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Barkley Regional Reports Gains Despite Airline Industry Woes

Posted on: Tuesday, 17 January 2006, 12:00 CST

By Joe Walker, The Paducah Sun, Ky.

Jan. 17--Barkley Regional Airport finished 2005 with a 4 percent increase in passengers over 2004 despite sagging fall ridership attributed to hurricanes, economic uncertainty and concern about the financial health of the nation's airlines.

Barkley numbers were up 9 percent for the year at the time Northwest Airlines declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in mid-September. Ridership was down 3 percent from October through December as compared with the same period in 2004.

Northwest Airlink, Barkley's main regional carrier, is operated by Mesaba Airlines under contract with Northwest Airlines. Mesaba also filed a Chapter 11 action because it was losing $19 million every two weeks, said airport manager Richard Roof.

Although Mesaba and Northwest Airlines are not affiliated, the stigma of the bankruptcies and a Northwest Airlines mechanics' strike may have affected riders. But a bigger issue was the disruption of major flights to New Orleans and Houston by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, said airport board chairman Neil Archer.

"Northwest's problems were probably hurricane-related," said Archer, a pilot and businessman. "It's kind of hard to predict what the flying public is going to do, but I think all indications are that our numbers will be back up this summer."

Both he and Roof are optimistic about 2006. In early March, the airport will begin aggressive marketing similar to the "Buy Local, Fly Local" campaign of 2004. "That must've been good because people swear those ads are still running," Roof said.

Car rentals at the airport remain strong, which suggests business riders are still coming to town, Archer said. Half of ridership is business-related, and the other half is for vacation and other personal travel.

Also, general aviation flights out of Barkley were up 14 percent from 6,214 in fall 2004 to 7,067 in fall 2005. Those flights are typically business-related.

The airport finished 2005 with 67,335 passengers, up from 64,752 in 2004. But there were 16,189 passengers from October through December, down from 16,685 during the last quarter of 2004.

Fourth-quarter numbers for American Connection, Barkley's other carrier, actually increased from 3,604 to 3,779 as compared with 2004. That was more than offset by Northwest Airlink's drop from 13,081 to 12,410.

"It's called hurricane season," Roof said, noting that New Orleans and Houston are among Barkley's top 10 destinations. "All the conventions scheduled for New Orleans were gone."

Travel last Thanksgiving, traditionally a peak time for flying, was slower than normal, which makes Roof wonder if the overall economy was a factor. He cited the thousands of manufacturing job losses in the region in recent years.

American attained its slight increase in fall riders despite dropping a daily flight to and from St. Louis because of soaring fuel prices. Fuel prices were a key factor blamed for the bankruptcies not only of Northwest but Delta Air Lines, which Barkley has been courting as a third carrier. Roof said the likelihood of getting Delta's attention isn't good right now.

"I don't think anybody's going to be talking much in the way of expansion until probably mid-summer," he said. "I think by then we'll probably know what the economy's doing and more about fuel pricing. That's going to be critical."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Paducah Sun, Ky.

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Source: The Paducah Sun

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