
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 7, 1995                   TAG: 9503070096
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BUSINESS AIR FARES DON'T FLY

Roanoke Regional Airport officials plan to ask USAir to reconsider some of its recent increases in business fares for certain short-haul flights, saying the prices are so high passengers are encouraged to drive instead of fly.

The airline, however, has already begun taking steps to correct the problem. ``Some [fares] were raised too high, and we're working on that to get those down,'' acknowledged Delvis ``Mac'' McCadden, USAir's district sales manager in Roanoke.

Mark Courtney, the Roanoke airport's director of planning and market development, said Monday he is gathering information with which to make his case to USAir Group, the airline's Arlington-based parent. Short-haul markets that have been affected by fare increases include flights from Roanoke to Richmond, Washington and Atlanta, he said.

The regular round-trip business fare to Atlanta is now $568 compared with $538 two months ago, a 6 percent increase. Also, the airline has eliminated a special discounted ``walk-up,'' round-trip fare to Atlanta of $438, which it sold on a space-available basis.

McCadden said the higher fares have been introduced in markets where USAir does not face direct competition from a low-cost carrier. It's not fair to compare airline fares at Roanoke with those in places such as Greensboro, N.C., where USAir faces stiff competition from discounter Continental Airlines, he said.

But even at Greensboro, Continental and other airlines have increased their fares recently, McCadden and others said.

USAir has not posted a profit since 1988. McCadden said the airline is raising its fares to cover the actual cost of doing business.

Even with the increases, the cost of flying has still gone up less than the costs of other transportation and the cost of living in general, he said.

In another matter, McCadden said USAir Express will discontinue in April its daily direct jet flight from Roanoke to New York City's LaGuardia Airport because it has not attracted enough passengers. The daily flight has operated with a 37-seat prop-jet commuter aircraft.

USAir still offers daily flights to New York, by making connections in either Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington or Charlotte, N.C.

Courtney said the airport would push USAir for an improvement in the schedule of connecting flights to make up for the loss of the direct flight to New York.

by CNB