said.

“We’re convenient” for area residents who want to fly, Wruck said. “And our security lines are nowhere near what you’d experience in Minneapolis.” Flying from La Crosse “is a little more relaxed, a little more pleasurable experience,” he said.

The terrorist attacks on America on Sept. 11, 2001, were a major reason why the number of passengers who boarded in La Crosse dropped 3.3 percent to 107,247 that year. Passenger totals in La Crosse rose 0.3 percent in 2002 and 3.2 percent in 2003 before jumping 10 percent to 122,126 in 2004.

Milwaukee-based Midwest Airlines said in September 2005 it would end its Midwest Connect commuter airline service to La Crosse the following Oct. 31 because it had been losing money on the route. At the time, Midwest Connect accounted for about 6 percent of the passengers who fly from La Crosse. On weekdays, there were three Midwest Connect flights a day from La Crosse to Milwaukee.

Wruck said La Crosse airport officials have talked to other airlines since then, but so far none have shown interest in starting service to the city.

“It’s important for folks to use the local airport,” Wruck said, so passenger numbers grow. “Then we have a much better recruitment tool to go and talk to (additional airlines), to try and get them to come to La Crosse.”

The La Crosse airport is served by Northwest Airlines and its Northwest Airlink affiliates, Mesaba Airlines and Pinnacle Airlines, which provide service to Minneapolis-St. Paul; and by American Eagle, which provides service to Chicago.

During the week, Northwest has two flights a day from La Crosse with DC-9 aircraft. There are four Northwest Airlink flights a day from La Crosse, using regional jets and propeller-driven aircraft.

American Eagle uses regional jets for its four flights a day from La Crosse to Chicago.

Wruck said the La Crosse airport has undertaken $18 million in capital improvements since 2002, and another $27.3 million worth of projects are tentatively planned for the 2008-2012 period.

Work began two weeks ago on a $1.5 million project that will reconstruct two taxiways, install wind cones and perform engineering services for the reconfiguration of a runway intersection. Federal funds are paying $1.4 million of the cost, with city and state funds paying the rest.

Wruck said the airport is financially self-sufficient, and operates without any city tax dollars.

BY THE NUMBERS

The number of passengers who boarded airplanes at the La Crosse Municipal Airport, by year:

2000: 110,852 passengers

2001: 107,247

2002: 107,601

2003: 111,033

2004: 122,126

2005: 121,416

2006: 117,89

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Copyright (c) 2007, La Crosse Tribune, Wis.

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