Passenger volume
plunged again in September at Lehigh Valley International Airport, the
seventh straight drop from year-ago levels.
The trend comes as
airport management scramble to find new business, rein in costs, and pay
a $16 million legal judgment by 2015.
The regional airport drew
48,402 passengers in September, down 22.7 percent from 62,592 travelers
in September 2011, according to figures release today by the
Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority.
Traffic has fallen every
month since March compared with year-ago levels. In each of the past
four months, volume has declined more than 20 percent. Year to date,
traffic is down 13.5 percent from the 2011 pace.
LNAA Executive
Director Charles Everett said rising fuel costs is a big reason as it
forces airlines to consolidate. Fifty-seat regional jets common at LVIA
lag in fuel efficiency, he said, and are being scaled back.
“All
carriers are looking at cutting back when prices are this high,” Everett
said. “We, like other small airports, are experiencing" declines.
LVIA
Business Development Director Susan Kittle said major airlines are
raising fares to offset higher fuel costs and are settling for fewer
seats as a result.
US Airways and United posted drops of more
than 20 percent in September. Plus United plans to end service to
Washington D.C. in February.
Also driving volume down is the
departure of AirTran Airways, now part of Southwest Airlines, which
ended LVIA flights in August. Southwest pulled the service out as it
integrated AirTran into its airline system.
Everett said the
authority is exploring options to invite new business, including
installing an inspection station for customs clearance at a cost of
about $5 million.
That would allow for international flights,
such as to Caribbean spots. LVIA has provided flights to Canada before
but that was through a pre-approved clearance process.
“We’re
doing serious things to try to improve passenger levels at this
airport,” board member Bert Daday said of a possible inspections
station. “This is one of the prime options we have in increasing
passenger levels.”
Hanover Township, Lehigh County-based LVIA has
for years sought to lure local travelers who often travel extra
distance to Newark or Philadelphia in pursuit of more offerings or lower
fares.
Airport officials said they are negotiating with new airlines and lobbying existing airlines to add service.
“I
don’t know a successful business that has cost cut their way to the
promised land,” LNAA chairman Tony Iannelli said. “Income generation
will get us to the promised land and we can not let the marketplace be
an excuse for failure.”
Cost pressures add to the problem.
Everett said the authority is planning reductions in the coming years,
possibly staff cuts. He did not specify what positions could be reduced,
saying plans are not final. LNAA employs 106 full-time employees.
The
authority owes $16 million to developers to settle litigation
concerning its condemnation of land surrounding LVIA, once targeted for
homes, in the 1990s.
The court-ordered judgment is payable in
annual installments ending in December 2015. The first $2 million of the
mostly backloaded agreement is due Dec. 1.
To help raise money,
LNAA has hired the Rockefeller Group real estate company to explore sale
of authority-owned land excluding Queen City Airport in Allentown. That
includes Braden Airpark in Forks Township plus some 600 acres of
undeveloped land outside LVIA.
Everett said LNAA expects a conceptual plan from The Rockefeller Group in November.
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