Saturday, June 14, 2014

Can oil industry keep two airports aloft? Acadiana Regional (KARA) and Lafayette Regional (KLFT)

The Federal Aviation Administration’s recently released report on airport traffic ranks Acadiana Regional Airport as the second-busiest airport in Louisiana after New Orleans.

Acadiana had 93,497 craft, including helicopters, land and take off last year. It’s a stunning figure especially when contrasted against the small brick airport building topped with a functional tower facing the airfield on one side and huge shade trees on the other.

The report boosted Acadiana Regional Airport Director Jason Devillier’s spirits and his expansion dreams. But concerns linger about whether there is enough air traffic to support expansions at both Acadiana and nearby Lafayette Regional Airport.

“We’re interviewing gas and oil companies along the Highway 90 corridor about their need for direct Houston flights,” Devillier said. “We’re going after a different market than Lafayette, which I see as primarily serving the leisure traveler. We want to help the oil and gas employee who needs to fly to Houston in the morning and return the same day to have dinner with his family.”

The Iberia Parish Council recently voted in favor of building a $750,000 passenger terminal for the airport. Devillier remembers how they fashioned a security screening area out of conference room for Halliburton, which books the majority of charter flights at Acadiana.

“The Halliburton employees walk in one door for the screening then walked out the opposite door and onto the plane; it’s not pretty but it works,” Devillier said. “The folks from TSA came down and approved it.”

Acadiana is flanked by green fields so there is plenty of room to lengthen the runway to accommodate more commercial craft. Huge Boeing 777s and 747s occasionally land at the airport to be painted. But Devillier believes turboprops rather than commuter jets would be a more pragmatic choice for his business travelers because the planes are less expensive.

“Acadiana Regioinal Airport is surveying oil and gas companies who lease property here at the port to see what their needs are concerning flights to and from Houston,” Port of Iberia director Roy Pontiff told The Daily Advertiser.

Devillier plans to use the surveys to document that a demand exists for commercial or charter air flights out of Acadiana. FAA requires airports to demonstrate the public need for additional airline service.

“I wish them all the best but I do wonder whether there is enough need at this time,” said Lafayette Regional Airport board chair Matt Cruse, an oil and gas industry company owner. “Acadiana has been thinking of using charter jets for business travelers that would depart at set times a couple of days each week. We tried that at Lafayette but charter flights can be difficult to fill with passengers from several companies.”

Cruse admires the goal of keeping costs down so air fares will be inexpensive. But Lafayette round trip tickets to Houston already can be fairly cheap. A quick Kayak.com search Friday yielded a United roundtrip $160 ticket if one departed from Lafayette on Saturday and returned Monday evening. Same day tickets were far more expensive. The cheapest ticket for a Monday morning departure and Monday evening return was $559 on American Airlines.

But the Iberia Parish Council apparently has faith in the airport’s future. It also approved $1 million for Acadiana to improve the area where planes taxi.

Devillier expects to break ground this fall.

Source:  http://www.theadvertiser.com

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