September 5, 2011
MADISON, Wis. -- A new study indicates Dane County Regional Airport is the nation's 10th most expensive large airport although airport officials call that ranking misleading.
The study, from the U.S. government's Bureau of Transportation Statistics, showed the Madison airfield had the largest average flight cost increase from a year ago.
Area passengers said, while Dane County Regional Airport remains the most convenient choice, they've noticed the rising fares.
"When our kids have to fly, it's outrageous," Mount Horeb resident Marietta Gribb said as she waited for her husband's plane to land. "It makes the difference between sometimes coming and not coming home."
The Madison airport had an average ticket cost of $429 in the first quarter of 2011 according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics data. Houston's George Bush Intercontinental had a $476 average ticket price, making it the most expensive airport.
The next-closest option for people in south-central Wisconsin, General Mitchell International Airpot in Milwaukee, was one of the least expensive airports on the list. The data indicated that tickets there cost an average of just $280.
Madison's average ticket price increased about $65, or 17.5 percent, from a year earlier, the biggest increase of the nation's top 100 airports.
But Dane County Regional Airport administrators said, despite the rising ticket cost, it's been a strong year for the airfield.
"Although we acknowledge the average one-way equivalent fare has increased from the first quarter of 2010 to the first quarter of 2011, we believe the (Bureau of Transportation Statistics) information is misleading," airport spokesman Brent McHenry said in a statement.
If the data included all 460 U.S. airports with commercial service, instead of only the 100 largest, Madison would rank lower, McHenry said. Knoxville, Tenn., and Des Moines, Iowa, two cities similar in size to Madison, also have comparable average flight costs, according to the report.
Carriers have recently announced additional full-time flights from Madison to Atlanta and Dallas/Fort Worth, plus seasonal flights to Denver and Orlando, according to airport administrators.
The airfield's convenience has made it the easy choice for Gribb's family for decades, the preferred option instead of driving to Milwaukee or Chicago to fly. But the statistics only confirm what she feels every time she purchases tickets.
"I just close my eyes and buy the ticket," Gribb said. "I'm still amazed at how many people fly. You get into airports, and you think, 'How can these people afford it?'"
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