Huntsville International Airport (KHSV) remains most expensive airport in U.S.

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Huntsville International Airport once again topped the list as the most expensive airport in the U.S., with fares running about $543 per passenger, according to a 2013 first quarter report by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics in the U.S. Department of Transportation. 
 
The analysis, which is mostly unchanged from the 2012 third- and fourth-quarter BTS reports, shows Huntsville's average airfare is $164 more than the national average of $379. The Atlantic City International Airport in New Jersey had the lowest average airfare at $169 per passenger.

The July airfare report marks the third-consecutive quarter Huntsville has ranked No. 1 on a list of airports with the highest domestic average itinerary fares. Other airports topping the list are Cincinnati, Houston, Washington Dulles and Savannah, Ga. 

In June, the Huntsville International Airport unveiled a $6 million incentive program to get airlines to lower fares to prevent local travelers from driving to Birmingham or Nashville, which both have low-cost carriers. Low-cost carrier AirTran left Huntsville  last year after the airline merged with Southwest Airlines.

Port of Huntsville spokeswoman Chantel Minish said the airport recently applied for a $1.5 million grant through the Small Community Air Service Development program with the DoT to help offset startup costs for new and existing carriers and to advertise the airport's incentive program.
 
Created to help travelers find better fares out of Huntsville, Huntsville Hot Ticket helps thousands of customers each year save on airline costs, Minish said. 

"At least try to compare us because you go somewhere else," she said. "Give us a chance. Low fares can be found if you book in advance and are willing to be more flexible."

Minish said she recently booked a flight out of Huntsville to Dallas 40 days before her trip for $376.80.

"Is it as low as we would like it to be?" Minish asked. "No. But it's significantly lower than the average fare being quoted by the (Bureau of Transportation Statistics in the U.S. Department of Transportation)."

Bill Swelbar, a research engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and air travel expert, will visit Huntsville next month. Swelbar recently released a white paper called "Modeling Changes in Connectivity at U.S. Airports: A Small Community Perspective."

Swelbar, who visited with Huntsville business leaders in May, sat down with The Huntsville Times/AL.com during his last visit to discuss ticket costs, the airline industry and challenges that small- to medium-sized airports like Huntsville International Airport face today.

Minish said Swelbar will hold a public forum on the airline industry in Huntsville on Sept. 10. Details on what time and where the meeting will take place have not been announced.

During the July meeting of the Huntsville-Madison County Airport Authority, officials reported airline passenger traffic in Huntsville declined more than 19 percent in June over the same period last year, resulting in a year-to-date decrease of 16.1 percent below 2012. 

Passenger totals were 8 percent below the projections in the fiscal year 2013 budget. Rail cargo traffic increased 1 percent in June, while air cargo landing weights declined 7.3 percent in May from the previous year. 

The Huntsville International Airport has conducted a market survey and tag analysis at neighboring airports to determine passenger leakage, or drive traffic, which is how many people are driving to other airports.

The tag analysis measures cars in the Huntsville airport's 18-county region that are parked in Birmingham and Nashville. During a non-holiday week, a total of 333 vehicles were parked at airports in Birmingham and Nashville in 2012, which is lower than the 2013 estimate of 370. A combined 455 cars, also lower than 2013's 527-car estimate, were parked at Birmingham and Nashville during spring break, Thanksgiving and Christmas last year.

"We take a sampling of the average number of cars during business weeks and also on peak holiday travel to gauge leisure travel," Minish said. "We have certainly seen this directly related to low fare service at HSV. When AirTran entered the market, drive traffic decreased; and now that AirTran has left the HSV market, drive traffic is on the rise again. Very few communities share the same makeup as HSV in the sense that we're in such close proximity to low fare service from both Southwest Airlines and Frontier Airlines."

Source:  http://www.al.com