Successful Meetings - January 2009 - (Page 42)

Flight Blight Cities with significant airlift reduction in 2008 Oakland CA -40.7% Kansas City MO -31.4% Although it is common practice for airlines to modify schedules based on supply and demand, the OAG data reveals that several U.S. destinations were to experience double-digit decreases in flights and seats in December 2008, including Oakland, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Tucson, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, and Albuquerque, among others. While the long-term impact of air access on the meetings industry remains to be seen, Successful Meetings explores what the changes mean for groups in the coming months, and enlists expert recommendations on coping with less than flexible flight plans. Taking Detours Given that the majority of group events are booked months and even years in advance, air service reductions to and from secondary and tertiary hubs are more minor inconvenience than major debacle. However, an increasing number of meeting professionals are focusing their attention on airlift during the early planning stages. “We are receiving a lot more requests to examine the airlift before choosing a destination. In the past, you intuitively knew that there would be lift, but this has changed because of all the cancellations and slimming down by the airlines,” says Fay Beauchine, executive vice president of global engagement and events for Carlson Marketing in Minneapolis. Accessibility played a role in site selection for one Carlson Marketing client—a major retailer chose Orlando over Kansas City for its 2009 start of the year meeting, because of more airline service and lower airfares. If the meeting were to have taken place in Kansas City Cincinnati OH -30% Sacramento CA -26.6% Pittsburgh PA -25% Source: Official Airline Guide (www.oag.com) as originally planned, extra roomnights would have been required, due to meetings scheduled on departure day and limited afternoon and evening flight schedules. In light of airlift concerns, other planners are also taking alternative routes to ensure that attendees get to their meetings on time. Staffers at MAC Meetings & Events in St. Louis, MO, regularly organize meetings for Optimum Health Education in locations throughout the country, including Lafayette, LA; Memphis, TN; and Pittsburgh, PA. However, the capacity shortage led some to come up with a creative solution. “We are noticing that flights into smaller regional airports are going down in numbers and that it is sometimes cost-prohibitive to fly into a regional airport, so we fly speakers into first-tier cities, and then drive them to the smaller cities,” says Jenny Besser, director of meetings for MAC Meetings & Events. “We are also noticing attendees who are four or five hours away now driving to the meeting, because it is easier for them to drive than it is to fly.” While meeting planners are expressing concern about capacity cuts, executives from several airlines and convention bureaus say that the measures are not as drastic as they might seem and will have minimal impact on group gatherings. Despite discontinued service in Oakland, CA, by American Airlines, and American Eagles’ elimination of service in Albany, NY; Harrisburg, PA; San Luis Obispo, CA; and Providence, RI, it is pretty much business as usual for the Fort Worth, TX-based airline. “Unless our customers compared last year’s schedules side by side, they would barely notice the difference,” says Tim Smith, a 42 I SM I January 2009 I SuccessfulMeetings.com http://www.oag.com http://www.SuccessfulMeetings.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - January 2009

Successful Meetings - January 2009

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.