ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 9, 1996 TAG: 9606100010
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Travel
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS
The announcement came in half-page Roanoke newspaper ads:
Starting June 20, one-way, non-stop service between the Piedmont Triad Airport at Greensboro, N.C., to Orlando, Fla., for $49. Round-trip ticket and Saturday night stay not required.
The advertiser was AirTran Airways, a 2-year-old "start-up" carrier, which specializes in once-a-day flights from several U.S. cities to Orlando, where the airline is based. The flights are aimed primarily at leisure travelers.
Eric Hanson, AirTran's sales director, says the airline believes it can attract customers to Greensboro from the Roanoke area with its low rates. The fares should be especially attractive to vacationing families, he said. Attractive enough for them to drive 100 miles south to catch its planes.
At one time, officials at Roanoke Regional Airport were working to have AirTran locate one of its flights here. They have cooled to the idea, though, since the airline has scheduled departures from both Greensboro and Richmond's Byrd Airport.
Mel Ludovici, president of Martin Travel in Roanoke, said AirTran's advertising has drawn some inquiries and resulted in a ticket or two sold by his agency. But the response has not been as large as what might have been expected and that, he said, could be related to concerns about air safety following last month's ValuJet crash in the Florida Everglades.
Roanoke airport officials have worried for some time about travelers driving to Greensboro or other relatively close airports to catch cheaper flights. A recent study, however, may ease their concerns.
The study of ticket purchases at 19 travel agencies between the New River Valley and Lexington was conducted by Virginia Tech. Researchers looked at all tickets purchased during two weeks last October. It was a follow-up to a statewide 1993 study and focused on, among other things, which airports travelers used and a comparison of fares at Roanoke and other airports.
The study debunked the belief that many Roanoke travelers drive to Greensboro because of cheaper fares, said airport spokesman Mark Courtney.
The Virginia Tech study team found that of 2,458 tickets examined, 86 percent were for flights out of Roanoke. But an adjusted figure should be closer to 92 percent or 93 percent after group vacation flights departing from other airports and other factors are subtracted, Courtney said.
Greensboro's airport ranked a distant second behind Roanoke Regional during the period, with 96 tickets booked by Roanoke-area agents, or 4 percent of those included in the study. Charlotte was next with 3 percent; Washington Dulles, 2 percent; Baltimore-Washington International, 2 percent; and Washington National, Richmond and Raleigh-Durham, each at 1 percent.
The tickets purchased in the Roanoke area for flights out of Greensboro represented nearly 40 different destinations, Courtney said. The most popular destinations, representing about half a dozen tickets each, were Fort Lauderdale, Dallas, Houston and Salt Lake City. For departures to those cities, it was cheaper to fly out of Greensboro than Roanoke, Courtney said. Current rates to Fort Lauderdale, however, are the same at both airports.
The study found that those who drove to Greensboro tended to use both Continental and Delta airlines more than USAir. The loss of that business is something Courtney wants to make sure USAir, the airport's major jet carrier, is aware of as it sets its fares for Roanoke flights.
Some people will drive to Greensboro when fares are much cheaper there, agreed Ted Moomaw, president of World Travel in Roanoke. But he speculated that some of the travelers who drive to the Greensboro airport are those who work in Roanoke and use a Roanoke travel agency but who live in Franklin or Henry counties and find it nearly as convenient to drive south to Greensboro.
Courtney noted that although fares to a few cities are cheaper for flights out of Greensboro, flights to a few other cities, such as Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit, cost less in Roanoke. He also pointed out that the Roanoke airport makes up for a portion of the lost business by drawing some passengers from the Lynchburg area, where there is no jet service.
The passenger losses were not significant, but something Roanoke Regional wants to keep an eye on, Courtney said. To do that, the study probably will be repeated about twice a year, he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 76 linesby CNB