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 Inaugural flight scores touchdownBusiness community counting on faster jets, greater connections to solidify airline service in Paducah area |
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A week after the historic resumption of jet service in Paducah, Barkley Regional Airport Manager Richard Roof was confident that a key measure of airline business success was steadily improving. “It’s still a tad early, but so far it appears SkyWest has exceeded what Mesaba was carrying,” he said.
Roof said that for Feb. 18, nearly 65 percent of the 100 total seats were booked on SkyWest’s two flights to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. That compares to about 51 percent during the last 10 days that Mesaba Airlines flew two 32-seat Saab turboprops between Paducah and Memphis, Tenn. SkyWest, operating as United Express, replaced Mesaba on Feb. 11, marking the first jet flights at Paducah in 30 years. An inaugural flight carrying about 10 airport board members had 32 passengers to Chicago and 28 back. Brandi Honey, SkyWest marketing manager, said the early returns were good for her Salt Lake City, Utah-based firm. “We’ve been pleased with what we’ve seen with startup service,” she said. “Anything above 50 percent occupancy is obviously going to be very good.” Honey said many factors go into ridership, including the area from which an airport draws, proximity to other airports, passenger history and regional economy. “You can have a large population, but you also need a diverse income level to support it,” Honey said. “If we weren’t serious about being able to serve Paducah, we wouldn’t have put together a competitive package.” SkyWest beat out Mesaba last fall in receiving $570,000 in annual subsidy from the U.S. Essential Air Service program to operate out of Barkley. The SkyWest bid, supported by a Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce survey, was far less than Mesaba’s $1.02 million and based heavily on projecting 10,300 more passengers and $2 million more in annual revenue than Mesaba. Roof said SkyWest’s forecast of 38,500 annual passengers breaks down to about 26.4 passengers per plane, or about 53 percent occupancy. “That’s about 14.62 cents a ticket when you divide SkyWest’s subsidy by the anticipated passenger flow,” he said. “We’re lucky to have them.” SkyWest met its projected numbers twice in the first week, despite February being a traditionally slow month and the eastern seaboard being slammed with a blizzard that grounded many flights out of O’Hare, Roof said. “Bad weather could also have accounted for waning Mesaba service just before SkyWest took over,” he said.
Fares SkyWest flies under contract with United Airlines, while Mesaba flew out of Paducah for Northwest Airlines, which Delta acquired in 2008. Last year, Delta reduced the number of daily flights at Barkley from three to two. A week before United Express flights began, travel agent Michelle Wheat, who posts best fares on Barkley’s Web site, compared 30-day, advance-notice fares of United and Delta for 10 destinations. Her spot check found slightly better United fares to Phoenix and Orlando, Fla.; two unchanged; and six somewhat more expensive than Delta. The maximum price advantage was $24 for Delta and $66 for United. Two weeks later, United was still tweaking its cost structure, which could have partly explained why some people were complaining, said Jackie Jones, Barkley marketing manager. “I do know they’re continuing to loads those fares in, and I’ve seen a lot of fares change in the last nine days,” she said. “That’s pretty typical of when a new market starts.” Honey said United fares are competitively priced, and the best deals come from booking flights at least a month ahead. Price variances of $15 to $100 are common among airlines, but gaps of several hundred dollars aren’t. “The best bet is always to go to United.com,” she said. “If a fare is really out of whack, I would definitely let the airport know.” Jones received an e-mail from one Paducah area business traveler, who complained of a United flight to Wichita, Kan., in late February that was $260 more than a Delta fare. She said she referred that complaint to SkyWest, which in turn is talking with United. “Those are the problems we’re interested in,” she said. In booking a flight to Tucson, Ariz., for March, Barbara Tallon of Greenwich, N.Y., relaxes with a book at Barkley Regional Airport as a delegation awaits the first United Express arrival. She was in Paducah on business and had not anticipated a throng of supporters for the new jet service. Jones found a price variance of several hundred dollars between United’s basic fares and “best fares” listed higher on the airline’s Web site. She said advance bookings and schedules were factors.
