Airport Traffic Drops a Bit

By Wayne Heilman, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Jun. 28–Passenger traffic at the Colorado Springs Airport got a boost in May from flights to three cities by a new airline.

May traffic fell 1.9 percent from a year earlier to 89,243 last month — its smallest drop in six months. ExpressJet Airlines carried 3,060 passengers in its first full month serving the Springs, nearly offsetting passenger declines reported by Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.

ExpressJet began flights April 30 from the Springs to Sacramento and Ontario, Calif., and a week later to San Diego. Additional flights added in May by American Airlines and U.S. Airways to Dallas-Fort Worth and Las Vegas, respectively, also boosted traffic.

Airport officials believe passenger numbers at the airport declined in 10 of the past 11 months largely because airlines cut passenger capacity by 15 percent in response to weight restrictions caused by closure of the airport’s main runway, which reopened May 23.

The 13,500-foot runway was closed for more than 16 months to be rebuilt because runway de-icing fluid reacted with the soil and cement used to build it in 1991, corroding the concrete prematurely. Airlines had to use the airport’s two shorter runways during the closure.

While using the shorter runways, airlines had to restrict weight on some flights, especially during hot days, to ensure airplanes could safely depart.

With the extra flights in May, passenger capacity was down 4.5 percent from a year ago. Nearly all of the lost capacity was restored by the time Delta and United added more flights earlier this month to Atlanta and Los Angeles, respectively.

Capacity will be up slightly starting Sunday, when Midwest Airlines begins three daily nonstop flights between the Springs and Kansas City, Mo.

While traffic was down 13.8 percent this year through May, the new flights should help traffic finish the year up slightly from 2006, Gisela Shanahan, the airport’s assistant director for finance and administration, told Airport Advisory Commission members Tuesday.

—–

To see more of The Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.gazette.com.

Copyright (c) 2007, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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.

XJT, CAL, DAL, UAUA, AMR, LCC, MEH,