Airlines offer fewer flights, seats

A government watchdog confirmed last week what airline passengers are finding when they try to book a flight: Service to communities of all sizes is declining, but especially to small and medium-size airports.

There are fewer flights and fewer seats available than there were seven years ago, the Government Accountability Office said.

Smaller destinations were particularly affected, with flights down as much as 24 percent and seats down as much as 18 percent since 2007.

Flights have also declined 9 percent and seats 7 percent at large airports.

Only government-subsidized air service to rural communities has been increasing, largely a reflection of congressional efforts to prevent some 160 small airports from losing commercial service entirely. The number of flights serving airports in the federal Essential Air Service program has increased nearly 20 percent, and the number of seats has risen almost 8 percent since 2007.

Airline mergers and high fuel prices are part of the reason. Jet fuel costs more than quadrupled from 2002 through 2012, and now exceed labor costs as airlines' single largest expense, the GAO report said.

Major air carriers have also steered away from using the types of planes that serve smaller communities, regional airliners that seat from 19 to 100 passengers. Those planes are 40 percent to 60 percent less fuel-efficient on a per-passenger basis than larger planes, according to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology study the report cites.

Instead, major carriers pack medium-size airliners with as many passengers as possible, operating planes that are on average 88 percent full, Gerald Dillingham, the GAO's director of physical infrastructure issues, told a hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

"While the largest airlines have shown a remarkable ability to adapt and earn profits the last four years, the reality is that many small communities are confronting increasing challenges in maintaining their desired level of air service," Susan Kurland, assistant secretary for aviation at the Department of Transportation, testified.

Regional airlines, which typically feed passengers from smaller airports to major carriers at larger airports, have proven less adaptable. Bryan Bedford, president and CEO of Republic Airways Holdings, said economic pressures on regional airlines have been exacerbated by a shortage of entry-level airline pilots.

But Air Line Pilots Association President Lee Moak told the committee there's no shortage of qualified pilots, only a shortage of pilots willing to work for the "near poverty" wages regional airlines offer.

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