“In my case, the schedule that came up for the top-dollar fare really wasn’t convenient for me,” she said. “So I changed to another time of day, and the price went down considerably.” Paducah businessman Bill Beasley said that in pricing a trip to Phoenix, he found United fares out of Barkley to be $50 to $75 cheaper than flying out of Nashville, Tenn, or Evansville, Ind. He encountered the price swing for a flight to Washington, D.C. Destinations, travel time United Airlines’ Chicago hub has roughly 66 more domestic and 20 more world destinations than Delta has out of Memphis. Among the popular new vacation destinations are Honolulu; Aspen, Colo.; and Fort Myers, Fla., Jones said. Delta flew out of Memphis to Amsterdam, Netherlands; and Cancun, Mexico. United expands the offerings to major cities such as Tokyo, Hong Kong, London and Paris, as well as popular destinations in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and South America, Jones said. The Canadair regional jets that fly between Paducah and Chicago travel about 130 mph faster than the Mesaba turboprops, said Neil Archer, Barkley board chairman. Flight time between Paducah and Chicago is about 80 minutes, said Kay Feathers, the new SkyWest station manager at Barkley. However, the return inaugural flight from Chicago was less than an hour. “The schedule times for most SkyWest flights are either on the money or running early,” Roof said. Customer service and on-time flights are paramount for SkyWest, which connects Paducah riders with 128 United destinations out of O’Hare, Honey said. “What we bring to the market is safe, reliable service,” she said. “The airport has done a remarkable job of marketing it.” Beasley, president of the Purchase Region Industrial Park in north Graves County, said he often had two stops out of Memphis to the New York and Los Angeles areas, but not so flying out of O’Hare. He said greatly increased connections and fewer long layovers equal faster travel. “I can fly out of Barkley about 6 a.m. and be in Phoenix by 11:15,” he said. “Going through Memphis, I didn’t get there until 3:15 p.m.” SkyWest service means three employees of Mayfield importer TLC Lighting no longer must leave at 4 a.m. to drive to Nashville, Tenn., to catch flights to Asia three to six times a year. “It will greatly cut down on our travel time,” said Kevin Crouch, national marketing and sales executive for the firm. The only downfall is an eight-hour return layover in Chicago because SkyWest has only two flights daily between Barkley and O’Hare, Crouch said. Options are to drive a rental car home from Chicago or fly to Nashville, Tenn., and have someone pick them up. The latter would save three hours, he said. Roof described the transition from Delta to United as give-and-take because United doesn’t serve some southern markets well. But hopefully United’s Stair Alliance code-sharing agreements with U.S. Airways and Continental Airlines will attract new riders and sway others to return, he said. “We’re seeing people we don’t ordinarily see, so that’s an indication we’re bringing some back.”
O’Hare O’Hare is the second-largest airport in the nation, and some worry about the headache of negotiating it compared with much smaller airports in Nashville and Memphis. Others say they simply would rather drive to either of the Tennessee cities. Survey results released Feb. 18 by J.D. Power and Associates show fliers are increasingly dissatisfied with O’Hare over problems ranging from baggage and security to cleanliness and comfort of terminals. O’Hare ranked 14th out of 19 airports surveyed, down from 12th place in 2008. Last August, Travel + Leisure Magazine ranked O’Hare, with 27 percent flight delays, the second-worst behind Newark, N.J. “Chicago decreased its flight delays by a whopping 8 percentage points this year — the biggest mover on both the best and worst lists,” the magazine said. “And while it lost the dubious distinction of being the No. 1 worst airport, the improvement only dropped it to No. 2.” O’Hare has an ongoing modernization program including a seventh runway that has significantly reduced delays, said Jeff Leifer, United Airlines station manager at O’Hare. Roof said the new runway, completed in late 2008, plus an additional taxiway have boosted SkyWest on-time flights by 10 to 15 percent. Leifer told Barkley board members during their O’Hare tour that United alone has 32 de-icing trucks, and the airport hires and trains 600 people annually just to remove snow. He said summer thunderstorms are less predictable and contribute to delays, as well as the sheer volume of traffic at O’Hare. “De-icing is rarely the bottleneck,” he said. “Air traffic control is the bottleneck.” United passengers can walk or take conveyors through the airport, but airline officials recommend a free shuttle service that runs continuously from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. They said the buses are well marked and parked next to entrance gates. Leifer told board members that if passengers’ waiting time is less than an hour, their bags are shuttled directly to the next terminal without going through sorting. Depending on the destination, United has advantages and disadvantages, just as Paducah’s former Delta connection had, said board member Ric Ladt. “But Delta’s Memphis hub has fewer flights and tighter schedules than O’Hare.” Contact Joe Walker, Journal Editor, at 270-575-8656.
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