The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
In today's shrinking airline industry, the value of an airport should be measured not by the number of passengers but instead by its connections to hub and international gateways, an aviation expert said Thursday.
And Norfolk International Airport "is very well served," Michael Boyd, president of Boyd Group International Inc., told a gathering of business and community leaders of the Hampton Roads Norfolk Airport Task Force.
Norfolk has direct connections to 10 airline hubs, with six hub connections to Asia. It's more important to get international business leaders here than to get local families to Orlando on the cheap, he said.
"Do not tell me you don't have good service," he said. "You have an enormous amount of quality service."
Norfolk's passenger counts through September are down 4.5 percent compared with last year. While counts nationally are up 2.3 percent, fewer people are flying than did in 2008.
Boyd said there are "no gaping service gaps" in Norfolk. Instead, airlines are cutting capacity.
Comparing the first half of this year with airline schedules for the same period next year, there will be 2.6 percent fewer departing flights and 1.2 percent fewer seats. Boyd said that closely mirrors the national trend.
He predicted, however, that Delta Air Lines might eliminate direct service to Cincinnati. He said there are limited opportunities to serve new markets from Norfolk. One possibility is Frontier Airlines to Denver, but that airline is now for sale and has scaled back service out of Newport News just a year after launching it.
Boyd said it's likely some small to midsize airports will close within 10 years as the industry continues to contract - including Toledo, Ohio; Champaign, Ill.; and Brownsville, Texas. But Norfolk and Newport News/Williamsburg International are not on that list.
Newport News/Williamsburg, however, does face challenges with the loss of AirTran Airways service, which will be eliminated in March in a merger with Southwest Airlines. AirTran accounts for about 45 percent of passenger traffic at the Peninsula airport. Those passengers, he said, will use other airlines out of Newport News, or travel to Norfolk or Richmond.
He expects Norfolk will pick up about a quarter of that business, or about 50,000 passengers each year.
As for fares, he said, "You're not out of whack," but warned that ticket prices are rising. The average fare for Norfolk is $224; Newport News, $186; and Richmond, $211.
Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com
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ORF
I've always liked ORF. AVL (Asheville, NC), is my favorite for service and ease, but it's way too small. I think ORF has the best balance of flight availability and service. The only airport that I've been to that comes close is Baltimore.
I too
have always found Norfolk International to be a hospitable and user friendly facility when compared to other Airports. It is similar to Jacksonville but in a prettier setting. Always glad to come home to Tidewater. Never had a bad experience there. I think the do a great job.
Certainly not "well served" by mass transit or HOV lanes.
Why would you want HOV lanes
Why would you want HOV lanes to the airport, and where would you put them? Down the middle of Norview Ave.? Mass transit? You want to ride the bus to the airport? Would you really do that, hauling a couple of bags? Really?
Go there sometime
ORF has much more capacity than what is being used. Most of the time during the day it is like a ghost town. PHF is even worse. The region needs a direct route to the west like what Frontier was providing out of PHF. Let's face it: the region sits in the middle of nowhere. If it wasn't for the military and the Outer Banks, there wouldn't be the traffic through the airports we see now.
Unless some larger businesses locate here, we can't expect anything to change.
Markk, you don't understand
Markk, you don't understand air travel patterns. Go to ORF between 0530 and 0800 and it is hopping with outbound business travel. You'd be surprised. Mid-day there are certainly flights, but less because that's not where the demand is. Later in the day, activity picks up again as business travel returns. You say we need a route to the west like what Frontier provided. Uh, they stopped because it was unprofitable. Besides, ORF has nonstop service as far west as Las Vegas (seasonal right now), Houston, Dallas, and Minneapolis and several other mid-west and eastern hubs easily access the west coast. You say the region "sits in the middle of nowhere". LOL, our population is 1.7 million!
Ready for Rail Connections to
Washington DC and points North. Flying is too much of a hassle; unless you have to fly to a far destination, then driving or rail is much more pleasant. The hub airports are really gloried bus depots with bad, pricey food and lots of delays!
Again, other means of transportation are much better than flying unless you really have to go that way.
I looked at Amtrak tickets
I looked at Amtrak tickets to go to the midwest recently. The trip would've taken 28 more hours than the 4 or so it took to fly. No rail for me, thanks!
Routing is terrible
Routing is terrible currently unless you're strictly traveling the Northeast corridor. If there was a more direct route from here to say St.Louis and other Mid-West destinations, it would be more viable. It doesn't help that passenger trains have to use the same lines that freight rail uses: they can't travel as fast.
I'm sick of being stuck in sardine-can seating with poor service with the airlines. I've used passenger rail service before and it impresses me. If it was faster with better routing, I'd use it more often. It's much more comfortable and I can get more work done on the train verses sitting in the tight seats of planes.
forget passenger rail
here's where your passenger rail fantasy is going....nowhere
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45153941