Airport officials face leakage problem

Of that so-called “leakage” – roughly 182,000 people annually – the majority drive some three hours to Kansas City International Airport, according to a random telephone survey conducted by Nixa-based Jerry Henry and Associates in September 2006. The second-most-popular airport for defectors is Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, and Tulsa International Airport is third, according to research. A small number of people surveyed even said they flew out of Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Benton County, Ark., to save money or fly direct to their destination.

The Boyd Group is scheduled to conduct another leakage study later this quarter or early next year, but President Michael Boyd says there’s little the airport can do about its long-running airfare dilemma.

“You circle the wagons around those segments of the passenger base you can retain, like business travel,” he said. “But you’re going to have people driving no matter what you do. This is happening all around the country.”

Boyd said that airports in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Melbourne, Fla., compete with nearby Orlando International Airport, and the Colorado Springs, Colo., airport frequently loses business to Denver International Airport.

“It’s a case of quality of life,” he said. “It’s one of those trade-offs, and your airport has worked very hard to keep people aware there are low fares out of there.”

In August, the airport launched a redesigned Web site, www.flyspringfield.com, that features a flight search function and tips for finding lower fares.

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Read SBJ’s Oct. 15 issue for more about leakage at the Springfield-Branson National Airport.[[In-content Ad]]