Branson Airport boasts $1.5M net income in 3Q

Based on third-quarter filings with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, Branson Airport could be in the midst of a financial turnaround.

In the quarter ending Sept. 30, the airport reported a net income of $1.54 million, a vast swing from a $1.7 million net loss in the same quarter last year, according to a financial report posted to EMMA.MSRB.org.

The net income figures do not include depreciation or interest expenses.

Through the first three quarters of 2013, the airport reported $2.2 million in net income, which is a dramatic change of course for the four-year-old airport that had posted $21 million in cumulative operating losses - which also did not include depreciation or interest expenses - through the end of 2012.

In addition, passenger activity was up 29 percent during the third quarter, compared to the same quarter last year.

Branson Airport LLC Executive Director Jeff Bourk said the arrival of Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) is leading the turnaround.

“In 2014, Southwest Airlines will add 266 percent in seat capacity during the winter months, providing travelers with many more connecting options to the entire country,” Bourk said via email.

Southwest Airlines, which purchased Orlando, Fla.-based AirTran Airways in May 2011 for $1 billion, began to fly out of Branson in March. The Dallas-based airline is scheduled to offer 42,042 seats Jan. 1-Feb. 12, 2014, an addition of 30,500 seats from the same period this year, when AirTran had 11,466 seats in the market, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

The news comes on the heels of a study conducted by the Missouri Department of Revenue that found Branson Airport produced a local economic impact of $91 million in 2012.