With traffic up 20%, airport focus is on sustaining growth

By John Howell
Posted 9/4/18

By JOHN HOWELL With airline passenger traffic up nearly 20 percent for the first six months of the year over last year, the challenge is sustaining those numbers while maintaining an overall upward trend toward the holy grail of 6 million passengers

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With traffic up 20%, airport focus is on sustaining growth

Posted

With airline passenger traffic up nearly 20 percent for the first six months of the year over last year, the challenge is sustaining those numbers while maintaining an overall upward trend toward the holy grail of 6 million passengers annually, says Iftikhar Ahmad.

Ahmad, Rhode Island Airport Corporation (RIAC) president and CEO, has been unusually quiet in the past several months. For a while he was standing in front of the news cameras almost monthly to announce the arrival of a new airline and additional services to Green.

The latest announcement made in February was Frontier Airlines’ addition of nonstop flights to Austin, Texas and Atlanta. Prior to that, state officials gathered at the airport as RIAC announced Air Canada would provide seasonal, daily, nonstop flights to Canada’s largest airport, Toronto Pearson International, beginning in May.

As of June this year, total passenger traffic for 2018 was 2.1 million, a year-to-date increase of 19.18 percent from last year. If the trend continues, Green appears to be well on the way to surpassing the 3.9 million passengers recorded for 2017 that was about 300,000 more passengers than recorded in 2016.

Ahmad has made passenger growth a priority, bringing in low fare airlines and offering new destinations from Green both in this country and in Europe, especially Ireland. The emphasis now, he said in an interview Tuesday, is to increase load factors for airlines operating from Green. In other words, selling more tickets for existing flights.

With 7.5 million people living within a 90-mile radius of Green, Ahmad sees that as marketing Green’s convenience over Boston Logan’s hassle.

“It’s easy to get to and it’s easy to get through,” he said of Green.

Still there can be advantages to Boston, including the availability and frequency of flights. Cost of fares is another consideration. If Green has the flight and maybe the fare is a few dollars more, it can still be the preferred alternative. The cost of parking is less, but the important thing is the easy access and what it takes to get from the car to the seat on the plane. To illustrate, he pulls out his phone to share a photo of the Ted Williams Tunnel with bumper-to-bumper traffic.

The net goal with the growth in passenger traffic is the impact it has on the Rhode Island economy. Studies show that for every air passenger arriving at Green, the state experiences a more than $900 boost in spending relating from direct expenditures such as hotels, transportation, food and goods to more jobs to provide those services. Ahmad puts the overall economic impact of the airport at between $2.2 billion and $2.6 billion.

The volume of passenger traffic also plays a role in the cost per passenger, a factor used by airlines to compare the costs of operating at an airport. With most passengers, the per-passenger cost goes down, making Green increasingly attractive to the airlines.

Topping that off, Ahmad adds, “Unlike Boston, we have no fuel tax.”

Southwest remains the dominate carrier at Green with a total of 827,622 passengers as of June, which is actually down by almost 3 percent from last year. American Airlines, formerly US Air with 262,169 passengers, an increase of 8.4 percent is second with newcomer Frontier, now at Green for less than a year, in third place with 217,062 passengers. Norwegian, Green’s largest international carrier with flights to Ireland and Scotland registered a total of 93,043 passengers for the first six months of the year.

As for the 6 million passenger target – that would surpass the record 5.7 million passengers that used Green in 2005 before Southwest started operations at Logan; before the Great Recession and when there were many more airlines than those that dominate now. Restoring Green traffic to the levels of its heyday has been an objective of airport directors since Green and the industry took a nosedive starting in 2007.

Ahmad has his sights clearly fixed for Green.

“We’re not trying to be Boston,” he said. “A healthy medium hub [airport] with the opportunity to do business around the world.”

And what does he see that meaning to the traveler?

“The shortest amount of time to get you there at a good price,” he said.

Comments

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  • richardcorrente

    The Airport Agreement NEEDS to be renegotiated. As Mayor I will make this a top priority. We gave them the tax revenue of over a hundred houses in the last three years (over 500 houses total) and the taxpayers of Warwick received water pollution, air pollution, soil pollution and noise pollution. The rest of Rhode Island received a top-rated airport, but the citizens of Warwick are bearing all the cost. Even the renovations promised were never completed. Case in point: Elberta Street off Airport Rd. is a U-shaped street. The RIAR spent approximately $30,000 in sound reduction renovations on each of the homes on the first half and claimed they "ran out of money" on the second half. I will help them find a way to keep their promise to ALL of the homeowners; not just half.

    Happy September everyone.

    Rick Corrente

    The Taxpayers Mayor

    Wednesday, September 5, 2018 Report this

  • CrickeeRaven

    Once again the make-believe mayor willingly exposes his lack of understanding about the airport agreement. That contract is between RIAC, the state, and the FAA. The city can not, in any way, "renegotiate" anything with RIAC. Recent bills in the legislature to increase the amount that RIAC pays in PILOT funds remain the only way that the state has attempted to alter the existing contract -- and they have all failed.

    "As Mayor I will make this a top priority."

    The failed 2016 candidate will never be mayor, so this remains an empty campaign slogan.

    Seven days from now, thousands of honest, taxpaying voters will overwhelmingly reject his candidacy again.

    Wednesday, September 5, 2018 Report this

  • richardcorrente

    Dear CrickeeRaven,

    C'mon Mark. Now you are arguing with yourself. First you say the City "can not, in any way renegotiate the Airport Agreement". Then you show several examples of how others have already attempted to do exactly that! And, by the way, increasing the PILOT...wouldn't THAT be considered "renegotiating"?? Not agreeing with me is one thing Mark, but now, you're even disagreeing with yourself. I think you need a vacation.

    For the rest of us, September 12th is the most important day in Warwick THIS CENTURY! Vote for me. Vote for one of my opponents. But please VOTE! Thank you.

    Happy September everyone.

    Rick Corrente

    The Taxpayers Mayor

    Friday, September 7, 2018 Report this

  • CrickeeRaven

    The make-believe mayor once again proves his unwillingness to read plain English.

    "First you say the City 'can not, in any way renegotiate the Airport Agreement.' Then you show several examples of how others have already attempted to do exactly that!"

    These are not contradictory statements. State legislators are not city officials. Increasing the PILOT payments by the airport is not "renegotiating" the contract in the same way that having RIAC pay for more sound reduction renovations would be.

    In fact, is it the make-believe mayor who is arguing with himself -- first talking about sound-proofing, then talking about PILOT payments, and finally falsely claiming that both of them represent "renegotiating" the RIAC agreement.

    "C'mon Mark."

    The make-believe mayor continues to make a false accusation about who is using this screen name, one of the many defects in his candidacy and behavior that he has willingly and repeatedly proven though his use of this website for free political advertising.

    Honest, taxpaying voters will certainly overwhelmingly reject his candidacy again next Tuesday.

    Friday, September 7, 2018 Report this