Centerlines - January 2008 - (Page 35)

AIR SERVICE RECRUITING explore the marketplace for low-cost carriers. Seabury’s Joel Antolini suggested AirTran as the obvious place to begin because of the indepth discussions the Charleston community conducted with the airline three years prior. The Charleston contingent traveled to AirTran’s Orlando headquarters in December 2006 to review the numbers and reestablish the community’s interest in having AirTran in the market. By happenstance, AirTran was seeking opportunities in coastal South Carolina at the time. “I believe they saw that the business community and the hospitality industry were both extremely interested in having AirTran in the market and would be very supportive of AirTran’s efforts if they planned to come to Charleston,” Jennings said. “The confluence of our interest and timing made it a perfect match, and it all happened very quickly.” slightly less than 90 percent of its seats. Charleston’s total passenger volume numbers, with the AirTran service, are up 20 percent year-todate compared to 2006. Jennings said the leisure market constitutes a fairly significant portion of Charleston’s traffic and tends to be more price-sensitive than the business market. That is not to say that business travelers are not price-sensitive, but a family of four may drive for vacation if they can’t afford to fly. “We are finding that AirTran is having a more dramatic impact than Independence Air,” Jennings said, noting that year-over-year, Charleston posted gains of 30 percent, 35 percent and 40 percent in June, July and August, respectively. “After the first month’s numbers, I attribute 100 percent of the increase to AirTran. “It is easy: If the prices go down, people who wouldn’t normally opt to fly will fly because a family of four can now afford it. It is all about pricing, and pricing in this market is now good, so people are getting on airplanes.” In terms of commerce, Graham said the arrival of AirTran in the Low Country has made it competitive to fly rather than drive to Atlanta for business meetings with the federal reimbursement rate at $0.485 per mile. “From the business community’s perspective, we told AirTran we would do everything we could to encourage the business community to travel AirTran, and we continue to push that message,” she said, noting proAirTran communications through a variety of means to include billboards, blurbs in weekly and monthly print and electronic newsletters, discount coupon distribution and simple wordof-mouth advertisement. “We have received nothing but positive feedback from the business community, and all the carriers, not just AirTran, are seeing increases in traffic.” Reflecting on Charleston’s experience in acquiring AirTran, Jennings said he didn’t believe there was a silver bullet in the mix. Good Timing “I think it was simply a question of timing,” he said. “The numbers were good, and we knew the numbers would be good. We have a very strong market, and we thought they should have come in 2003. It did not work for them in 2003 for whatever reason, but it did work for them in 2007.” Jennings’s advice to other airports learning from the air service school of hard knocks is to try and try again. “In our first courtship with AirTran, the community developed the travel bank, and the Aviation Authority procured the AIR-21 grant because we heard that these were the elements needed to make it happen,” he said. “When it didn’t happen, we knew it was business. We never thought that if we satisfied their requests, that automatically meant AirTran would come into Charleston. We knew that wasn’t the way it worked. So I guess the best advice is if the courtship doesn’t work the first time, try it again.” Jennings said Charleston regretted AirTran’s initial rejection, but that experience made the marriage all the sweeter with the start of service three and a half years later. “We expected it to be wonderful, and it has been,” Jennings said. ■ New Service Starts Nearly 90 days after the December 2006 meeting with AirTran, the air carrier announced its intention to serve Charleston, and the new service began May 24, 2007. AirTran now offers Charleston service to more than 60 city pairs via connecting service at its Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport hub. “I think AirTran was beginning to think about Charleston again, and the fact that we showed up on their doorstep at a time when they were beginning to rethink the coast of South Carolina was a very fortunate coincidence for this community,” Jennings said, noting that AirTran was offered cooperative marketing as well as assistance with start-up during the 2006/2007 negotiations despite handing back the 2003 SCASD grant. SUMMER TRAVEL THROUGH CHARLESTON Summer 2004 Summer 2005 Summer 2006 Summer 2007 Low-fare service providers Independence Air Independence Air none AirTran Enplanements 245,154 290,190 248,701 334,784 % change 18 -14 35 Quick Results Today, all parties appear to be content with the arrangement. In June, July and August, AirTran filled www.aci-na.org | CENTERLINES 35 http://www.aci-na.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Centerlines - January 2008

Contents President’s Message Canadian Airports Associates’ Corner Policy Center Regulatory Front On the Hill and On the Stump One on One: Dave Barger Revenue: The Concessions Awards Environment: O’Hare Expansion Passenger Focus: Houston Friendly Safety and Security: After Comair, What Next? Air Service Recruiting: Charleston’s Acquisition of AirTran On Management: Performance Benchmarking at DFW Now Underway Grand Opening Conference Previews and Reviews New Members Index of Advertisers/Advertiser.com Box Scores

Centerlines - January 2008

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