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I feel that there are many mid-sized cities, and even some large cities, that are ignored by airlines. Some of the airlines could probably make good money if they were to add more nonstop flights out of airports that are under-serviced, or have no commercial air service at all.
I made of list of some cities. Feel free to say cities than need more airlines and nonstop destinations.
-- Under-serviced: Needs more commercial air service --
- Rochester, Minnesota (KRST) - Felt like adding that fact that this city gets millions of visitors from around the country and hundreds of thousands of forienger visitors every year because of the Mayo Clinic.
- Evansville, Indiana (KEVV)
- Lincoln, Nebraska (KLNK)
- Columbia, Missouri (KCOU)
- Fort Smith, Arkansas (KFSM)
- Shreveport, Louisiana (KSHV)
- Lake Charles, Louisiana (KLCH)
-- No commercial air service at all. Needs airlines to come to the airport --
Heavily clogged/delayed Philadelphia International needs nearby secondary service to alleviate issues. Wilmington, Delaware or Trenton, New Jersey have existing commercial-ready airports minus commercial service.
You have to remember that there is a reason these places dont have more airline service. That being, the markets are not large enough or the yields on the markets are in the toilet.
For example, Ill use your hometown Rochester, MN. The yields are good there because of the Mayo Clinic and the lack of competition at the airport, however the market itself is small. The largest O&D markets to Rochester are (by daily passengers per direction):
Chicago (all airports): 71 passengers a day
New York (all airports): 22
Dallas: 15
Detroit: 14
Phoenix: 13
Washington DC: 12
That is not a market that is begging for more airport service because the market is small. Rochester's next best hope would be trying to get a flight to Dallas or Detroit and to piggy back off the massive hubs at those ends.
Now, lets look at the other extreme, Branson, MO. This is not a small air market, but the yields are awful. The average fares paid are less than $300 (which by airline standards is really bad). Some low yielding markets can force large amounts of airline service if the volume is super high (see Las Vegas or Orlando), but Branson is definately not in that boat.
Why fly into Baraboo/Wisconsin Dells when you can fly into Madison and drive the 45 minutes it takes to get to the Dells? That's probably why that one isn't hugely popular. I bet it's the same with many of the others.
I feel that there are many mid-sized cities, and even some large cities, that are ignored by airlines. Some of the airlines could probably make good money if they were to add more nonstop flights out of airports that are under-serviced, or have no commercial air service at all.
I made of list of some cities. Feel free to say cities than need more airlines and nonstop destinations.
-- No commercial air service at all. Needs airlines to come to the airport --
Topeka KS had air service and was operating at a lost. The US taxpayers stepped in and subsidized the service under the Essential Air Service program but thatw as eliminated in 2003 because even with all that tax payer money paying for the airline to operate, there was not enough paying passengers to make it worthwhile.
Terre Haute saw their air service fly away in 1999 casue the carrier was lsing too much money and there were not enough revenue to support air service unless US taxpayers stepped in and foot the bill.
Enid OK also lost service in 2006 because even with the federal subsadies under EAS, it was costing too much for too little.
Although to the laymen its a simple thing as there are passengers who would like to fly from or to a location, the cost to provide that service can be so high, us taxpayers often have to subsidize the service to get an airline to service that airport. If the money isn;t available from ther taxpayesr, don;t expect airlines to be running Charity Service.
You have to remember that there is a reason these places dont have more airline service. That being, the markets are not large enough or the yields on the markets are in the toilet.
For example, Ill use your hometown Rochester, MN. The yields are good there because of the Mayo Clinic and the lack of competition at the airport, however the market itself is small. The largest O&D markets to Rochester are (by daily passengers per direction):
Chicago (all airports): 71 passengers a day
New York (all airports): 22
Dallas: 15
Detroit: 14
Phoenix: 13
Washington DC: 12
That is not a market that is begging for more airport service because the market is small. Rochester's next best hope would be trying to get a flight to Dallas or Detroit and to piggy back off the massive hubs at those ends.
If you are saying that only 71 people fly between Rochester, MN and Chicago everyday, I think the data you were looking at is wrong. American flies about 5 flights to and 5 flights from Chicago every day, and they use pretty large jets.
As for the new flights that you mentioned, Rochester is working on getting flights to Detroit and DFW. We had daily non-stop flights to Detroit until Pinnacle took over Mesaba Airlines. RST will also be getting nonstop flights to Phoenix soon. The airport is also working on getting flights to Atlanta and Denver, in addition to DFW. Frontier said that they would plan on coming to Rochester if the airport received a grant from the U.S. DOT. The airport did get the grant, and will use the money to recruit new airlines and get new destinations. The community really wants flights to Las Vegas and Orlando, as polls by local news stations have reported.
As for the market size, yes, it is a little small. However, it is, to use your words, begging for more airport service. The destinations are wanted for the residents of Rochester, but also for the nearly 3,000,000 annual visitors. And the city is also one of the fastest growing cities in the country, growing by about 25 percent last census, and it shows no signs of slowing down.
Last edited by tornado9989; 09-05-2012 at 09:06 PM..
Now, lets look at the other extreme, Branson, MO. This is not a small air market, but the yields are awful. The average fares paid are less than $300 (which by airline standards is really bad). Some low yielding markets can force large amounts of airline service if the volume is super high (see Las Vegas or Orlando), but Branson is definately not in that boat.
I would consider Branson a somewhat small market. I was thinking about adding it to the list, but I noticed there were nonstop flights to Atlanta, Orlando, Baltimore, Chicago, Houston, and Denver from the airport in the city. The nearby Springfield-Branson National Airport has flights to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando, Phoenix, St. Petersberg/Clearwater, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, and Memphis. I'm pretty sure the airport in Branson is mostly for Branson and the airport in Springfield is mostly used in Springfield. But Branson alone is a city of 10,000 people, and it seems like it has a pretty good amount of air service. This is obviously due to the high amount of tourism, and the airlines make money, so it makes sense.
However, you stated that Rochester was a small market. In 2011, Rochester, Minnesota had about 35,000 more passengers than Branson. So compared to Branson, Rochester is definitely under-serviced. Rochester's amount of passengers could be much higher if the airport had more commercial air service. Rochester Int'l Airport has an extremely high amount of "leakage", where passengers fly out of a larger airport. If Rochester had more destinations, the amount of passengers could double, or even triple, according to some studies. It's like a pot of gold that airlines are ignoring.
Last edited by tornado9989; 09-05-2012 at 09:04 PM..
I would consider Branson a somewhat small market. I was thinking about adding it to the list, but I noticed there were nonstop flights to Atlanta, Orlando, Baltimore, Chicago, Houston, and Denver from the airport in the city. The nearby Springfield-Branson National Airport has flights to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando, Phoenix, St. Petersberg/Clearwater, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, and Memphis. I'm pretty sure the airport in Branson is mostly for Branson and the airport in Springfield is mostly used in Springfield. But Branson alone is a city of 10,000 people, and it seems like it has a pretty good amount of air service. This is obviously due to the high amount of tourism, and the airlines make money, so it makes sense.
Southwest Airlines has announced daily service between Branson and Chicago-Midway beginning in March 2013.
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